Author: jdefoe

The competition for the purchase of Grand Rapids foreclosed homes has been getting fierce, according to members of the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors in Michigan.

The expiration of the federal tax credits on April 30, the impending increase in mortgage rates and the surge in home prices have been prompting prospective buyers to finally make a go of their home buying plans. They figured that they could miss the lower mortgage rates, the lower home prices and the tax credits if they postpone further their home purchases. They cannot be certain that the federal tax credits will be extended again.

Total sales of single family foreclosure homes and other types of homes increased to 1,244 units in March. The average price for the units sold was $113,883, a jump of 13 percent compared to the average price one year ago, although still low compared to peak price during the housing boom.

According to local realtors, Grand Rapids foreclosed homes and other distressed properties still comprise the majority of the housing stock, so the average price of homes sold has not increased sharply.

Eric Hendrickson, mortgage lending senior vice president at Fifth Third Bank, said that there are now more applications for home purchase loans than applications for refinancing. He added that the percentage of home purchase loans have jumped up to over 60 percent of mortgage applications.

Steve Barnum of Transnational Title Agency of Michigan also observed a sharp increase in closings because of the rush to take advantage of the tax credits and lower mortgage rates.

Prospective home buyers in Grand Rapids and in other areas of Michigan have good opportunities of buying because of the continued rise in foreclosure activity statewide. The number of bank owned foreclosed homes for sale in Michigan rose to7,586 units in February, representing a whopping 38 percent of all foreclosure postings.

Foreclosure activity statewide resurged in February after slowing down by 13 percent in January. Michigan climbed up in rankings of state foreclosure rates from seventh in January to fifth in February. Total foreclosure filings increased from 17,574 filings in January to 20,028 filings in February, also marking a staggering 59.4 percent of increase from postings one year before.

According to local realtors, one indication of the desire of prospective home buyers to take advantage of the tax credits, the lower house prices and lower mortgage rates are the decision of clients to consider Grand Rapids foreclosed homes that fall short of their expectations in terms of style, size and price.

Containing pre foreclosure homes in Columbia could be included in the program that will be submitted by South Carolina government officials after the state recently received an allocation of $138 million from the $600 million provided by the Obama administration to five states to help the unemployed keep their homes and to spark economic growth.

According to Clayton Ingram, spokesperson for the South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority, the agency has not yet determined the counties that will share in the money. The state needs to craft a plan on how it will spend the allocation, and if approved, the state will likely get the money later this year.

The pace of foreclosures in Columbia shot up by a staggering 65 percent last year compared to the pace in 2008, although foreclosure activity in the metro area is not as bad as in other areas. Columbia ranked 99th in a listing of 203 metro areas according to percentages of foreclosures.

The total number of Columbia pre foreclosure homes and the number of residential units that have entered real estate foreclosure listings reached 4,461 in 2009. This number represented 1.44 percent of all households in the metro area.

Housing agency spokesperson Ingram said that Columbia and Greenville survived the housing crisis much better than places farther from metropolitan areas. He added that counties struggling from the highest jobless rates could be given priority.

According to officials of the South Carolina Employment Security Commission, the range of jobless rates throughout the state is wide. In December, the unemployment rate ranged from the 23.6-percent rate of Allendale County to the 8.7-percent rate of Lexington.

Assistant Treasury Secretary Herbert Allison said that federal officials decided to let state officials craft their own plans on how to use the money because they are the ones who actually know the problems besetting their states.

Representative John Spratt, chairperson of the House Budget Committee, lauded the decision of the Treasury Department to give states flexibility in designing their own programs.

In February, foreclosure activity in South Carolina resurged slightly after slowing down by 16 percent in January. There were 3,114 foreclosure postings in February, higher than the 3,101 foreclosures posted in January.

With the federal funding newly allocated to South Carolina, it is expected that the number of Columbia pre foreclosure homes and foreclosed properties throughout the state would be reduced or be purchased and converted into affordable housing.

Dallas pre foreclosure homes have been contributing to property tax revenue fall in the county, according to Dallas County officials.

Ryan Brown, director of the Dallas County Budget Office, said that the county is facing a budget deficit of $56.5 million this year due mainly to the expected drop in real estate tax revenue.

Since property taxes comprise about 50 percent of county revenues, about $31 million of the expected budget deficit can be ascribed to the expected drop in property values. Foreclosures in Dallas continue to drag down real estate values, particularly residential property values.

Brown said that property values in Dallas County are expected to fall by 8 to 9 percent this year, the biggest reduction in many years. In 2009, property values dropped by just above 3 percent, the biggest drop for the 1992 to 2009 period.

Commercial property values are also expected to fall by 5 to 10 percent, as vacancy rates have shot up and rents have fallen substantially. A lot of tenants have been threatening to leave if their leases are not renegotiated.

According to county officials, the operating budget for the fiscal year 2009-2010 totaled $445 million and the expected shortfall covers the current fiscal year and the next.

