Foreclosed Lists Growing in West Georgia due to Job Loss

Foreclosed lists are growing in West Georgia because of the rising number of homeowners losing their jobs, based on records from the Carroll County Tax Assessor’s Office.

According to Sandra Ferguson, head appraiser of Carroll County, the number of foreclosure homes could reach 990 units this year if the current pace of defaults continues.

Carroll realtor Rett Harmon said that the rise in foreclosures has been pushing home prices further down. He added that he sees some distressed mortgages being modified by lenders and some short sales being completed, but there are still a lot of troubled mortgages falling into foreclosure.

Ferguson explained that many bank repossessions now are not caused by the default of toxic mortgages, but by loss of jobs. In October, the jobless rate in Georgia soared to a seasonally adjusted rate of 10.2 percent, up from the adjusted September rate of 10.1 percent.

For the first time in 2 years, the jobless rate in Georgia matched the nationwide rate of 10.2 percent in October. Most job losses occurred in the manufacturing, retail, trade, construction, business services and professional sectors.

According to Ferguson, from January to the end of September, the county processed more than 1,000 repossession deeds and handled the resale of 639 properties in foreclosed lists. In contrast, there were only 305 properties sold in non-distressed sales.

Ferguson further explained that the owners of recent foreclosure sales were responsible people. They did not buy large homes, did not use exotic loans and did not default deliberately like other borrowers. She said that these homeowners lost their jobs, wiped out their savings and could not borrow to save their mortgages.

A lot of business enterprises also closed in Carroll County, further worsening the job situation in the area. So far this year, 26 businesses already shut down, a jump from the 15 business operations that closed last year.

In 2008, final owners of closed and foreclosed businesses were a bit luckier because they were able to sell their assets near market value, but final owners of foreclosed businesses this year have been finding it hard to find buyers as commercial and residential foreclosures continue to drag down property values.

As shown in another report from a California research firm, the state of Georgia is still struggling with foreclosures, posting a total of 12,468 foreclosure filings in October, including 4,434 properties already in the foreclosed lists of banks.

Related Posts:

• Great Economy but an Unstable Real Estate Market
• Sales from Lists of Foreclosed Homes in Sacramento Still Up
• Uncertain Impact of Foreclosed Mall on a Wisconsin Downtow
• Bank Owned Properties in Georgia – Focus of Wells Fargo
• Atlanta Foreclosure Home Auctions to Sell 10,000 Units