Foreclosure Filings Rise in July
As Credit Woes Continue
By MIKE BARRIS
WSJ
August 14, 2008 7:20 a.m.

Property foreclosure filings for July rose 8% from June and 55% from a
year earlier, as credit woes and tumbling home values continue to hit
homeowners.

Foreclosure-listing service RealtyTrac said there were foreclosure
filings on 272,171 properties last month, or one for every 464
households. Bank repossessions, or real-estate-owned properties (REOs),
continued to be the fastest-growing segment, said Chief Executive James
J. Saccacio. The number of REOs nearly tripled from July 2007, while
default notices jumped 53% and auction notices rose 11%.

The combination of slow sales and bank repossessions has created a
"bloated inventory of bank-owned properties," he said, with RealtyTrac
now having more than 750,000 properties in its active REO database, or
about 17% of the inventory of existing homes for sale reported in June
by the National Association of Realtors.

Nevada, California and Florida posted the highest foreclosure rates.
Nevada topped the list, with one in 106 households receiving a filing.
The number of filings surged 97% from a year earlier. Bank repossessions
rose nearly fivefold in Nevada, while default notices climbed 59% and
auction notices increased 31%.

California, Florida and Nevada accounted for nine of the top 10
metropolitan areas.

**The Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., area led the list, with one
foreclosure filing for every 64 households.**

Merced, Calif., was No. 2, while Stockton and Modesto, Calif., were in
a virtual tie for third. Las Vegas was fifth.

On Aug 14, 2:26*pm, hk wrote:
Foreclosure Filings Rise in July
As Credit Woes Continue
By MIKE BARRIS
WSJ
August 14, 2008 7:20 a.m.

Property foreclosure filings for July rose 8% from June and 55% from a
year earlier, as credit woes and tumbling home values continue to hit
homeowners.

Foreclosure-listing service RealtyTrac said there were foreclosure
filings on 272,171 properties last month, or one for every 464
households. Bank repossessions, or real-estate-owned properties (REOs),
continued to be the fastest-growing segment, said Chief Executive James
J. Saccacio. The number of REOs nearly tripled from July 2007, while
default notices jumped 53% and auction notices rose 11%.

The combination of slow sales and bank repossessions has created a
"bloated inventory of bank-owned properties," he said, with RealtyTrac
now having more than 750,000 properties in its active REO database, or
about 17% of the inventory of existing homes for sale reported in June
by the National Association of Realtors.

Nevada, California and Florida posted the highest foreclosure rates.
Nevada topped the list, with one in 106 households receiving a filing.
The number of filings surged 97% from a year earlier. Bank repossessions
rose nearly fivefold in Nevada, while default notices climbed 59% and
auction notices increased 31%.

California, Florida and Nevada accounted for nine of the top 10
metropolitan areas.

**The Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., area led the list, with one
foreclosure filing for every 64 households.**

* Merced, Calif., was No. 2, while Stockton and Modesto, Calif., were in
a virtual tie for third. Las Vegas was fifth.

Harry, the way I look at it, this is usually what happens when people
live, or try to live beyond their means and max out their money like
there's no end.

I do understand that occasionally there's catostrophic events that can
turn someones economic stature (and portfolio) upside down over
night.

But in many of these housing crunch's both buyer and lender are at
fault.

In other words. "Here's where too fools met."

On Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:06:37 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

In other words. "Here's where too fools met."

I have a friend who is in the building trades (and still doing well I
might add) who told me it got so crazy during the bubble that he
literally had people bidding houses he built up when he finished them.
As in more than $50/60K over his original price. One was like $100K
over.

He recognised it early and backed off several of his developments
mothballing certain lots or combining lots and selling them at cost to
neighbors. I took his advice and Mrs. Wave and I got out of all but
one of our apartments houses right at the top - beat it by about six
months. The last house just sold today at a 20K discount to the
asking price - fair value though so we're not losing anything and
actually made a fairly good chunk.

Smart guy. He's now into "green" building with geo-thermal, solar and
wind power - has an entire new development that's half sold on spec to
some investors wanting to see what the green development will look
like.

There's money out there - it's just smart investors waiting for things
to settle.

It was a good correction in my opinion and sorely needed to bring some
reality back into the lending and housing markets.

"Tim" wrote in message
...

On Aug 14, 2:26 pm, hk wrote:

Foreclosure Filings Rise in July
As Credit Woes Continue
By MIKE BARRIS
WSJ
August 14, 2008 7:20 a.m.



I do understand that occasionally there's catostrophic events that can
turn someones economic stature (and portfolio) upside down over
night.

But in many of these housing crunch's both buyer and lender are at
fault.

In other words. "Here's where too fools met."

----------------------------

I was listening to a report on the housing market in our part of the country
today on the radio. Local realtors and banks are reporting a solid
increase in new and existing home purchases over the past two months
following a year or more of declines. Home values are also increasing
again, after months of decline. The report was cautiously optimistic that
we may have indeed turned the corner, and they predicted a slow, but steady
improvement in the months to come.

The market value estimates on our properties bottomed out last April and
have been rising since according to Zillow.com, consistent with the radio
report.

Eisboch