The lower prices of Dallas pre foreclosure homes have also put a downward pressure on property values within the city of Dallas, cutting down the anticipated property tax revenue by a substantial percentage. The city expected a budget shortfall much higher than that of the county – an expected deficit of more than $100 million.

To help the city cope with the anticipated shortfall, the city manager has asked most city departments to cut their budgets by 30 percent.

According to Ken Nolan, appraisal chief for the Dallas Central Appraisal District, foreclosures are now spreading into affluent communities like University Park and Highland Park. People asking how to find foreclosure listings in Dallas can start looking in these communities if they are interested in high-end homes that are now priced much lower.

According to some county commissioners, raising property taxes is one way to close the gap in the budget, but an increase in tax rates will only worsen the situations of residents. They also expect a fierce opposition from the public, since resident are expected to question the wisdom of raising taxes at a time property values are being dragged down by Dallas pre foreclosure homes and foreclosed properties.

The prevalence of Grand Rapids cheap homes makes the city still a buyer’s market, based on sales records from the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors.

The average price for Grand Rapid homes dropped month-over-month from almost $110,000 in December last year to $105,714 in January 2010. Although the January 2010 average price marked more than 11 percent of decrease from January 2009, it was still lower by about 16 percent from the 2009 peak average price of almost $125,000.

Because of the still cheap prices, home sales increased in January, with a number of families and couples selling their manufactured homes to take advantage of low house prices, low mortgage rates and the first time buyer tax incentives.

Sales of single-family houses jumped up by more than 8 percent while overall sales for all types of homes rose by 8.8 percent from January 2009 sales. The number of houses listed for sale in January also climbed up to 7,629 units.

According to Cathy Dracht of GRAR, the sales pace for Grand Rapids cheap homes has also been faster. While in the past months, homes lingered on the market for about six months; in January, they were selling for only about two or three months.

Home prices have been dropping month-over-month and have not been improving significantly from prices a year ago because residential properties continue to enter foreclosure auctions in Grand Rapids.

The percentage of short sales and foreclosure sales has dropped from 68 percent in January 2009 to about 60 percent in January this year, but the percentage is still very high.

In 2009, the Grand Rapids-Wyoming metro area posted a total of 7,829 foreclosure filings, equivalent to 2.5 percent of all households in the area. The total filings marked an increase of 12.24 percent from filings in 2008 and put the Grand Rapids metro area 56th among large areas in percentage of foreclosure activity.

Despite the rise in foreclosures, the housing situation in Grand Rapids is much better than in the other Michigan cities of Flint, East Lansing and Detroit, where the collapse of the manufacturing industry led to waves of foreclosures.

According to Julie Rietberg, CEO of the realtor association, members are happy about the drop in the percentage of distressed sales, but they are still concerned because of the still high rate of delinquency in the area. With more foreclosures, high numbers of Grand Rapids cheap homes will continue to drag home prices.

The number of Birmingham cheap homes increased as foreclosures surged again in the final quarter of 2009 and in January this year after slowing down in the earlier part of 2009, based on figures from the Alabama Title Company Mortgage Foreclosure Report and the Birmingham Association of Realtors.

In Jefferson County, where Birmingham is the county seat, foreclosure filings rose by 12 percent year-over-year, and in January, the rate of foreclosures increased to 1.64 percent of all mortgaged homes, up from the January share of 1.1 percent.

In 2009, a total of 8,174 foreclosures were posted in the Birmingham-Hoover metro area, a staggering increase of 267 percent from 2008 and representing 1.64 percent of all housing units in the metro area.

However, the number of properties that entered foreclosure auctions in Birmingham in 2009 slowed. A total of 3,519 units were posted for foreclosure last year, down from the 3,809 units foreclosed in 2008.

According to Alabama analysts, job losses drove more foreclosure activity and pushed up the number of Birmingham cheap homes. The average sales price fell by 13 percent in February to $149,204 from the February 2009 average. The median price rose slightly by one percent from the February 2009 median of $131,900.

Due to the decrease in average prices, more people bought homes and pushed the home sales total in the Birmingham metro area to 789 units in February, up by 11 percent from sales in January. Sales within the city of Birmingham also rose to 645 units, up by 14 percent from the January sales. Total dollar volume from home sales in February surged to $112 million, up by 2 percent from the January sales of $109.7 million.

According to David Oakley, head of Oakley Group which specializes in multifamily properties, investments in commercial properties for sale in 2009 yielded higher returns for investors as both the residential and commercial sectors put a downward pressure on commercial real estate prices.

Despite the dip in commercial occupancy rate in 2009 to about 90 percent, Oakley contended that multifamily occupancy will improve this year as renters look for bargains and concessions from property owners.

The number of Birmingham cheap homes is also expected to increase further this year because of the rising number of homeowners defaulting on their home loans. In January, nearly 8 percent of all mortgaged homes in Birmingham were delinquent by three months or more, up from 5 percent in January 2009.

San Jose pre foreclosures have been declining over the past few months, as lenders continued to regulate their filing of foreclosure cases. As a result, the falling inventory of foreclosure properties on the market has been allowing upticks in home prices.

