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Foreclosures are hitting record highs according to recent industry report submitted by RealtyTrac. As per RealtyTrac, an online firm specialized in foreclosure properties, states that foreclosure filings which includes auction sale notices, home-loan default notices and bank repossessions, were reported a record high in April, 2009. The study shows that one in every 374 U.S.

households received a foreclosure filing in April which is in fact the maximum monthly foreclosure rate ever posted since RealtyTrac began issuing its report in January 2005.

Some states have witnessed a steep record high in foreclosure activity in comparison to last year. Nevada continues to post the nation’s highest foreclosure activity rate. In April, one in every 68 housing units in the Nevada state received a foreclosure filing, which is actually five times more than the national average. Total foreclosure activity in Nevada was up 111% from April 2008. In addition to this, Florida is a second state that has shown second highest rise in foreclosure activity among the other states in April. Total foreclosure filing in Florida was up 75% from April 2008. With rise of 42% from April 2008, California posted the nation’s third highest foreclosure activity rate.

The continuous slow down in jobs market and price depreciation had a significant effect on foreclosure levels. New housing affordability has turn out to be the prime concern and as a result deeply discounted foreclosure market holds for more than half of home sales activity. In fact in coming few months, RealtyTrac even estimates the foreclosure filing will further continue to increase till the world’s largest economy struggles to overcome from its second year of recession.

Housing market in US will continue to fall and experts even expect the peak of foreclosure activity now. Though the house market is down and price will continue to decrease, but if you are looking to buy any of the foreclosure property, you must take several factors in consideration like the quality and amenities of the neighborhood and much more.

For more information on foreclosure or any guidance in foreclosure investment, contact Stone Equity Group (stoneeg.com). The group specializes in assisting busy professionals build profitable real estate portfolios in changing markets. Over the years, it has built relationships with banks and large lending institutions to help liquidate non-performing assets.

After a flurry of foreclosures over the last 18 months the fallout from toxic subprime loans has started to wain. Foreclosure investments all the rage have impacted REO portfolios held by banks to just under 900k. This fact does not note the second wave of foreclosures to hit the market between 2009 to 2011 expected to be around 4 million.

The reason for the second waive of REO and Foreclosures is the adjustable rate prime mortgages structures on 3, 5, 7 and 10 year fixed periods after which may reset into substantially larger payments based on 1 - 2 percent rate increases or balloon forcing an accelerated payment. While mortgage backed securities typically utilized a 3% default rate for valuations some lenders are finding 12% of their portfolios in some stage of delinquency or foreclosure.

The office of the Thrift Supervision and the Controller of Currency released a 3rd quarter report putting a scare into the already fragile housing market illustrating new findings. The report, which covers the third quarter of the year, was the second such indication of the effectiveness — or lack thereof — of new efforts at foreclosure mitigation. It examined the portfolios of nine national banks and five thrifts, including JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), and First Horizon (NYSE: FHN), representing more than 60% of all U.S. mortgages outstanding.

As detailed in the report, the first since the initial tabulation was put out in June, new foreclosure initiatives actually fell by 2.6% to 281,298 in the September quarter (largely due to mortgage relief programs). But a perhaps more important metric, foreclosures completed, increased by 8%, while the total number of foreclosures in process rose by 11% to 617,642.

There was also a disturbing new trend in the report released by Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan: More than half of the mortgages modified in the first quarter to benefit struggling borrowers had fallen back into delinquency, once again more than 30 days past due by the end of September.

Real estate investments in the foreclosure and reo space are heating up. For more information on Foreclosure investments contact Stone Equity Group

By KELLY CURRAN
December 9, 2008
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The nation’s foreclosure hemorrhage has finally slowed — slightly, mind you — from 84,534 REO properties in October to 84,291 in November, according to the 2009 outlook from ForeclosureS.com, released Tuesday. While the decline is largely likely an artifact of a growing push to halt pending foreclosures while lenders and government officials search for solutions to the nation’s housing crisis, Alexis McGee, president at the online foreclosure investing resource says that she sees a significant decline in foreclosures as buyers return in 2009, pushing home prices up and fueling a real estate recovery.

“Recovery is underway. Affordable is back in the housing market,” says McGee. “In 2009, housing will not only recover, but we’ll see buyers leap into this market in droves, depleting our housing oversupply, and actually put higher price pressures on the market.”

