Lesley's Blog

 4:36:33 PM                        Thursday, April 26, 2007

Below is a copy of an article from ForeclosureS.com. 

Unfortunately there are a great number of homeowners in the Alton area that are experiencing a foreclosure or will soon be experiencing one.  I am one of a few REALTORS® in the Riverbend area that has years of experience handling pre-foreclosures. 

I work with my you and your mortgage company to help you get the BEST solution for your situation.  Many homeowners do not realize that a foreclosure will show up on their credit score the the remainder of their lives! 

Your credit score determines your buying power!  Whether it is a home, car or something else you need to borrow money for, your credit score determines how much interest you will be charged on a loan.

As a real estate broker I am held to a strict code of ethics.  I am very respectful of your privacy.  Everything we discuss will be held in confidence!  I am NOT a fly-by-night real estate investor nor am I associated with a mortgage company!  I have YOUR best interest in mind! 

Please give me a call (618) 372-4010 to talk to me about your situation. 

"364,000 owners staring down foreclosure in 2007

Of every 1,000 U.S. homeowners, 2.4 faced losing their property to foreclosure in the first three months of 2007, according to foreclosure filing numbers from ForeclosureS.com. Read on to see which counties lead the nation in pre-foreclosures, auction filings and REOs.
(4/17/2007)


More than a quarter-million (253,803) pre-foreclosures and notices of pending foreclosure auctions were filed nationwide in the first quarter of the year. In other words, 2.4 out of every 1,000 homeowners faced losing their property to foreclosure in the first three months of 2007, according to new and expanded foreclosure filing numbers now available from ForeclosureS.com, a California-based real estate investment advisory firm and publisher of foreclosure and property information.

Those numbers are up 22.5 percent from the 207,128 filings in the fourth quarter 2006. They also don’t include tens of thousands more now-vacant properties that were lost to foreclosure during that same period. Those REO or bank-owned real estate filings totaled 110,791 in the first quarter alone, reported ForeclosureS.com, which has been analyzing housing markets since 1992.

“The numbers cast a dark cloud over the American Dream of homeownership,” said Alexis McGee, president of ForeclosureS.com. “Unfortunately for those overextended homeowners it’s a cloud that isn’t likely to lift any time soon either, especially in light of the recent troubles in the subprime lending market.”

With some of the nation’s biggest subprime lenders cutting back or shutting down their operations, financially strapped homeowners now have even fewer bailout options.

According to ForeclosureS.com’s database of more than 2 million listings:

Nationwide, auction filings alone for the first quarter were up almost 50 percent from the previous quarter.
Pre-foreclosure numbers climbed to 168,837 in first-quarter 2007 from 138,799 in fourth-quarter 2006.
Total March foreclosure filings in all three categories — pre-foreclosures, auctions and REOS — were up substantially over February numbers. There were 70,350 pre-foreclosure filings in March, up 39 percent over the 50,496 in February; there were also 45,512 auction filings, up 52 percent over the 29,867 in February, and 45,561 REOs in March, up 50 percent over the 30,337 in February.
California led the nation in pre-foreclosure filings (49,016 year to date) and auctions (25,023 year to date); both numbers are up substantially from the same time last year, 139 percent and 277 percent respectively.

Texas had the most REO or bank-owned real estate filings with 14,101 year to date, up from 11,226 a year ago.

On a per capita basis: Ohio led in REO filings with 2.5 per 1,000 households (11,027 filings year to date), with Tennessee a close second at 2.2 per 1,000 (5,022 filings).

Colorado led in pre-foreclosure filings with 5.9 per 1,000 households (9,711 filings) with Florida a very close second with 5.8 foreclosures per 1,000 households (36,598 filings).

The top five counties in terms of numbers of pre-foreclosures included:

Los Angeles, California
Clark, Nevada
Cook, Illinois
Miami-Dade, Florida
Riverside, California
The top five counties in numbers of auction filings included:

Dallas, Texas
Maricopa, Arizona
Los Angeles, California
Tarrant, Texas
Riverside, California

The top five counties in numbers of REOs/bank-owned properties:

Harris, Texas
Wayne, Michigan
Cook, Illinois
Cuyahoga, Ohio
Tarrant, Texas"