From Reuters:

U.S. home foreclosure filings in May increased from April and were a whopping 48 percent higher than a year earlier, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said on Friday.

Home foreclosure filings in May totaled 261,255, up 7 percent from April, RealtyTrac, an online market of foreclosed properties, said in its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. The figure is a total of default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.

“May was the third straight month where we’ve seen a month-to-month increase in foreclosure activity and the 29th straight month we’ve seen a year-over-year increase,” James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a statement.
In April, home foreclosure filings had risen 4 percent from March.

The surge in foreclosures indicates an increasing number of homeowners are struggling to make mortgage payments amid the worst U.S. housing market downturn since the Great Depression.

RealtyTrac, based in Irvine, California, said the national foreclosure rate in May was one foreclosure filing for every 483 U.S. households.

In Georgia, the problems with foreclosures only seem to be increasing – and show no sign of slowing down.

The State again was in the top ten with the highest foreclosure rates, moving up to sixth overall. Properties with foreclosure filings jumped 11.45 percent from April, and were up 23.47 percent from last year. In May, 1 out of every 378 households was affected, compared with 1 out of every 422 the previous month.

Foreclosures have a dramatic effect on ordinary home sellers. Not only do they push down home values, but properties taken back by the lender contribute to the glut of homes already on the market. And with an increase of 128% in repossessed properties, there are now over 700,000 bank-owned REOs nationwide.

It’s a vicious cycle: Foreclosures drag down home values, causing more borrowers to be underwater in their homes. Unable to sell without talking a huge financial hit, more and more borrowers are walking away and letting their homes fall into foreclosure. And so it goes.

Still, there are still opportunities for real estate investors in spite of the rising wave of foreclosures. The REO market is saturated. With banks desperate to move their REOs off their books, investors have been able to get some very good deals on bank-owned property. Not only that, with the numbers of foreclosures setting new records each and every month, lenders are more open to short sales than ever before – allowing investors to purchase properties at significant discounts.

Make no bones about it: the foreclosure problem is a serious drag on the real estate market, and it’s a problem that will not be resolved overnight. For real estate investors with the right strategies in place, however, it’s a golden time of opportunity unlike anything seen before.

We’d love to be your Closing Attorneys in Atlanta. Want to know more? Contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss how Harlan and Associates can be of service to you!

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