Kentucky Foreclosures up 45% since Feb

Kentucky Foreclosures up 45% Since Feb.

"Kentucky foreclosures fell 1.3 percent in March from a year earlier, but
rose 45.2 percent from February, according to the latest report from RealtyTrac
Inc.
The state ranked 38th in the nation in terms of foreclosure rates.
Kentucky had 691 filings, for a rate of one foreclosure filing for every 2,733
households, in March.
Indiana had 5,119 foreclosures in March, for a rate of
one filing for every 538 households. That ranked it 11th in the nation.
Indiana foreclosures rose 18.2 percent in March from a year earlier, and
fell 0.5 percent from February. ...." Busines First Kentucky Foreclosures

Can the Fed cut Foreclosures?

Can the Fed cut foreclosures in 2008?

With the tough times of 2007 over and done, the big question in real estate is whether 2008 will be any better.

Mortgage reform legislation has passed in both the House and the Senate, the President has recommended an interest-rate freeze for certain loans and HUD has introduced the FHASecure program. These efforts, however, have had little practical impact because final legislation from Capitol Hill has been neither completed nor signed, the President’s proposals are voluntary and as of mid-December the FHASecure program had only funded several hundred loans......Foreclosures

addl information: Foreclosures

Foreclosures up 57%

U.S. home foreclosures for January increased 57 percent from a year earlier, but the pace at least temporarily subsided in response to private and government efforts to help homeowners, RealtyTrac said.
Mortgage companies and counselors, endorsed by the Treasury, are modifying many high-risk mortgages, aiming to improve affordability and keep borrowers in their houses.
Foreclosure filings in January rose 8 percent from the prior month after jumping 19 percent a year earlier, the real estate marketing company said on Tuesday.
Foreclosures up 57%

Foreclosures Vacant Homes

"As the mortgage-lending crisis spreads, business is booming among small mortgage field-servicing firms such as JR Services, which specialize among other things in "property preservation." Driving the trend: the national homeowner-vacancy rate, which measures how many vacant homes are for sale. That rate rose to 2.8% in the fourth quarter of 2007, matching a record set in the first quarter of last year; by some accounts, it hasn't been this high since the Great Depression. Meantime, U.S. foreclosure filings, a prelude to vacancies, surged 75% last year to 2.2 million, according to RealtyTrac. In December alone, there were 215,749 foreclosure filings, almost double from December 2006......" Foreclosures, Vacant Homes
For This Niche Industry, Foreclosures Bring a Boom

Older Homes Command Higher Prices

"Age apparently has its advantages in California's real estate market. The median price of resale homes in the state is well above that of new homes, which is counter to the national trend.
The National Association of Realtors reported that the U.S. median price of resale homes was $218,900 in 2007, 11.3 percent below the median new-home price of $246,900 in 2007....." Inman Real Estate Blog

Foreclosures Skyrocket in Kentucky

Foreclosures Skyrocket in Kentucky:
"A national survey has ranked Kentucky 7th in mortgage foreclosures based on September data, according to the Kentucky Office of Financial Institutions. The Mortgage Bankers Association survey–which only includes data on foreclosures made due to loan nonpayment, not tax nonpayment–showed that 2.13 percent of the....." Foreclosures in Kentucky