Living After Foreclosure

Probably not too many people.  Though California, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida are still the poster children for the housing carnage, Idaho, Illinois, and Oregon are up-and-comers.  Foreclosures for February 2009 are up 30% from February 2008 levels.  Seven hundred thousand properties owned by banks haven’t been put on the market yet.

What may make the foreclosure situation worse is that some communities and homeowners’ associations are clamping down on owners’ rights to rent their properties.  Without the option to rent out, owners are forced to carry the full weight of their mortgage payments until they can sell — or until they’re foreclosed on.  It’s simply HOAs looking after their interests, but it’s at the expense of strapped homeowners.

The 700,000 REO properties is huge.  That will take a while to burn off, and home prices will go down when they hit market.

No one’s immune.  If you’re not being foreclosed on, someone near you probably is, and that affects the value of your house and your neighborhood.

• Stripped for copper Abandoned houses attract a lot of things: partying teenagers, mice, rocks through the windows, the elements. Now, with the houses rotting away in varying states in the foreclosure process, these houses are now attracting black-market commodities dealers.  The houses are broken into and stripped of their copper pipes and wires. ......
• Patron saint of foreclosures? Poor St. Joseph.  He can't catch a break these days. Folks are buying St. Joseph (husband of Mary) figurines and burying them, upside-down, near the For Sale sign in hopes of bringing a quicker sale. Prayer sure doesn't hurt but this is a bit off the deep end.  I had......
• HUD tips for avoiding foreclosure: Part 3 The US Department of Housing and Urban Development has some good advice for people that are in danger of losing their home through foreclosure. Here are the last three tips from that list, with some discussion. Use your assets. "Do you have assets-a second car, jewelry, a whole life insurance......
• Albany's "foreclosure intervention" bill confuses me There's legislation ongoing in Albany, NY, that will allow judges to postpone foreclosure proceeding and modify interest rates on mortgage notes of subprime borrowers. The Wall Street Journal contends in an editorial that this is "pols ... taking a whack at bank balance sheets" by giving judges the authority to......

• Rent or Own - What's Best Right Now? The housing market has many people concerned right now and one of the most popular questions is whether or not this is a good time to buy a home. Unfortunately, there is no clear cut answer to this question, and each individual’s financial state will determine the answer. However, there......
• How to Get Out of Trouble in the Real Estate Market If you invested in the real estate market recently and are now regretting that decision, there are a few ways that you can get out of financial trouble. For awhile, the real estate market was very solid and property values were going up. Many experts advised investing heavily in real......
• 73% Increase In November Home Sales The number of home resales were up 73% in November over the previous year. Of course last year was during our temporary dip as home buyers were shocked by the disaster in the US housing market and the coming of our own recession. It's not just the amount of home......
• For Sale By Owner Listings No Guarantee For Higher Profit Over the past few months I've noticed several homes for sale pop up in my neighborhood, and virtually all of them have a "For Sale By Owner" sign in the yard.  It is understandable for people to dislike paying 6% real estate commissions, but I think if more people would......