Foreclosures Arent Fun (The real estate and housing markets are very unstable and unpredictable at this point in time.)
Things are definitely changing, and many people are facing some tough times ahead.
The market is cooling and home prices are depreciating, causing people to lose home equity and a feeling of security all at the same time. Simultaneously, thousands of adjustable-rate mortgages or ARMs are set to reset this fall, potentially causing many people not to be able to make their new bigger monthly payments.
One result of these changes within the real estate and mortgage worlds are the amount of foreclosures that are going to occur in the very near future.
A September 13, 2006 article from InmanNews.com, “National foreclosures up 24%” discusses this alarming trend that just seems to be getting worse.
“Property foreclosures nationwide increased 24 percent in August from the previous month and 53 percent from a year ago, marking the highest rate so far this year, a foreclosure service reported today.”
“A total of 115,292 properties entered some stage of foreclosure during the month, according to a report from RealtyTrac. The report also shows a national foreclosure rate of one new foreclosure filing for every 1,003 U.S. households, the second-highest monthly foreclosure rate reported year to date.”
These numbers are extremely high and signal some major problems in these industries.
“‘After spiking early in the year U.S. foreclosure activity has been relatively flat over the last few months. But foreclosures ramped up significantly in August, pushing the national foreclosure rate close to its highest level of the year so far,’ RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio said. ‘And with home-price appreciation continuing to decelerate and billions of dollars in adjustable-rate mortgages projected to reset in the next few months, this month's increase could be the beginning of an upward shift in the foreclosures market.’”
There are a number of reasons and theories as to the cause behind this increase, and there are of course some cities that are doing a lot worse than other.
The states that seem to be fairing the worst are Colorado, Nevada and Florida. States that made the list of the top 10 states with highest foreclosure rates also included Texas, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and Utah.
“Greely, Colo., posted the highest foreclosure rate among the nation's 252 largest metropolitan areas, with one new foreclosure filing for every 136 households -- more than seven times the national average. The Greely metro area comprises one county, Weld, which reported 488 properties entering some stage of foreclosure, a 39 percent increase from the previous month.”
Things could end up getting a lot worse as the year progresses, since many people’s ARMs have not even adjusted yet, leaving a lot of uncertainty for the future. Areas that were once super hot-spots during the boom could be in for some rough patches ahead.
“Foreclosure rates in Miami and Denver also registered among the top five metro foreclosure rates. Miami reported 4,362 properties entering some stage of foreclosure -- one new foreclosure filing for every 195 households -- and Denver reported 4,506 properties entering some stage of foreclosure -- one new foreclosure filing for every 196 households.”
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