Posted on 09/16/2010 7:57:56 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The “extend and pretend” approach of the Treasury Department, through HAMP, has reached its end, and foreclosures are surging higher than ever.
Lenders took back more homes in August than in any month since the start of the U.S. mortgage crisis.
The increase in home repossessions came even as the number of properties entering the foreclosure process slowed for the seventh month in a row, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.
In all, banks repossessed 95,364 properties last month, up 3 percent from July and an increase of 25 percent from August 2009, RealtyTrac said.
August makes the ninth month in a row that the pace of homes lost to foreclosure has increased on an annual basis. The previous high was in May.
There are enough homes in delinquency that the properties entering the system slowing will have no material effect on foreclosures increasing. And that shows no signs of abating. What’s more, banks are basically forbearing the first couple months of delinquency, artificially lowering the number of homes entering foreclosure because they don’t want to initiate the process.
Less trial modifications are being taken up through HAMP, as word of mouth spreads that the program is less than helpful at best and a predatory lending scheme at worst. The banks remain reluctant to do affordable workouts, especially with second liens, because they’d rather pretend the profits from them are on the books. They’d rather get something for the homes by returning them to the market, even though sales are at their lowest in 15 years. This giant “shadow inventory” just becomes a loss leader month after month for the banks, as more people just decide not to pay and take the risk of playing foreclosure roulette.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.firedoglake.com ...
gonna be some good investments cheap if you got the money
This could be a perfect storm for real estate investors
buy cheap, when inflation hits the prices will go through the roof- when the economy recovers you will be stting on a goldmine
Anyone want to form an investment group with me?
This is the worst economy since FDR.
TOP 5 STATES IN FORECLOSURES:
1. NEVADA (One in every 84 households)
2. FLORIDA (One in every 155 households)
3. ARIZONA (One in every 165 households)
4. CALIFORNIA (One in every 194 households)
5. IDAHO (One in every 220 households)
VERMONT HAS THE LOWEST FORECLOSURE RATE (ONE IN EVERY 18,500)
Obama is the new FDR. High unemployment for as far as the eye can see.
AH! This explains a few things to me. I was in the market a couple of years ago for a house. Found one I absolutely loved, had been on the market for 15 months, was foreclosed and the original mortgage holder skipped down. They listed it at $150K, so I low-balled at $120K. They wouldn’t budge... even $5K. The rationale was that they wanted to make all of the money back.
Fast forward to today and these banks are sitting on foreclosed properties with the HOPE that they can sell them at a profit. Meanwhile folks like me are out looking for homes where the owners are still in control but trying to sell.
TOP 5 STATES IN FORECLOSURES:
1. NEVADA (One in every 84 households)
2. FLORIDA (One in every 155 households)
3. ARIZONA (One in every 165 households)
4. CALIFORNIA (One in every 194 households)
5. IDAHO (One in every 220 households)
VERMONT HAS THE LOWEST FORECLOSURE RATE (ONE IN EVERY 18,500)
ROUNDING OUT THE TOP 10
6. UTAH (One in every 230 households)
7. GEORGIA (1 in every 246 households)
8. MICHIGAN (One in every 255 households)
9. ILLINOIS (One in every 314 households)
10. HAWAII (One in every 315 households)
That's because it's populated by left-wing trust-funders.
RE: They wouldn’t budge... even $5K. The rationale was that they wanted to make all of the money back.
Looks liek they are not that desperate enough to sell yet. Time is on your side if you have the cash, you’re not desperate to buy (or are you?)
If you can afford the taxes on the properties. Local tax revenues are down so they’ll start hitting harder on property taxes, like clockwork.
ahh but the banks will not approve the short sale and the seller can’t sell because the bank will not waive the deficiency.
They are forcing people into bankruptcy where the deficiency does not matter and second mortgages can be stripped off.
Another perfect storm- IF Paladino wins and cuts NY taxes... OMG this could be huge
Another perfect storm- IF Paladino wins and cuts NY taxes... OMG this could be huge
Homes, especially older ones, don’t do well sitting vacant for long periods of time. There’s an old farm house that was repo’d down the street and has been sitting empty for almost 2 years now. Without the heat or air on and no circulation it is just rotting from the inside out, depreciating faster and faster as time goes by.
They wait too long it will come back to bite them.
a goldmine especially for non HOA and non condos.
the forclosures, which are growing so fast some florida judges are finding it easier to just ignore legal defenses as a means of preventing docket gridlock, are often caused by run away defaults in HOAs forcing remaining owners to pay for the non-paying.l
I bought 3 years ago. This was all going on during the major shift in financial reforms. I bought at 5.5% fixed. I’m very happy.
I guess if you had the risk capital and could afford to hold for 10 to 20 years, there might be some money to be made.
I’ve made the point before that unless borrowers are able to finance, the housing market won’t find it’s bottom until buyers can afford to purchase with cash.
My fiancee is in a similar situation. She was priced out of her home due to ridiculous property tax increases in the state, and when she tried to short sell, she wasn’t allowed. The guy was going to offer her $100K in cash for the house, but the bank wouldn’t take it.
I understand that the bank legally owns the home, but can’t the homeowner do something to pay off part of the note and get into a payment situation to pay off the balance? Why is that not an option?
My current home was on the market for 10 months. It needed a LOT of TLC when I moved in. It took 4 runs of a professional grade steam cleaner to get the carpets to an acceptable color and cleanliness.
It’s unfortunate that these homes are sitting on the market for so long, but the banks are the big losers in the end.
I just knew 5 years ago this was going to come back to bite us eventually.
They let every ditchdigger with a checking account buy a McMansion with no money down back then. A huge surge in new homes like that means a bad slowdown coming, but builders don’t worry about tomorrows work when there’s plenty of work today.
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