Foreclosure News Still Worrisome
Real estate analysts continue to worry about the state of foreclosure news in the United States as the number of filings rose for the third time within the five-month period that ended in July 2009. Apparently, more and more homeowners are finding it impossible to keep up with the monthly payments as more and more workers lose their jobs and the price of property declines. The number of filings related to foreclosure in the whole country was more than 360,000, thereby resulting in one out of 355 homeowners being given foreclosure notice. Meanwhile, the status of AZ foreclosures was worse than that of the country because in Arizona, one out of 135 homeowners is facing the possibility of his or her home being taken. On the other hand, the condition of MS foreclosures was better with one out of 2,625 homes facing repossession.
One of the primary reasons for negative foreclosure news in the United States is the increasing number of workers who no longer have jobs. A record number of jobs lost was reached in July 2009, when approximately 247,000 workers were notified that they no longer need to return to work. Being unemployed, borrowers are being forced to default on their payments for the mortgages. Another key reason for the downtrend in foreclosure news is the decline in prices for homes because of the very low demand. In turn, the lack of demand is the result of the recession, low investor confidence, and stricter underwriting requirements. Therefore, many homeowners have the feeling that they should not be paying a loan amount that is higher than the actual value of their homes.
The National Association of Realtors has revealed that the median value for basic homes has slid down by 15.6 percent for the second quarter of 2009 to a price of 4,000. The negative foreclosure news in the whole nation is partially the result of homes reaching their lowest prices for a period that began in 1979. Of course, one of the key reasons for the negative foreclosure news is the rise in unemployment, as it reached 9.4 percent in July 2009. As a result there were more than 126,000 bankruptcy filings by consumers. The American Bankruptcy Institute has warned that the total number of bankruptcies could reach 1.4 million for 2009, as banks refuse to issue loans and companies cut down on labor costs.
Foreclosure news may be a bit positive when it comes to loan modifications. Approximately 235,000 homeowners were able to get their loans restructured under the federal program. However, the number is still low when compared with the target of four million homeowners all over the United States.
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