Banks are keeping a massive number of foreclosed homes off the market. The medicine taken later rather than sooner could be the tipping point that causes the economy dry heaves. Delinquencies and Foreclosures at Record High http://www.dsnews.com/articles/deli...dow-inventories-looming-lps-report-2009-11-10 11/10/2009 By: Carrie Bay Nearly one-third of foreclosures remain in pre-sale status after 12 months â twice as many as the year prior, LPS said in its study, further adding to the threat of a shadow eclipse. In addition, the six-month average deterioration ratio on troubled mortgages has risen the past two months to 300 percent, showing that for every loan that improves in status, three more deteriorate further, LPS explained. LPSâ October Mortgage Monitor reveals record high rates for non-current loans. The company reported that total U.S. delinquency rate stood at 9.37 percent at the end of September, while the nationâs September foreclosure rate hit 3.12 percent â a month-over-month increase of 2.6 percent and a year-over-year increase of 88.9 percent. Among individual states, it comes as no surprise that Florida posted the most troubling results, with 10.4 percent of loans in foreclosure and more than 12 percent more delinquent. Other states reporting high levels of non-current loans â which includes both foreclosures and delinquencies as a percentage of active loans in the state â were Mississippi, Georgia, and Michigan, as well as the usual high-foreclosure states of Nevada, Arizona, and California. The one positive reported by LPS was an upswing in loan production volume over the previous year. Year-to-date 2009 loans totaled 2,032,973, LPS said, versus 1,903,723 for the same period in 2008.
I've got nearly 1000 deteriorating on my servicing route...all within about a 40-mile radius. And those are the ones I know of. Who knows how many more there are... Every time I go out I find a few new delinquencies come down and a few new ones vacant...some for over a year and nothing done to them.
This is a real tragedy for those families who have lost their homes. Unfortunately, with all of the option-ARM resets that start coming due next spring, the foreclosure problem (and the economy) is only going to get much worse. As an investor, I would like to profit from the banks' glut of homes. There are people getting rich buying foreclosures and REOs, putting a few thousand dollars into them to spruce up their cosmetic appearance, then selling them on a lease-purchase option to people with less than perfect credit who cannot get a loan for a new home. Anyone know of a publicly traded company that does this type of thing? I do not want to buy, rehab and sell homes myself.