In February, the median sales price for pre-owned single-family homes in Santa Clara County, where San Jose functions as the seat of county government, soared to $510,500. This marked a sharp rise of 21.26 percent from the February 2009 median of $421,000.

The median price for existing condos was $315,000, an improvement of 16 percent from the February 2009 median of $271,500.

It was not only the declining foreclosure listings in San Jose that drove the increase in home and condo prices. The sharp increase in sales of higher-cost homes also pushed the median price higher. In Santa Clara, 44 percent of all homes sold in February this year were priced $500,000 and above, up from the share of 36 percent in February 2009. In the Bay Area, 32 percent of total home sales were in the $500,000 price range, far above the 24-percent share 12 months earlier.

According to California housing analysts, the drop in properties posted for homes auctions in San Jose and in the slowdown of San Jose pre foreclosures have cut down significantly the number of homes available for buyers in the area and in other parts of the Silicon Valley.

The analysts reported that only around 3,300 homes and condos were available for sale on the Santa Clara County market as of the third week of March, a sharp plunge from March 2009 when almost 6,000 units were available.

Area realtors have also observed the rising number of buyers looking for $1-million homes, but they have become very choosy, looking for properties located in desired areas and do not need any refurbishing.

Nearby counties are also posting higher home prices. San Mateo County posted a 13-percent increase in its median home price to $600,000, far above its February 2009 median of $531,000.

Area realtors are expecting robust sales profits this spring because of the rise in prices, but other analysts warned that the price levels for some houses are still dropping.

According to Foresight Analytics economist Matthew Anderson, the increase in prices and the slowdown in San Jose pre foreclosures are positive signs of recovery for the nine-county Bay Area.

Investors now make money both from Jacksonville pre foreclosures and completed foreclosures.

Over the past years, investors who make money quickly from buying homes and reselling quickly at a much higher price are oftentimes seen as vultures. They have also been blamed as among those who caused the overshooting of house prices during the boom.

But now, investors are seen as part of the solution of the foreclosure crisis. With their expertise in buying and selling properties, they are seen as people who can cut through the red tape and put people more quickly into foreclosed homes and help make a dent on the loads and loads of distressed homes on the market.

Low-priced foreclosures in Jacksonville have been the target of out-of-state investors over the past year. They are also looking for properties in distress – those expected to be sold off eventually at homes auctions in Jacksonville if the owners are not able to cure their delinquencies within a certain period of time.

According to Jacksonville real estate professional C.C. Underwood, who has been helping out-of-state investors work out the purchase of Jacksonville pre foreclosures for the past three years, the difference between flipping during the boom and today is the transparency of the flipping process now. Also, the final buyers of pre-foreclosures now still get their properties at a sharp discount.

Underwood said that flippers of pre-foreclosures typically earn just a few hundred dollars for every short sale, but they increase their profits by doing more short sales, which typically take six months to complete. Flippers used to be seen as taking advantage of the inexperience of first time buyers; now they are seen as facilitators of difficult short sales.

Investors can earn more from foreclosed properties, with many of them making several thousand dollars off one foreclosure, but they oftentimes work out short sales while waiting for a foreclosure deal to complete.

In Duval County, where Jacksonville is the administrative city, a total of 1,710 properties were for short sale as of the second week of March and 567 units were already REOs.

In February, as short sales and foreclosure sales increased, the number of nondistressed homes sold dropped to 470 units, down by more than 12 percent from the 535 units sold in January.

According to the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors, distressed properties, which include Jacksonville pre foreclosures, accounted for almost 50 percent of all home sales in the metro area in February this year.

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Improvements in the prices of both foreclosed and non-foreclosed homes are expected to drive Detroit foreclosure investing, based on sales and price reports from real estate firm Realcomp II Limited.

Price improvements show investors that recovery is nearing, pushing them to buy some more properties before prices finally shoot up to high levels.

In February this year, the median sales price for homes in Detroit foreclosure listings was $6,153, a jump of 12 percent from the February 2009 median of $5,500. The sales price median, meanwhile, for non-foreclosed homes was $15,500, a sharp 64-percent spike from $9,450 in February 2009.

In the Detroit metropolitan area, which covers 9 counties, the median sales price for all types of homes in February was $55,500, a 29-percent jump from $43,000 in February 2009. The median sales price for foreclosed houses was $32,562, a jump of 21 percent from $27,000. In contrast, the price median for non-foreclosed houses dropped to $96,000, down by 4 percent from $99,875.

Among the 9 counties, the most expensive housing market in February was Livingston County, despite double-digit drops in home prices. The price median for foreclosed homes was $97,000, a 16-percent decrease from $115,000. Similarly, the median for non-foreclosed houses declined, falling by 17 percent from $180,000 in February last year to $149,625.

The rise in the price median for both foreclosures and non-foreclosures in the city of Detroit is a positive sign for people engaged in Detroit foreclosure investing. This means that despite the continued rise in pre-foreclosures in Detroit, the crisis is now easing, as home sales start to climb up. Besides, the increase in foreclosure filings is no longer as sharp as last year.

