(From my friends at Foreclosure Radar)
Foreclosure Sales Continue to Plummet
For the second month in a row we’ve seen a dramatic drop in the number of properties sold at foreclosure, or “trustee sale”, auctions. Foreclosure sales in California are down 16.7 percent from February to March 2012 and down 53.1 percent from March a year ago. A total of 86,487 sales were scheduled to occur in California, but of those 80.0 percent postponed, and 10.6 percent were cancelled, leaving just 8,392 that were actually sold. Third parties, typically investors, purchased a record 38.6% of the properties that did sell in California.
Foreclosure starts rose in most states, with the largest increases occurring in Washington, California and Nevada. This, at least temporarily, reverses a downward trend, but even with the increase the volume of new foreclosures remains significantly down year-over-year in all the states we cover.
The increase in foreclosure starts is especially interesting in Nevada. Bank foreclosures came to an almost complete halt there after the passage of Assembly Bill 284, which made significant changes to Nevada’s foreclosure laws. The increase this month is directly attributable to new foreclosure starts by Fannie Mae, which is one of very few lenders to have filed any new foreclosures in Nevada since September 2011. Even with the increase by Fannie Mae it is still homeowner associations that are initiating the vast majority of foreclosures in Nevada.
Tambo Says:
The reason these auctions were postponed is because SMART people understand that the responsible thing to do is a SHORT SALE! Let’s review: First, a short sale allows you to buy a house again sooner than a foreclosure, second, the lenders will never come after you, third, it helps us BRING BACK VALUE in our down economy. A house that goes for short sale generally sells 20-30% higher than it does at auction. That means your neighbors’ house value just took a big hit…weren’t they nice neighbors???
Ultimately, if you can’t keep up with your house payment, or if you see that your home’s value with NEVER catch up with the price tag, it might be time to consider a short sale. See the link on this site to learn more. If you need help finding an expert ANYWHERE in the country, just give me a hollar.
