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Foreclosure rate jump raises further questions about moratoriums

by Constantine von Hoffman on March 12, 2009

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Despite moratoriums from many major lenders, foreclosures were up 6% in February. According to the firm RealtyTrac, this was a huge turn around from January when the rate fell by 10%. The news stunned many analysts who had expected to see some relief in the numbers.

“We were very surprised,” RealtyTrac spokesman Rick Sharga told CNN. “The moratorium were led by big players like Fannie and Freddie and all the major banks. It was supposed to cover the whole waterfront. The fact that foreclosures still went up was a shock.”

This is further evidence that moratoriums are turning out to offer little help to people who are already in default. (Last December the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, issued a report saying  nearly 36 percent of borrowers who received restructured mortgages re-defaulted within three months. That rate jumped to nearly 53 percent after six months and 58 percent after eight months.)

One reason for this is the severe drop in prices seen on many homes. While not being forced out of their homes immediately is a good thing for owners, it does them no good in the longer term if the mortgage is worth much more than the house can be sold for. Further borrowers who have mortgages far exceeding the value of their homes don’t meet the criteria to refinance under a new federal program launched last month.

Another troubling sign is that increases in foreclosures are now occurring in states that had previously dodged this  bullet.  Idaho, Illinois and Oregon are all now among 10 states with the most foreclosure activity.

In already hard-hit states foreclosure filings, which include notices of default, notices of foreclosure sale and bank repossessions, have skyrocketed. South Carolina, for example, saw its rate increase 254% compared with February 2008.

As foreclosures soared, so did South Carolina’s unemployment. By January, that had reached 10.4%, the second highest rate, after Michigan, in the nation. It rose 1.6 percentage points higher than December, the biggest increase in any state, and it jumped 4.7 percentage points over the past 12 months, also more than anywhere else.

Constantine von Hoffman is a veteran business journalist and social media consultant. He write the blog CollateralDamage, a satirical look at marketing and business.

Last 3 posts by Constantine von Hoffman

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  • jplorson
    We have experienced the equivalent of financial terrorism on Mom and Dad America and nothing is being done to protect and correct for the situation by the President, House or Senate. Government Agencies, Wall Street firms and Lenders defrauded homeowners and investors for short term profit.

    The FNMA/FHLMC definition of market value states the assumption the price is not affected by undue stimulus and the price represents the normal consideration for the property sold unaffected by special or creative financing. Special or creative financing was provided by these entities and placed an undue stimulus on real estate sales and the creation of mortgages. Government Agencies, Wall Street firms and Lenders knew the consequences of their loan products. These entities knowing actions have destroyed the financial system.

    Millions of homeowners and investors who can make their payments owe more than their properties are worth. , Home values inflated by 100% over a two year period in many markets. Under normal conditions, home price would have increased around 5%. The created home values (100% vs. 5%) will have to be removed from current home values. Worse yet, with the strictest underwriting standards ever placed on new borrowers, thus reducing the number of qualified home buyers, the price of real estate will not be able to increase to the amount owed for 18 or more years.

    The answer is no interest on mortgages made between 2003 and 2008. The full amount owed will be paid back in 20 years at $4.17 per thousand owed. The People’s Fix...

    Again, we have experienced the equivalent of financial terrorism on Mom and Dad America. We are not breaking contract law, we are adjusting for the financial fraud the Government Agencies, Wall Street firms and lender perpetrated on Mon and Dad’s throughout the country. These entities knowing actions have destroyed the financial system. Action must be taken
  • Pamela
    Your comment makes the most sense of just about anything I have read on this subject. I live in upstate NY where house prices have never escalated that much. Accordingly, we do not seem to be having much of a downturn; on my street two houses have sold fairly quickly in the last few months. Neither was a distress sale, simply people downsizing once kids were out of the house. The market here seems to make sense.

    Since I have long lived with the fact that I paid more for my house at the time I bought it than most people paid at the same time for their now million dollar plus houses downstate, I do not have a whole lot of sympathy for all the whining. Why should my taxes go to help them? Every time I hear a politician talking about propping up house prices, my blood boils. I know they hope to prop up the collateral of the banks, but so what? Why isn't anyone pointing out that it isn't such a hardship to rent? I would have liked my house to go up to over a million dollars, but it didn't, and I would like to still have most of my 401K, but I don't . I know the government is not "helping" homeowners but instead serving the banks, because there are far more people like me who are being hurt by all the taxes we will have to pay in the future for problems which do not even remotely affect us.

    I would also like to make a point that nobody seems to care about. It is not just the market value of the house and whether people are "underwater" or not. If you have any mortgage at all on a house and you are paying the principle and the interest, you are "underwater" until that house appreciates significantly in value. Under normal circumstances, that is, pre-bubble or here in upstate NY, this could take many years. You always PAY more for a house, if you mortgage it, than it is worth. Even if you pay cash for a house, you may not be "underwater", but should you have to sell before any appreciation sets in, you will take a loss with realtors fees and closing costs.

    My husband and I paid capital gains on the sale of our first house during the 80s in Texas. I'd like to get that back too. It wasn't like we made a killing; we felt we were lucky to sell it, after the crash in the oil market. Nobody in Washington saw the tanking of real estate in Houston as a problem at that time. Get ready for inflation.
  • Chris
    The moratoriums will do absolutely nothing. Let me correct that, it will allow homeowners to save a bit more for their apartment and the landlords to save a bit more before the property goes back to the bank. Wait to see what the onslaught of foreclosures will be in another couple of months once the big lenders throw in the towel and move the ball into the foreclosure arena.

    This is not a recession, its a depression. Home prices are going to shrink back to levels in the 1970s lets just accept it and learn how life is going to change, and change accordingly. Markets go up and down, we had the largest asset bubble the world has ever witnessed. Now the correction, which is natural, is going to take all our toys away.. So what, it was never real anyway, it was a engineered bubble that we were led to believe was real.

    Time to get real people..
  • It is also important to remember that reckless borrowers were also just as responsible for this disaster as the lenders or the wall-streeters. Nothing ever substitutes for personal responsibility, you can't be made to sign docs at closing - you choose to do it.
    The F/C's will continue to happen and they need to happen, at that point the market will reset with a firm foundation and its done.
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