Foreclosure news continues to dominate national headlines as the unemployement rate keeps climbing. Reports say that almost 6% of homeowners are either in the rears on payments or at the cusp of foreclosure. This number has doubled as compared to just a year ago. The MBA (Mortgage Bankers Association) has stated that it sees this news as very “troubling”.
In April, 342,000 properties in the US were foreclosed. California posted 96,500 of the total foreclosures of the country. Data is cited from RealtyTrac – a web-based company. Reportedly more than 600,000 senior citizens are also either delinquent or have already been foreclosed on. According to the AARP, when you look at subprime loans, senior citizens are 17 times more likely to lose their homes to foreclosure than those with prime rate loans of the same age.
Subprime loans contribute a big factor in the number of foreclosures in a community. A study showed that in areas where subprime loans are prevalent, the number of foreclosure filings is also high. In states where there is a predominance of foreclosure news, subprime mortgages consist of as much as 50 percent of the cases.
Researchers tried to study other factors which could affect the number of foreclosures in an area. The factors included the value of the home, the race of the homeowners and their income levels – but what they found is that the predominant factor was the sub-prime rates. Not surprisingly, one factor that did repeatedly impact the rate of foreclosure was unemployment. Many people simply do not have enough income to keep ahead on their mortgage payments. That’s why MS Foreclosures and other areas as well are skyrocketing. Because of this, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston recommended that unemployed homeowners should be given more focus by policies that aim to fight foreclosures.
Many more Americans are still at risk of having their properties foreclosed. (Note: When doing your research online make sure to search for ‘forecloser‘ as well as it is a very common miss-spelling.) The government is trying to assist with various policies and legislation, but it is unclear on what impact it will have. And the progress of these programs is still nowhere to be found because it takes more time than unexpected. Many Americans simply do not have that long to wait.
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