Mass. Defaults Reaching 'Epidemic Level'

[UpInArms]

http://www.dsnews.com/view_story.cfm?id=227

At least three sources are calling attention to rising foreclosures in the state of Massachusetts today. ForeclosureS.com, a California-based real estate investment advisory firm and publisher of foreclosure property information, reported today that foreclosure activity in Massachusetts was reaching an epidemic level and clogging the court system.

"Our Massachusetts research team spent four hours on June 8 with clerks and judges in the District, Superior, and Land Courts and learned that the courts have a 30-45 delay in even issuing docket numbers for foreclosures across the state," said ForeclosureS.com president Alexis McGee.

She went on to say that her information indicated that foreclosure filings for Massachusetts in the month of May were at the highest level for a single month since a similar financial crisis in the mid 1980's.

<snip>

"We expected foreclosure rates to increase again this year, but the levels we are tracking outdistance our earlier predictions," said Jeremy Shapiro, president and co-founder of ForeclosuresMass.com. "It is clear that many homeowners, especially those with adjustable rate mortgages, are being pushed closer to the edge as interest rates rise at such a consistent clip. We may be witnessing a 'perfect storm' scenario where a flat real estate market, higher interest rates, rising energy costs and specialty loans are causing significant difficulty for thousands of Massachusetts property owners."

<snip>

The May figures follow much steeper drop-offs in April. Single-family home sales plummeted by 16.5 percent in April from the prior year, and condo sales, which had been rising in previous months, fell almost as dramatically -- by 15.3 percent.

...more...

[MADem]

1. Home prices are overvalued here to start with

But MA isn't the only area of the country with insane home prices....

[wordpix2]

13. I'm considering a job in the Greenwich CT area & found Stamford is "afford

able," if you call $450,000 for a small fixer-upper starter home affordable.

[PassingFair]

2. Where the hell are all these displaced people going?

They can't ALL be moving in with Mother!

[wordpix2]

14. King George doesn't care. Let them eat cake!

[WindRavenX]

3. Boston is insanely expensive-- more than NYC even

It's damn near impossible to have a minimum wage, 40 hour/wk job and make ends meet-- and it gets fully impossible if you have kids.

Affordable housing is one of the biggest issues than no one wants to talk about in this country.

[smirkymonkey]

12. Nothing is worse than NYC - I have lived in both and am considering

moving back to Boston simply due to the housing situation here in NYC. I have looked on Craig's list for apartments in Boston and I can get a much bigger, nicer place in a better neighborhood there for what it would cost to live in a shithole in the boroughs here. I have also lived in San Fran and I have never seen a rental market as bad as NYC.

[LiberalPartisan]

4. It's the late 80's all over again

Real estate went nuts and banks were throwing money at people to get them in to any kind of mortagage so they could compete with the more lenient mortgage companies. That time Bank of New England went under. No banks may fail this time but it's the same dynamic. Even in towns that are complete pits like Worcester and Springfield houses you wouldn't look twice at are going for 300K+ and 400K+. The sad part is the individual has their credit rating trashed when they are foreclosed on but the banks just keep keeping on.

Neither a borrower or a lender be!!!

[AlamoDemoc]

5. You have a very good memory...it all started with Bank of New England

,and after came Shawmut Bank, Bank of Boston, then Fleet Bank, and Citizens Bank....they sold properties in Jamaica Plain, Mattapan & Dorchester and foreclosed many low rent properties in Dudley square areas to developers. Few with good credit were able to afford to buy these properties. On the other side of town in Somerville and Cambridge many low rental housing properties were razed to the ground and the land sold to bio-tech and bogus technology companies who downturn built expensive office spaces. Now these large office spaces are all empty, and neighborhoods ruined.

[wordpix2]

15. America the Ruined

[Jersey Ginny]

6. Gay Marriage

That's the problem!!

[ekelly]

7. And flag burning....

....don't forget about the flag burning.

It's just terrible how these issues are threatening homeownership in murika.

[killbotfactory]

9. and put the 10 commandments up in schools too!

that's the really real problem!

[TexasLawyer]

8. House note from $800/month to $3000/month

Defaults may skyrocket in West

FAIR OAKS
June 26, 2006 8:27am

<snip>

"Interest-only loans and so-called option adjustable rate mortgages with very low initial rates and high negative amortization are financial time bombs. When these loans reset to full amortization and market rates, the payment shock to homeowners is severe," <says Alexis McGee, president of the Fair Oaks company, Foreclosures.com.>

She cites a recent report by Christopher Cagan, an economist with First American Real Estate Solutions, in which he said that a homeowner paying $800 per month on an option adjustable mortgage could see their payment jump to $3000 per month when the loan resets.

<snip>

http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?...

[LiberalPartisan]

11. The lender and the lendee are to blame here

People were stupid and took out high risk loans and the banks were more than happy to hook them up to that needle.

[Tellurian]

18. Thats crazy...

People can refi their loans and start all over again at a fixed rate
or sell their property outright if they want to get out of their loans.

As I've said before, it's JOBS...

If people lose their jobs, the house is sure to follow.

[Trajan]

10. I sold my Chino Hills house 30 months ago ....

After it increased to 177 % of its value in 4 years ...

We just sold our latest home, and barely got out by the skin of our teeth ....

I now rent ....

[wordpix2]

16. Add to this the skyrocketing cost of fuel and electricity. CL&P just sent

me a summer bill fo $100 for one month with no air conditioning. The only thing I use a lot is my computer. It was $50 only a few yrs. ago for a June bill.

[newscott]

17. This is the part that's killing me.

I can make my house payments. Got a decent price on a home in a hot neighborhood. Cheapest house on the block. Great fixed interest rate from the bank. Did a couple refi's to bring the payment down even more. Then the real estate taxes doubled. How's that proposition 2 1/2 work again? Heating costs skyrocketed. Then the town instituted a trash fee. Then the utilities went through the roof. Then my insurance bill for this year goes up almost 50%. It's the ancillaries that are killing me.

[JNelson6563]

19. But the economy's so strong!!

CNBC tells me all the time how things are so great!!!

Frankly I think things do look great to the eyes of those who share the dream of eliminating the middle class.

Julie