In Wayne County, where Detroit is the administrative center, the price median for all types of homes was $15,157, a year-over-year jump of 26.3 percent. In contrast, the median sales price for non-foreclosed houses fell to $74,000, down from the February 2009 median of $85,500.

In Macomb County, the median sales prices for all kinds of homes and for non-foreclosed homes declined. The median for all home sales dropped to $40,000 while the median for non-foreclosed homes decreased to $99,950.

Total sales for non-foreclosure homes in Wayne County rose in February from 394 units to 590 units in February while total sales for foreclosed houses fell from 1,359 units in February 2009 to 1,057 this year.

All in all, the upward trend of foreclosed home prices in the metro area bodes well for Detroit foreclosure investing.

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There were nearly 4,800 homes available for people engaged in San Jose foreclosure investing in February, based on reports released by a research firm.

In Santa Clara County, where San Jose is the administrative city, a total of 4,770 houses were posted for public auctions in February, just 80 units below the total number of homes listed for the February public auctions. In nearby San Mateo County, there were nearly 1,700 homes posted for the public auctions.

According to foreclosure analysts, the numbers of houses for the public auctions appeared to be slowing over the past months although the numbers are still just below record levels.

Additionally, the flow of pre-foreclosures in San Jose is still surging, as people find it more difficult to maintain or increase their income to make their monthly loan payments consistently. Almost 1,000 homeowners in Santa Clara County were notified of delinquency in February, a substantial increase of 25 percent from the January total and the highest monthly increase over the past 12 months. In San Mateo, the increase was even higher as total defaults rose by 32 percent.

Although the number of properties that entered San Jose foreclosure listings declined in February, the number of properties available for San Jose foreclosure investing is still high. Foreclosures in Santa Clara County fell by eight percent to 402 houses, the lowest number ever posted in a 12-month period.

The same declining trend was experienced in San Mateo County, with foreclosures falling by 13 percent to 138 houses.

The number of actual foreclosures has declined as more lenders give more time for troubled borrowers to restore their accounts. They are also allowing more homeowners to try to save their homes through the federal loan modification programs.

According to Dustin Hobbs, spokesperson for the California Mortgage Bankers Association, during normal times, it benefits banks to foreclose delinquent mortgages immediately, sell the properties, erase the nonperforming loans from their books and move on. But in these abnormal times when the market is overloaded with foreclosures, it benefits the banks to stretch the foreclosure process to regulate the flow of low-priced distressed properties into the market. At the same time, banks are also helping borrowers who are working out loan modifications.

With the relatively high number of properties posted for the public auctions, people can pursue their San Jose foreclosure investing activities and find lower-priced properties that they can turn into rentals or resell at a higher price.

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Abandoned pets are now being adopted faster at the Society for the Improvement of Conditions for Stray Animals in the Dayton, Ohio suburb of Kettering after some adoption policies were changed.

According to Terry Carlisle, executive director of SICSA, he was just a client of SICSA, which opened in 1974, before he became the director. He was able to adopt cats and dogs from the shelter, so he assumed it was also easy for other clients to adopt animals from the shelter.

But when he became SICSA executive director, he found out that a lot of prospective adoptive pet owners were discouraged from pursuing their pet adoption plans because of the strict rules at SICSA.

So Carlisle studied the rules and made changes to make the process of pet adoption an enjoyable experience for customers. One major change is the elimination of the fence requirement for people adopting dogs. Previously, prospective dog owners need to build a fenced yard before they can adopt a dog. Carlisle believed that giving abandoned dogs to people taking time and effort to apply as adoptive dog owners is much better than keeping them in cages at the shelter.

Carlisle also assigned a shelter employee to greet visitors and to tell guests they are free to wander around and look for a pet they like from among the abandoned pets in the shelter. Previously, guests are escorted around.

Interview time with guests has also been cut down from one hour to only about 20 minutes. Adoption fees were also increased to raise funds for the neuter and spay program of the shelter and at the same time help dispel the impression that purebred pets from shelters are damaged so they are cheaper.

But despite the fee changes, the adoption fee for purebred dogs – between $300 and $400 – is still less than 50 percent of the price for purebreds at pet stores. For other pet dogs, the fee is $145.

Since the policy changes, annual shelter revenue has increased from $93,000 to nearly $103,000 in 2009.

SICSA has also responded to the difficult situations of financially struggling pet owners and of people buying foreclosed homes for sale with abandoned animals in them.

Struggling pet owners can work at SICSA for ten dollars an hour to be able to reclaim their lost pets or request for a free supply of pet food for a certain period.

Meanwhile, the Animal Resource Center of Montgomery County, where part of Kettering is located, has reduced its adoption fees to be able to have more animals adopted and help more abandoned pets.

Phoenix home auctions have been moving properties fast to aggressive buyers as lenders lower their prices to attract bidders and to ensure all their troubled properties are bought at the auctions.

Since August last year, the number of homes getting sold off at Valley auctions has been rising to record levels.

