This article is great, especially the last paragraph, which makes me laugh how foolish one can be. California was one of the hardest-hit states by foreclosures in 2006, leading the nation in the number of foreclosure actions, according to a report Monday by a Fair Oaks company that tracks the industry. California topped the nation with 157,417 foreclosure filings, up 94.3 percent over 2005âs 81,012 filings, according to Foreclosures.com. Colorado, with 68,310 foreclosure filings, was up 55.4 percent over 2005âs 43,951, the company says. Texas had 106,845 foreclosure filings in 2006, up 35.2 percent over 2005âs 79,001. One out of nearly every 2.2 foreclosures in the United States happened in the Southwestern states, according to Foreclosures.com. Nationwide, nearly one million (970,948) foreclosure filings were reported for the year, up more than 51 percent from just over 641,000 in 2005, according to ForeclosureS.comâs internally compiled numbers. The company does not reveal its data methodology. âHome inventories now are dropping and markets are improving,â says Alexis McGee, president of ForeclosureS.com. âThat means relief to overextended homeowners who bought homes they couldnât afford with the help of little money down and low teaser-rate mortgages.â Saying it might by indicative of better times ahead, Foreclosures.com says four states in the Southwest -- Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Oregon -- saw a drop in fourth-quarter over third-quarter foreclosures filings. âAlthough itâs impossible to know exactly when we hit the bottom on the price correction, I firmly believe that when the market heats up again this spring, weâll look back at this winter season as our best buying opportunity in six years,â says Ms. McGee.
yep, there are contact numbers on Foreclosures.com, I was going to call but decided ill wait till another 5% drop in housing prices...
It may stay ugly in some areas, but I am already seeing signs of improvement. I think this spring will be a surprise to many. Interest rates are STILL near historic lows and unemployment is under 5%. As long as you have job growth and afordability, my bet is the market gets stronger, not weaker.
Sure, But don't forget the upcoming ARM adjustments on those sub-prime loans, that were "sold" to the many un-suspecting perspective buyers. They're gonna hurt, but we'll see if it has an actual macro effect or not.
A raw count of foreclosures is pretty meaningless. A better indicator would be the ratio of foreclosures to mortgages. But the real issue is how affordable houses are. I don't think that has gotten much better recently.