US Foreclosure Filings Up 121 Percent

The numbers aren’t great - U.S. foreclosure filings are up 121 percent over last year. They rose 14 percent in the second quarter, the eighth consecutive quarterly climb. These numbers are according to RealtyTrac and the figure is a total of default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions between April and June.

The government is trying to help by passing a mortgage rescue plan, which includes $4 billion in grants to local communities to buy up foreclosed properties that may be negatively affecting the communities. Fairfax County recently approved such a program, but Loudoun County is yet to do so though they’ve been discussing it for a while now.

The good news for us in Loudoun County is that most of the activity is coming from a small number of states such as Nevada, California, Florida, Ohio, Arizona and Michigan. Yes, the DC metro area including Loudoun County has been hit hard. But there are lots of investors and traditional home buyers buying up foreclosure/bank-owned properties, which is helping to keep the inventory down and softening the blow a bit around here as compared to other areas of the country.

Graph courtesy of RealtyTrac

Foreclosures/REO and Short-Sales Selling Like Hot Cakes

Sales of foreclosure/bank-owned and short-sale properties in Loudoun County are up…way up! So what’s "way up"? How about 378 percent!

As of a few weeks ago, distressed properties made up almost half of the total sales in Loudoun County. Investors and traditional buyers are out in full force taking advantage of the deals to be had.

Here are the numbers:

• The number of foreclosure/REO and short-sale properties that sold during the 2nd Qtr of ‘07 - 227
• The number of foreclosure/REO and short-sale properties that sold during the 2nd Qtr of ‘08 - 859
• That’s an increase of 378 percent

With the Loudoun County real estate market looking up and interest rates having jumped recently, this may be just the time to start picking up an investment property or two. And if you’re a traditional home buyer that doesn’t mind putting in some money and sweat equity into a great deal, you may want to check out some of those great deals.

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