In February, about 940 houses were bought at foreclosure auctions in Phoenix, a whopping 400-percent increase from the number of homes sold at Valley auctions in February 2009.

Not only are bidders aggressively snapping up the properties at the auctions because of the low prices, they are also aggressively evicting former owners of foreclosed homes in Phoenix.

Under Arizona law, the buyer of a foreclosed home must first notify the former owner to move out within five days. If the former owner refuses to move out, the buyer can file for forcible eviction with a local court. If the eviction filing is approved, the Office of the Maricopa County Sheriff sends an officer to evict the former owner.

In 2009, the number of forcible evictions rose to 1,416, far above the 280 forced evictions in 2007.

The number of properties getting sold at Phoenix home auctions continues to surge. In January, while other large metro areas posted decreases in foreclosure filings, Phoenix posted an increase, the second highest rate of increase among 203 large metro areas. Actual foreclosures and pre foreclosures in Phoenix increased by four percent to a rate of one foreclosure for every 102 households in January.

In many foreclosure cases, former homeowners do not need to be evicted as most of them want to comply with the law. But because of financial difficulties, they postpone their move until their house is actually auctioned off and bought. They are hoping that their properties are not bought so they can have more time to look for a place to move to. Besides, the time they spend on their foreclosed home means free rent.

Oftentimes, foreclosures are cancelled or revoked, giving more time to distressed homeowners to prepare. A lender can cancel a foreclosure before the auction or revoke a foreclosure sale after the property is sold.

According to real estate lawyer Diane Drain and John Smith, head of the Mesa nonprofit Housing Our Communities, homeowners should be given time to move out from the time their properties are sold at the Phoenix home auctions so they can organize and leave with dignity and so that new owners can have a better experience in buying homes.

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Atlanta home auctions continued to intensify in the first months of this year as defaults and foreclosures rose in the area, based on records from research and auction firms and nonprofit associations.

This March, Real Estate Disposition Corporation, considered the largest auction firms in the country, has listed more than 250 foreclosed homes in Atlanta for auction at Cobb Galleria. For this year, REDC has already auctioned off 5,705 distressed properties throughout the country for a total of $322 million.

Jeff Frieden, chief executive of REDC, said that the number of foreclosures for auction this year will be twice the number last year, with foreclosure filings this year to reach 3 to 7 million.

Among the foreclosure properties to be auctioned off in metro Atlanta are two homes with starting bids at $99,000, with the 5,600-square-foot unit previously assessed at $678,000 and the 3,864-square-foot unit previously assessed at $455,000.

Two other homes have starting bids at $149,000, with the 3,619-square-foot unit previously assessed at $510,000 and the 3,733-square-foot unit previously appraised at $455,000.

Housing analysts said that more properties are entering Atlanta home auctions because of the continued rise in mortgage default rates and foreclosure rates in metro Atlanta.

The foreclosure rate in the Atlanta metro area rose to 2.8 percent in January 2010, a sharp rise from 1.6 percent in January last year. The rate of pre-foreclosures in Atlanta also soared to 10.85 percent, an increase from the January 2009 rate of 6.57 percent.

Statewide, foreclosure activity also stepped up, posting a 2.47-percent foreclosure rate, substantially higher than the 1.44-percent pace in January last year. The default rate spiked to 9.51 percent, much higher than the January 2009 rate of 5.83-percent.

According to John O’Callaghan, head of the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, private-public collaborative groups need to rise up to the challenge and compete with private investors who are buying foreclosures, but are not fixing them. They are instead offering the properties for rent and not helping improve the values of properties in the neighborhoods.

Vaughn Irons of APD Solutions also called for homeowner and neighborhood education so that buyers are enticed to look at the value of foreclosures in battered neighborhoods.

According to the Sustainable Neighborhood Development Strategies and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, among neighborhoods that must get attention from government and nonprofit housing agencies is the Pittsburgh community which has been contributing to six percent of properties entering lists of Atlanta home auctions.

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Home foreclosures in Philadelphia surged in 2009, but home prices held up, based on data from the Gloucester Salem Counties Board of Real Estate and Prudential Fox & Roach.

In Greater Philadelphia, a total of 31,020 households were notified of serious defaults or foreclosures in 2009, a jump of nearly 15 percent from distressed notices in 2008. One default notice out of every 77 households was filed by lenders in 2009.

Despite the surge in foreclosures, home prices did not fall sharply as in other metro areas. The foreclosure crisis did not batter Philadelphia as hard as it did to 112 other metro areas in 2009.

In Southeast Pennsylvania, the median price for homes rose to $215,000 in 2009, a total increase of 12 percent over the period from 2004 and the highest increase in the Greater Philadelphia region.

In Northern Delaware, the median price also rose to $210,000, a total increase of 17 percent over the period from 2004, but a 6.6-percent drop from the median in 2008. In South Jersey, the median price rose to $199,000, a total increase of almost 11 percent over the period from 2004. It however marked an 8.3-percent drop from the $217,000 median in 2008.

