March 2009 Foreclosures

[Alan]

3/1/2007 - 3/31/2007: 385
3/1/2008 - 3/31/2008: 476
3/1/2009 - 3/31/2009: 1089

129% increase over last year.
I think this is a new all time high.

The last few months:
2/1/2009 - 2/28/2009: 838
1/1/2009 - 1/31/2009: 909
12/1/2008 - 12/31/2008: 660
11/1/2008 - 11/20/2008: 540
10/1/2008 - 10/31/2008: 643
9/1/2008 - 9/30/2008: 607
8/1/2008 - 8/31/2008: 575
7/1/2008 - 7/31/2008: 728

[jillayne]

Alan will you marry me?

[jillayne]

With the foreclosure moratorium lifted from Fannie and Freddie, we should see an increase in April as well.

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[Alan]

Jillayne,

I'll have to ask my wife.

Unrelated question. Do you watch "Big Love"?

[jillayne]

Hi Alan,

No.

Unrelated question: is your wife bisexual?

[jjl]

Alan,

Your title heading is misleading. You have not posted the foreclosure rates. You have posted the Notice of Trustees sale filed, which are only people who are late on the mortgage payments. Actual foreclosures are filed under Trustees Deeds.

You do Seattle Bubble no favor in giving misleading data on a well respected site for statistics.

And Jillayne,

... your message is ...bizarre?

[Alan]

I've been posting these monthly updates for over a year. I don't hide the fact that they are NTS numbers, but I don't feel like explaining everything every month.

It is my thing that I do mostly for me. Pay attention if you find it useful. Otherwise, leave me alone.

[sniglet]

Is it possible for a property to go directly to "foreclosure" without there ever being a delinquency recorded in the NTS? I am just curious as to how accurate NTS is of future foreclosures. If EVERY foreclosure is always surfaced in NTS first, then maybe NTS would be a good early warning of what was going to happen with foreclosures.

[DrShort]

A notice of trustee sale names an auction date about 3 months in the future. So a notice recorded today, *might* turn into a foreclosure in July.

If you align NTS filings with Trustee Deed filings 3 months later, you find that about 40% of NTS become an actual foreclosure.

[sniglet]

Can a property go into foreclosure without there having ever been an NTS filing?

[deejayoh]

[jjl]

Sniglet,

The foreclosure process in Washington State is regulated under the RCW's and requires a certain process.

Once a foreclosed property is taken over by a bank or investor it is filed in the county records under a Trustee's Deeds.

There are other possible deeds, such as Deed's in Lieu of Foreclsoure where a homeowner gives the property back to the bank voluntarily so as to not have a foreclosure on their credit report. Also Bargain and Sale Deeds, which are usually properties sold at the courthouse steps.

But all foreclosed properties are recorded with a new deed called Trustee's Deed.

The question as to why the actual foreclosure rates seem low is a good question. Notices jumped sharply (almost 30%) in January. There is a 4 month lag between Notices Filed and Trustee's Deeds filed, so April's numbers should be very telling. Will the foreclosure jump 30% as well? We'll have to wait and see.

I can tell you that many of the potential foreclosure properties are coming on the market as short sales. As those are absorbed through sales, it could keep the amount of actual foreclosures down.

April, May and June numbers will give us a clearer picture.

[jjl]

[sniglet]