Posted on 12/13/2006 7:56:28 AM PST by GodGunsGuts
Foreclosure activity surges in Mass.
Numbers up nearly 300% from last year
By Kimberly Blanton, Globe Staff | December 13, 2006
Massachusetts experienced the second-biggest increase in foreclosure activity in the country last month, according to a report yesterday from a firm that tracks the housing market.
The Bay State came in second only to Alabama in the rise in total properties that entered some stage of foreclosure, including lenders' initial notices that homeowners were in default, foreclosed property sales and auctions, and lenders' sales of repossessed property, said RealtyTrac , an Irvine, Calif., company that researches and provides information about US properties for sale.
In November, 2,100 Massachusetts properties were in or facing foreclosure, up 299 percent from 526 in November 2005, the firm said. Alabama's increased 466 percent during the same period.
By the end of the year, Massachusetts could surpass its 1991 record for the number of initial foreclosure notices by lenders against homeowners, according to a separate report yesterday by ForeclosuresMass.com, which culls the data from filings in state Land Court. There were 15,133 filings statewide between January and October, compared with 17,000 in all of 1991.
"Some of the states that had the biggest booms over the past few years are now experiencing the highest number of new foreclosure filings," including Massachusetts, said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac's vice president of marketing...
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Just remember, this thing is only just getting started. And if you remember, real estate prices took a big hit back then.
" There have been Booms and Busts since this country was founded and we survived... "
Unless you are substantially older than I am (statistically possible, I guess) *we* haven't *survived* any kind of "Bust"....
*They* (our predecessors) survived because they lived in an agrarian/manual-labor economy, and had some ability to fend for themselves...
It remains to be seen whether "we", having grown up with the newfangled "information economy" and nanny-state government will be able to do the same....
I, personally, have my doubts....
"Some of the states that had the biggest booms over the past few years are now experiencing the highest number of new foreclosure filings,"
How hard was THAT to figure out?
initial foreclosure notices
Most of these do not go to completion. Every year there are two newspaper pages of tax foreclosures published here, and maybe 10-20 end up in actual tax foreclosure. The owners use the time between publishing and foreclosure as a grace period.
What goes up must come down
Spinnin' wheel got to go 'round ...
Blood Sweat & Tears (1970)
Go to the new capital of the North America Union--Atlanta!
>>... and so it begins....<<
Actually, it began months ago. It is just more obvious now.
But not as obvious as it will be in a few months...
Not yet anyway. Except for the dogs and cats living together part.
" Actually, it began months ago. It is just more obvious now "
Yup....
I've been watching for it since I saw my first tv ads for "interest-only" mortgages and "equity harvesting"..
Right on time, apparently.....
About five years ago I was a senior manager in a large bank in New England. We sat there and watched people take out HELOCs for 125% of the value of their homes. And the values went up, and up, and up.
Wait a while. The small banks will start to fold up and blow away. In ten years you will have about five big banks, a few credit unions, and the guy changing gold down in front of town hall.
As my Dad used to day, keep your money around and during a recession you can buy just about anything for 80% of its real worth. Perhaps an overstatement, but if you want to buy property....wait a couple of years and you can get it cheap.
Think in terms of going back on your medication and getting more therapy.
Not yet?
Compare the hyperbolic satire of #10 with the actual fever of #32.
I miss the old days with no indoor plumbing, no phones and no air conditioning. A home like that was perfect for a single earner family. And ice boxes! Think of all the poor unemployed icemen. Terrible, just terrible.
"initial foreclosure notices
Most of these do not go to completion. Every year there are two newspaper pages of tax foreclosures published here, and maybe 10-20 end up in actual tax foreclosure. The owners use the time between publishing and foreclosure as a grace period."
There are two issues.
1. Mortgage foreclosure (for non-payment)
2. Tax foreclosure (for non-payment)
In both cases, few of those published are actually completed.
In my area, on the tax side many are timeshares. When they effectively become worthless, people quit paying the taxes.
I guess we will see.
"I, personally, have my doubts..."
You can count on me, Uncle Ike. People that have "old fashioned skills" and live below their means are still out there; we're just few and far between and we keep our mouths shut for the most part.
Come on over for some venison stew, homemade bread and freshly baked apple pie some time. ;)
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