Foreclosures double from year ago: report

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cities in California, Florida and Ohio dominated the 25 U.S. metro areas with the highest home foreclosure rates, though rates jumped in most of the top regions during the third quarter, RealtyTrac said on Wednesday.

Foreclosure filings rose in 77 of the largest 100 metropolitan areas from the prior quarter, according to the Irvine, California-based marketer of foreclosure properties.

A broad credit and liquidity crisis during the third quarter exacerbated U.S. housing industry troubles, pushing sales sharply lower and unsold inventory to record highs.

Overall, residential foreclosure filings nearly doubled in the third quarter from a year earlier, RealtyTrac reported earlier this month.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1337354220071114

[Atman]

1. You should see the "Housing" section of Craigslist for my area

Normally they fit three or four days worth of listings on a single web page...I was scrolling through the Hartford Craigslist housing section yesterday -- and scrolling and scrolling and scrolling and scrolling...so many that only ONE DAY's worth of listings were on the page. Plenty of "rent-to-own" situations, obviously some people desperate to get the mortgage covered before the house gets taken away.

.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

2. My sister and brother in law were over for a visit last weekend.

While here he said he had heard at the courthouse that there were over 4,000 foreclosures in the process in his small town. Now he isn't a bad guy but he is republican and for some reason this little factoid made him smile. (I don't know if he thought he would somehow make money off of this or not.) He is one of those people who think if a person doesn't pay their bills it is because they are just lazy, won't work, or buy stuff they don't need. He has worked his entire life for a family own business with no idea how to look for or get a job.

He went on to say that one of the people in foreclosure is a neighbor who lives across the street. Guy lost his job due to a factory closing and he hasn't found anything else. BIL seems to think he just isn't trying hard enough. When I asked if the guy had a family my sister told me that yes, he has a couple of kids (wife left years ago). One of the kids is a playmate to their children. I made the statement, "Those poor kids." And BIL looked surprised I would say such a thing. I just told him those kids didn't do a thing about any of this but can you imagine how hard it must have been in that house for the last year? How scared they must be if they know they are losing the only home they have ever known? It was like my BIL never connected the dots that there are innocent people who suffer a lot due to no fault of their own.

And the final thing? My sister (she's great!) and her husband are building a new house next Spring. They will need to sell their house to be able to afford the new place. You think he has even thought how hard it will be to sell for top dollar when you have got 4,000 homes sitting there with the banks ready to "give" them away to get the arrears off the books?

I guess what got me was that smile. Somehow, to him, the situation was funny.

[AlCzervik]

3. Stockton is down the road from and i live in South Sac, sadly it is indeed whats happening here.

my own neighborhood has a glut of houses for sale. 3 foreclosures on my street so far this year, 2 remain "Bank owned" and one was finally purchased at auction.