Pennsylvania home foreclosures also stepped up in 2009, posting a 20.2-percent jump from 2008 filings, but like its largest city, Philadelphia, its foreclosure situation was also much better than other states. It ranked 32nd among the 50 states in foreclosure activity.

Real estate professionals, however, say that owner-occupant buyers and investors who know how to purchase foreclosure properties can find attractively-priced home foreclosures in Philadelphia and in other parts of Pennsylvania.

Based on data from real estate firms, 32 percent of total house sales in Pennsylvania in 2009 were sold by banks and other types of home loan providers, a substantial increase from 28 percent in 2008.

According to Ryan Sweet, economist of Moody’s Economy.com for the Philadelphia region, foreclosure sales cause further surges in foreclosure filings because homeowners cannot sell their houses in short sales to avoid foreclosures.

In many areas of Southeast Pennsylvania, homes stayed on the market for a longer time. In Cinnaminson, homes for sale stayed on the market for only about 45 days in 2004. Last year, they took 90 days on the average to sell.

Analysts, however, hope that home foreclosures in Philadelphia would take a shorter time to stay on the market in the first months of 2010 as buyers are expected to capitalize on current home price and mortgage levels before they rise.

Home foreclosures in Phoenix slowed in February this year, but defaults surged, based on reports from NetValueCentral and Information Market.

In February, pre-foreclosures in metro Phoenix climbed up to 7,604 filings, a jump of 12.45 percent from the 6,762 trustee sale notices filed in January.

According to analysts, the drop in pre-foreclosures meant that more lenders were giving troubled homeowners time to work out loan modifications or were delaying the completion of the foreclosure process for their own purposes.

Due in part to loan modification processes or short sale negotiations, the number of housing foreclosures dropped to 4,271 in February, down by 4.1 percent from the 4,452 postings completed in January.

The drop in completed foreclosures may have helped in improving prices for both nondistressed homes and foreclosed homes. According to Phoenix firm NetValueCentral, the per-square-foot price of a nondistressed house jumped up in February to $106.48, the highest level reached in the metro area over the past seven months.

The per-square-foot price for foreclosed houses rose to $80, a jump of 2.56 percent from the January rate of $78.

In the first three quarters of last year, home foreclosures in Phoenix dominated total home sales in the Valley, then slowed in the final quarter. But in January, foreclosures started again to overtake conventional sales, although the gap between the 2 types of home sales has been narrowing.

In February, the still surging pace of Arizona home foreclosures got attention from President Barack Obama when he and his advisors included Arizona among the 5 states that will receive a combined total of $1.5 billion in funding from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

While grants given to states and cities under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program were designed to rehabilitate abandoned foreclosure properties, the money allocated by Obama in February was meant to help cut down the number of foreclosure properties. Obama, in his speech, said that more unemployed homeowners should be helped with the $1.5 billion funding.

According to Michael Trailor, head of the Arizona Housing Department, the state will continue funding its foreclosure prevention hotline. With the additional funding, the department can carry out more innovative solutions to the crisis, including giving grants that lenders match so that the home loan principal and monthly payments could be reduced significantly.

With a number of distressed homeowners helped with substantial payment reductions, it is hoped that the pace of home foreclosures in Phoenix would slow down further.

Home foreclosures in Dallas slowed in 2009, but defaults continued to surge to record levels, according to an Addison research firm.

The pace of foreclosure in the Dallas metro area slowed down by nearly 12 percent in 2009 compared to 2008, although defaults continued to surge. According to researchers, the number of actual foreclosures dropped because many lenders have been delaying foreclosures partly in compliance with the federal loan modification program.

In 2009, a total of 18,637 residential real estate properties were sold at public foreclosure auctions in the counties of Dallas, Collin, Denton, Tarrant and Rockwall. The number marked a decline from 21,174 auctioned units in 2008 and from 19,102 units in foreclosure in 2007.

Of these foreclosed mortgages, over 65 percent were taken out by borrowers between the years 2005 and 2009. At the time of foreclosure, the average mortgage loan balance was around $130,000.

Among Dallas neighborhoods, the areas which suffered most from foreclosures last year were Southeast Dallas, Grand Prairie, Frisco and DeSoto. The quarter with the most foreclosure filings was the first quarter, but the final quarter posted the highest number of foreclosure sales.

The research firm also reported that over 40 percent of home foreclosures in Dallas last year were repeat foreclosure filings. Repeats happened because lenders delayed the completion of their filings for a longer time. Either they were complying with the Home Affordable Modification Program to avoid bad publicity or they were avoiding the costs of maintaining foreclosed properties.

Because of these strategic delays, analysts are concerned about another flood of foreclosures in the coming months. They are also concerned about the rise in mortgage defaults statewide to over 10 percent of all residential mortgages throughout the state.

However, according to Scott Norman, head of the Texas Mortgage Bankers Association, it is possible that the pace of Texas home foreclosures will step up, but the number will not constitute a spike.

James Gaines, economist at the Texas A&M University, said that if the lenders are able to stagger their release of foreclosures, the housing market will be able to absorb the foreclosures. So far, the price impact of foreclosures has been manageable.

