I was talking to a friend yesterday who works with banks and Realtors
By Daniel at 16 August, 2009, 12:34 pm
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He said that banks are allowing a lot of homeowners who have quit paying their mortgages to continue to live in the homes because it’s cheaper than foreclosure. I questioned him about it, but he insisted that the practice is vast, and widespread. He said, So long as the homeowner continues to maintain the house it’s cheaper to let them stay. So I googled it to check for myself, and here’s what I found:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aOluOO8Vy0gc
I know of one family that hasn’t made a mortgage payment for over a year, and they are still living in the house. They got their first foreclosure notice last month.
There is an increasing number of homeowners unable to make mortgage payments leading to higher loan delinquencies and defaults. Banks are holding many foreclosed homes off the market and attaching silly numbers as their value. The federal government and media CNBC in particular wants you to believe that banks are recovering, housing has bottomed, the stimulus worked, and excessive borrowing leads to prosperity. Commercial real estate is in trouble and no amount of media spin will change the facts. I just wish MW would provide some facts rather than what economist expect. The blue chip economist have been wrong the last five years.
* One in every 56 Nevada housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in July
* Scheduled auctions and bank repossessions in Nevada both increased more than 20 percent from the previous month
* One in every 135 Arizona housing units received a foreclosure filing in July
* Initial defaults in California spiked 15 percent from the previous month
* 56,486 properties in Florida received a foreclosure filing
* Over 360,000 Households received foreclosure filings in July 2009, an increase of nearly 7 percent from the previous month
Housing bottom? I don’t think so.
Impendingdoom
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