May 5, 2008

March Foreclosure Summary

Recent posts on Sweet Digs Seattle:

• Transitioning from Renting to Owning
• Is the American Dream Still in Reach?
• Freakish Depth 3.0
• Notable in Bellevue

Source: RealtyTrac.comRealtyTrac’s March report on the U.S. foreclosure market which includes filings on defaults, auctions, and bank repossessions. Nationwide, foreclosure filings totalled 234,685 during the month, which is 5% greater than February’s total.Specifically, RealtyTrac’s CEO stated that On a year-over-year basis, default notices were up nearly 57 percent and bank repossessions were up nearly 129 percent, but auction notices were up only 32 percent, indicating that more defaulting homeowners are simply walking away and deeding their properties back to the foreclosing lender. This deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure process allows the lender to take possession of a property without putting it up for public foreclosure auction.Tops of the list for foreclosure rates-Nevada,  California, and Florida, while California, Florida, and Ohio reported the highest foreclosure totals overall during the month of March.As for home-sweet-home, Washington ranked number 16 based on foreclosure rates, with 3,830 total foreclosures in March 2008,which could be as high as 73% over February’s number and 121% over March of 2007.