February Foreclosure Homes Up

Foreclosure home filings increased by almost 30 percent on the same month that President Barack Obama unveiled his $275 billion foreclosure prevention plan.

RealtyTrac said that foreclosure houses for sale jumped to 290,000 or 30 percent from the previous year. The agency has been compiling and collecting foreclosure data from over 2,200 counties since 2005.

RealtyTrac reported that one per 440 homeowners received foreclosure homes filings last month. The total foreclosure homes filings was about 6 percent higher from the January 2009 data.

February foreclosure homes filings were the third highest following data of August and December last year. Last month's increase was in sharp contrast with the reported dropped in foreclosure and pre foreclosure filings in January.

Nationwide data showed that the total number of distressed foreclosure properties in January dropped 25.7 percent to 72,694 from the previous month's 97,841.

Pre-foreclosure filings also dropped almost 12 percent from December to January from 190,467 to 166,860.

The February increase is blamed on delays in the foreclosure process which prolonged the housing crisis

It has been noted that foreclosure homes filings increased after the 45-day voluntary foreclosure moratorium ended last week of January in Florida.

RealtyTrac reported that a 90-day foreclosure homes moratorium delayed proceedings in New York in January, resulted to a whopping 23 percent increase when foreclosure activity resumed in February.

According to RealtyTrac senior vice president Rick Sharga, there is not progress in the fight to end the housing crisis despite widespread efforts to help owners of distressed properties.

As more foreclosure moratoriums are scheduled to end, including that of J.P. Chase and Co., the number of repossessed homes is expected to increase throughout 2009.

Meanwhile, Bank of America Corp. said that it will extend its foreclosure moratorium program on a weekly basis as it continues to assess borrowers' potential eligibility under the Obama Administration's program aimed at stabilizing the housing market.

Meanwhile, Sharga said that option-arm and Alt-A loans estimated to be worth between $60 to $70 billion will start to reset in the coming quarter. He pointed out that the scheduled reset, coupled with the continuing rise of unemployment rate, will brought further misery to about 3 million distressed homeowners who are expected to receive foreclosure homes notice this year.

On the other hand, Mortgage Master Inc. Chief Executive Officer Leif Thomsen explained that some foreclosures are necessary as many homeowners bought properties that they could not afford to pay in the first place. He advised these troubled homeowners to accept their loss and try to move on.

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