ForeclosureS.com: 3rd Quarter Foreclosure Filings Are UP

Business Wire, Oct 2, 2006

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Northern California based ForeclosureS.com celebrated their 14th year as a publisher of foreclosure property lists and provider of exclusive investor learning programs with the first nationwide release of their foreclosure lists statistics database.

"Our foreclosure lists statistics are broken down by Type of Foreclosure Notice. You can then narrow your search down by County and find the number of Defaults, Auction Notices and R.E.O. (bank owned) foreclosure properties quarter over quarter," said ForeclosureS.com president Alexis McGee.

She went on to point to several hot spots in the nation where foreclosure activity is spiking for a variety of reasons.

"In the West," she said, "we're seeing a jump in foreclosures in Maricopa County, Arizona. A total of 5,348 properties statewide went into foreclosure in the third quarter of 2006 up from 4,512 in Q2. 3,231 of those were in Maricopa County, the Phoenix/Mesa metro area." She added that the Phoenix area had been heavily impacted by out of state speculators with about 25% of home purchases being made by investors that had no intention of ever occupying the houses they bought. "Now, trapped by a slowing market and negative cash flows, those people are being washed out of the market," Ms McGee said.

She went on to say that other western hot spots included California with 39,896 new foreclosures in the third quarter and Colorado with 16,313. "We have a different problem in California because, in some communities like San Diego for example, more than 50% of purchase money loans were issued with high risk mortgage products like option adjustable rate loans with extremely low 'teaser' start rates. Now as those loans reset to market rates, people are being squeezed out of their houses," said Ms McGee.

She added that Colorado was suffering from a slowing economy as well as a cooling housing market. She pointed out that "in August, one of every 301 Colorado households were in some stage of foreclosure, a foreclosure rate more than three times worse than California."

In the Southeast, Ms. McGee said Florida was a trouble spot with a third quarter increase of almost 10,000 new foreclosures for a total of 33,778 properties. "The condo market there is badly overbuilt," she said. "There are almost 25,000 units under construction or recently completed in Florida, more than have sold there in nine years, and speculators are trying to sell them to each other."

Unlike the overheated coastal markets, Ms. McGee said the Midwest had never experienced a price boom, but that the markets there were cooling off anyway and that foreclosures were on the increase to 19,392 in Q3, with Cook County leading the way with 9,950 new foreclosures.

"This is a national problem," said Ms. McGee, noting that across the country foreclosures were up about 24% from July to August and up more than 50% year over year.

Accessing ForeclosureS.com current foreclosure statistics database requires member login credentials. For more information please contact: kristy@foreclosures.com.

ForeclosureS.com has been analyzing housing markets, providing foreclosure lists and learning program and assisting investors since 1992. The company recently developed a new investor oriented foreclosure property listing system and extended their services nationwide in late 2005, covering more than 1,211 counties across the U.S. with over 1,400,000 listings.

"Our objective at ForeclosureS.com," said Ms. McGee, "has always been to provide much more than just foreclosure lists and data. We offer both free and fee-based foreclosure buying information for both new and experienced real estate investors."

"Our free information includes a monthly e-zine 'The Foreclosure Forecast' with 10 years worth of articles available online. Our fee based information includes nationwide conference calls to introduce new investors to foreclosure investing; a complete foreclosure investing home study program; and intensive hands on workshops at our offices that put our students out in the field with me and my coaches to do the actual work of a foreclosure property investor."

She added that her firm has also built a cadre of successful investor clients in order to provide personal coaching and to give one-on-one guidance to program graduates.

Ms. McGee has spent her whole professional life in real estate -- beginning with her studies at Arizona State University in 1983 in real estate finance, and then went on to a career as a successful commercial real estate agent, and then moved on to personal investing in 1986. Finally, she became a national real estate investment trainer in 1992.

"Our mission at ForeclosureS.com has always been to teach investors how to create win-win scenarios that benefit both the distressed homeowner and the investor," said Ms. McGee. She continued, "That way, the homeowner conserves some equity for a new start, and the investor realizes a reasonable profit on resale of the property. That's a much better solution than just standing back and seeing the owner loses everything in an auction on the courthouse steps."