That’s a pretty optimistic take, and one that stands in stark contrast to most assessments, given that well-known and respected economists including Mark Zandi at Moody’s Economy.com have suggested that the nation’s housing markets won’t be likely to see a bottom until late next year.

McGee has been preaching a brighter future for the housing market for well over a year, suggesting that investors start buying foreclosures; a cynic might suggest, of course, that she has strong self-interest in doing so.

In June of 2007, she said “the overall economy is sound, and markets will turn around,” in arguing that investors start to buy foreclosed properties. In February of this year, she suggested that investors shouldn’t “be scared off by the gloom and doom talk swirling around housing markets,” and should buy properties that were, in her eyes, on sale.

Obviously, most investors that bought in February have likely seen their investments lose money, given most regional and national home price trends this year. And as recently as November, McGee was suggesting that a drop in pre-foreclosure notices signaled a real estate bottom, rather than the more likely seasonal effect the trend has since been proven to be.

But regardless of a market that seems stubbornly unwilling to follow her predictions, McGee maintains that now is a great time for investors to buy. Low interest rates and the ability to rent out properties for positive cash flow, she says, are strong reasons to invest; of course, she also touts that investors will be able to sell their investments in late 2009 at a large profit.

Which is exactly, in our opinion, what the housing market doesn’t need right now: a swarm of investors with short-term horizons, looking to put properties on the market in late 2009, when most economists are suggesting a more organic bottom for the housing markets.

What the numbers show
ForeclosureS.com found that the number of properties repossessed by lenders following foreclosure in November is off nearly 21 percent from September’s 106,415 REO filings. “Certainly some of the drop reflects growing results of government and private efforts to keep homeowners in their homes,” said McGee, acknowledging the likely strong effect of moratorium and modification efforts.

Still, year to date, however, 12.6 of every 1,000 households nationwide have been lost to foreclosure.

The national pre-foreclosure average isn’t necessarily promising, either. Pre-foreclosures, which include notice of mortgage default and/or foreclosure auction, were up 5.57 percent in November from October’s totals, with 27.1 of every 1,000 households across the country facing some kind of foreclosure action.

McGee said pre-foreclosure numbers are likely to climb in early 2009, albeit at a much slower rate than in 2008. “Too many homeowners already are just too overextended and likely won’t seek help to work out their delinquent mortgages until after a pre-foreclosure filing against their property. That filing, it seems, is the wake-up call for many to get the help they need and sell,” she said.

“What I can tell…is that hardest hit housing markets have already hit bottom and others will follow in 2009,” she argues. “The bottom line to keep in mind: What goes down absolutely positively will go back up again.”

The only question seems to be: when? Timing, after all, is everything.

– Paul Jackson contributed to this report.

Reo Foreclsoures, foreclosures investing is timely for real estate investing.

After 5 years of record setting apreciation causing areas to increase as much as 400% between 2002 – 2006 it struck me odd at first when I put the subject line “Foreclosures for Pennies on the Dollar” on a marketing piece. At one point I remember the cavalier speculators compacent in the days of 20% appreciation counting on its buffer to marginalize negative cash flow. How were most so remiss to our boom-bust reality. In the greatest country on earth we have minimized stagnant periods but amplified volatility creating millionaires and even billionaires at every spike.
Now because of our banking relations we are picking up foreclosure and reos properties for 10 – 40 cents of current market value, which has already tumbled in most areas. I am watching the SEG REO Program make millionaires while the masses are paralyzed with fear. Why can’t we sober the sheep to opportunity knocking at the door?
The answer is we are trying every day to erase retirement proverty one client at a time. jph

Many investors have realized their pots at the end of their rainbows have disappeared, and are lost as to where to invest now.

In this Real Estate Market there is so much happening outside of our backyards. We have been looking at the places that are hot in this market place and we happen to see all fingers pointing at Texas. The reason why Texas is the big place to invest in is because of job growth. With so many people are losing their jobs all over the country there is a lot of people moving out of state and looking for a new place to call home. The big plus in Texas is a mix of affordability and job opportunity by what you can read in this article below.

Report: Dallas-Fort Worth has strongest job market in U.S.

Investors need to think their way of think from flipping to renting. The market is so volatile you cannot be sure that the foreclosure or rehab you’re trying to fix and flip has the equity at the end of the day to make it a profitable investment. Come over to SEG and see what I’m talking about.