According to a report released recently by Clear Capital, distressed properties and home foreclosures in Dallas accounted for nearly 40 percent of total home sales in North Texas in the final quarter of 2009. In some neighborhoods, the percentage of foreclosures reached 60 percent.

Abandoned foreclosure pet rescuers, caregivers and volunteers across the country are calling for families who are willing to adopt pets left behind by struggling families who were forced to move out of their foreclosed homes.

Families who have lost their properties to foreclosed home sale do not want to leave their pets behind but if they are moving to rental properties where pets are prohibited or moving in with relatives or friends in small spaces, they have no choice but to leave their pets behind and hope other people would adopt them.

According to animal shelter volunteers, many victims of foreclosure do not bring their pets voluntarily to shelters or rescues because they do not have the money to pay the fees or they do not know which shelters accept animals for free. They are also going through strange emotions while needing to pack and do hundreds of other things, so the pets are typically the ones ignored.

In the Ohio city of South Euclid, Sunny Simon, a South Euclid councilwoman who founded the South Euclid Humane Society, has been facing a sharp increase in pets left behind in vacant properties and abandoned on the streets. Staff and volunteers at the shelter, which has turned largely into an abandoned foreclosure pet facility, spend their waking hours finding foster homes for their rising number of dogs and cats and finding adoptive families.

Simon has also been spreading word around, advising people to adopt pets and not buy animals from pet stores because there are fewer families who can adopt animals.

Anne Oswald, who volunteers at SEHS, specializes in abandoned cats. Since most shelters do not accept cats, Oswald has volunteered to foster cats and has convinced others to care for cats while waiting for adoptive owners. She, however, has been overwhelmed by the rising number of cats that need foster care.

Brian Miller, animal warden for South Euclid, said he is now also responsible for abandoned animals in the cities of University Heights and Richmond Heights. He said dogs are typically held in a holding space at the South Euclid City Hall and then discharged for foster care.

Among the tasks of volunteers at the SEHS are finding foster homes for the pets, conducting temperament tests to make sure the pets are compatible with families and taking them to veterinarians for abandoned foreclosure pet checkups.

Indianapolis home foreclosures made the city again the most affordable to buy a home in the last quarter of 2009, based on the housing index compiled by Wells Fargo and the National Association of Homebuilders.

Indianapolis has been the most affordable city to buy a home for the past 18 quarters. In the last quarter of 2009, more than 95 percent of all residential units sold in the city were affordable to all families earning the median household income in the area, which was $68,100.

Last year, the Indianapolis metro area was 55th in a ranking of the 203 largest metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates. A total of 18,408 households in the area were notified of delinquency or foreclosure, representing 2.5 percent of all households in the area. The number marked a 9.4-percent drop in foreclosure activity compared to 2008, but marked an increase of 26 percent compared to 2007.

Similarly, the pace of home foreclosures in Indiana also slowed in 2009 compared to 2008, posting a total of 41,405 foreclosure filings, which represented 1.5 percent of all households in the state. The number marked a 9.9-percent drop in filings compared to 2008, but a 48-percent increase from filings in 2007. Compared to other states, Indiana ranked 18th in 2009 based on pace of foreclosure activity.

Indianapolis home foreclosures were largely driven by substantial job losses in the auto manufacturing industry. Last December, the city experienced a month-over-month increase of 0.4 percentage points and a year-over-year increase of 1.8 percentage points when it posted an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent. Its jobless rate for October and November held steady at 8.1 percent.

For the entire 2009, Indianapolis reached its highest rate in the months of March, June and July when it hit 8.7 percent during these months. The Indianapolis jobless rate in December, however, was better than the statewide rate of 9.9 percent and the national average rate of 10 percent. The relative stability of the pharmaceutical companies, government enterprises and insurance firms in the metro area helped the city survived the downturn.

This relative stability could have helped city officials handle their disappointment when the city did not receive any money from the second funding round of the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program to fix foreclosures for sale in the city.

While the city received $29 million in the first funding round, its second-round application for $35 million to buy and rehabilitate Indianapolis home foreclosures was rejected. Across Indiana, only the nonprofit Community Builders Incorporated received money, which amounted to $14.06 million.

Fort Worth home foreclosures rose in the first quarter this year as the unemployment rate in the area sprang up again after falling in November last year.

More than 16,000 households in the Fort Worth metro area, which covers the counties of Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton, were hit with default and foreclosure notices in the first quarter, up by 22 percent from foreclosure filings in the first quarter of 2009, but down by four percent from total filings in the final quarter of 2009.

For the March foreclosure auctions, the metro area listed more than 5,500 distressed homes, marking a 30-percent jump from the listing for the March 2009 public auctions.

Despite the increase in foreclosure postings, not all properties in the listings move on to the scheduled foreclosure home sales. Many homeowners are able to negotiate with their lenders for more time to pay their arrears and many others are helped by housing counselors in working out affordable repayment schemes under the Home Affordable Modification Program.

In Tarrant County, where Fort Worth is the county seat, foreclosure filings for the March auctions climbed up by 37 percent, much more than the increases that occurred in Dallas, Denton and Collin.

