Foreclosure Drop Under Way In Florida (and Nationwide)

[Purveyor]

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2009/02/09/daily30.html

Florida foreclosures were down nearly 22 percent in January, to 10,007 from 12,786 in December. That mirrors a nationwide trend, according to the latest U.S. Foreclosure Index report from Sacramento, Calif.-based Foreclosures.com.

It's unclear whether this is a trend reversal, or just a blip in a continuing slide.

“Efforts last year by government and industry to lay the groundwork for housing recovery finally are yielding the hoped-for slowdown in the foreclosure hemorrhage,” Foreclosures.com President Alexis McGee said.

Nationwide, she reported, foreclosures were down 25 percent, to 72,694 in January from 97,841 in December. That’s the lowest number of completed foreclosures since April 2008. Only Texas and Michigan saw a month-over-month increase in foreclosures.

Some factors McGee said could have influenced the numbers include Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s moratorium on foreclosures before the holidays, major lenders emphasizing loan workouts and states taking steps to slow down foreclosures.

Additional evidence that a trend change may be under way is a 12 percent drop in pre-foreclosures, to 166,860 in January from 190,467 in December.

Read more: BizJournals.com

[Beetwasher]

1. Oh Man, I Sure Do Hope This Is A Bottom

Fingers crossed.

[AlCzervik]

2. Not in Sacramento, the local newspaper said a whole new wave is on the way.

[glowing]

4. Yes, I believe the ARMS are going to hit next? Is that right? That means

all those teaser, easy buy homes are going to go poof? I know that they tried to sell me an ARM.. I walked away from anyone who wouldn't work on a Fixed 30yr plan.

[AlCzervik]

5. that's the working theory and on top of that in Sac there are thousands of people who

work for the state and because we have such a gigantic deficit The Gropenfuher is making some state workers take 1 day a week off with no pay so their almost losing a whole week of salary and we won't really see the effects that until say March?

We are a Hawt Mess, yes we are.

[mopinko]

9. the arm resets shouldn't cause all that much trouble. the prime is

almost zero. not sure what the t-bills are going for, but that can't be all that great, either.
so, those teasers would have to be pretty low to have much of a bump.

[lark]

10. My experience with refinancing

my home 3 years ago is scary. We have near perfect credit (FICO of 795) and good income, yet our Countrywide agent pushed and pushed and pushed us to take an ARM, even though we were in year 15 of a 30 year fixed and a 2nd that we were combining. I think they must have been paying their agents bonuses for the ARM's because there was no reason on earth to offer us an ARM. When we walked out and said we'd refi elsewhere, all of a sudden we got our 15 year fixed with no points loan that we had wanted and at the amount we wanted. Countrywide and their ilk should burn in hell for all the unnecessary foreclosures they are directly responsible for.

:grr:

[glowing]

15. Its one of the only ways that a mortgage broker makes any money.. when those

interests re-set and all. I wouldn't go anywhere near one of those things.. and yes Countrywide was a huge pusher of the ARM. They seemed attatched to every new building enterprise in FL..

[PassingFair]

3. Sub-prime foreclosures first, joblessness related foreclosures next.

Michigan is in BIG trouble.

:scared:

[cobalt1999]

6. In my town (in Florida) homes are actually selling again, just at 2002 prices

The good news is the number of empty homes is decreasing. Condos on the other hand probably have 5 years worth of inventory on the market.

[RedEarth]

7. I hope it's true, but I wouldn't get too excited since we still have ARM's and Alt-A

mortgages that will be resetting over the next 24-36 months. Many of these mortgages are already under water and so unless the government intervenes, there will be plenty more foreclosures. BTW, 60 minutes ran a story about this problem back in December...it's worth a watch if it's still available...if not, there are articles on the web.

[flyarm]

8. My local Fla news has said in Feb close to 1 million due to forerclose in

Miami mid to late Feb in ARM readjustments.

That is in Miami alone!

[tkmorris]

13. There are only about 5 million people in the entire Miami area

There is nowhere near 1 million mortgaged SFH's here, let alone that many with ARM's that are gonna reset in Feb. It's bad, but it ain't anywhere near that bad.

[xchrom]

11. recommend -- fingers crossed. nt

[Jersey Ginny]

12. If it appears housing is stabilizing, why do we need to bail out banks further?

And why do we need a gargantuan stimulus package? I worry this is simply panic spending that will cause enormous inflation 5 years from now.

[barb162]

14. I think foreclosures will continue as people are losing their jobs in a big way

[Lost in CT]

16. I agree

Foreclosures have moved from the speculators and the greedy to those more traditional reasons.

[goforit]

17. Good news that Gov't (state/federal) and private industry are taking steps to help.

[No Elephants]

18. Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a

bumpy ride.




This one will not going to be over in one night, either.

When it is over, things may not be like they were before it started.


We could be in the process of reaching a permanent (for practical purposes) "contraction."