Fort Worth home foreclosures resurged largely because of a resurgence in job losses in December 2009. The unemployment rate in the area rose to 8 percent in December, after falling to 7.9 percent in November from the 8.3 percent rate that held steady from July to October in the area.

For the entire 10-month period from January to October last year, the jobless rate in the Fort Worth metro area was higher than or at the same level with the statewide rate. In November, it fell by 0.4 percentage points, but resurged in December by 0.1 percentage point. The December jobless rate, however, was still lower than the statewide rate of 8.3 percent and the nationwide rate of 10 percent in December.

Fort Worth is the fifth-biggest city in Texas and the second-biggest in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. Located in North Texas, it covers almost 300 square miles in the counties of Tarrant, Denton, Parker and Wise.

In contrast to the increased pace of Fort Worth home foreclosures in the first quarter this year, the pace of home foreclosures in Texas slowed in January by nearly 12 percent from the previous month. Over 12,000 households across Texas were hit with default or foreclosure notices in January.

Boston home foreclosures may grow again this year after posting a 19-percent year-over-year decline in 2009 due to a sudden surge in joblessness and reversal of home price growth.

After posting an upward home price growth from March to October 2009, Boston suddenly experienced declines in home values in November and in December. According to economist Stan Humphries, the sudden rise in joblessness in the metro area overwhelmed positive factors such as the federal tax incentive and lower mortgage rates.

In December, the preliminary unemployment rate in the Boston metro area shot up to 8.2 percent from 7.7 percent in November. Out of a total civilian workforce of 2.5 million, nearly 206,000 persons were jobless in December, up from 195,000 jobless persons in November.

Humphries also said that the Boston housing market could experience a second downturn after posting price improvements since March. The housing market, he said, could experience a further price decline of about one percent or more.

However, Humphries explained that the price decline could be the price correction needed by the market to finally cut down the pace of Boston home foreclosures.

In 2009, the Boston metro area posted a 19.4 percent drop in foreclosure filings, although the total number of 23,828 was still relatively high and was 126-percent higher than total filings in 2007.

The pace of home foreclosure in Massachusetts in 2009 also posted a slowdown of nearly 19 percent to 36,119 filings, but was still 104-percent higher than total filings in 2007. Massachusetts also ranked 22nd in the country based on foreclosure rate.

In January this year, Massachusetts posted a 21-percent increase in foreclosure filings from the previous month to 4,536 filings, including 817 properties already repossessed by lenders and posted in their books as foreclosure properties for sale. The number marked a 35-percent increase from filings in January 2009 and put Massachusetts 17th in a ranking of states based on foreclosure rate in January 2010.

Statewide, according to the Executive Office of Workforce Development, almost 40,000 jobs were cut down by employers in November and in December last year, pushing the unemployment rate to its highest point in over 15 years. Jobs in technical and scientific firms and in other business service firms were cut down by 7,500 in November and in December.

According to analysts, improvements in the job sector and in home equity levels are the two factors that can significantly put a stop to the expected rise in Boston home foreclosures in the coming months.

House foreclosures for sale in Charlotte are still affecting home prices, real estate taxation and new home construction despite improvement in home sales and a slowdown in foreclosure activity in North Carolina.

In January, the average price for homes sold in Charlotte was $200,592, a drop from the $211,705 average sales price in December, although an increase from the $189,048 average in January 2009, based on data from the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association.

The number of homes sold also decreased to 1,363 units in January this year from the 1,527 units sold in the previous month of December, although it marked an increase of 8.3 percent from total sales in January 2009.

Pending home sales, however, increased to 1,833 units in January, a 25-percent jump from the 1,466 homes in pending purchase contracts in December.

House sales in the final months of last year also showed improvements on a quarter-over-quarter basis. Based on a report from MetroStudy, home sales in Charlotte climbed up to 1,939 units in the final quarter, up by 100 units from the previous quarter.

House foreclosures for sale also put a downward pressure on the ability of residential and commercial developers to pay their taxes. According to tax records at Mecklenburg County, where Charlotte is located, over $70 million in taxes remain unpaid by thousands of delinquent property owners across the county.

The county said that 38,323 tax bills are still to be paid as of February 1 and that many taxpayers in default are real estate developers, commercial real estate owners and residential builders who have a lot of unsold home lots. A large number of the unpaid bills also cover properties that have gone into bankruptcy or foreclosure.

In 2009, the pace of entry of Charlotte foreclosed homes for sale into the market stepped up by almost 10 percent from 2008, with nearly 11,000 units going into default or foreclosure. Across Mecklenburg County, total foreclosure filings reached 12,774.

Last month, North Carolina posted more than 3,100 foreclosure filings, which marked a drop of 11.4 percent from the previous month, but still marked an increase of 33 percent compared to January 2009. Compared to other states, however, North Carolina has a much better housing situation as it ranked 37th in the foreclosure chart in January.

Nevertheless, the number of house foreclosures for sale in the state was still relatively high at 1,923 units.