The number of foreclosure notices filed in Rhode Island in January declined almost 13 percent compared with a year earlier. According to a report released last Thursday by RealtyTrac, one out of every 696 homes in Rhode Island received a foreclosure notice in January  filings are also 5% lower than December. Nationally, one in every 409 homes received a foreclosure notice in January, up 15 percent from a year earlier but down 10 percent from December, RealtyTrac said.

According to RealtyTrac Chief Executive James J. Saccacio January’s  numbers are  very similar to a year ago  a double-digit jump in December followed by a 10 percent drop in January.  “If history repeats itself we will see a surge in the numbers over the next few months as lenders foreclose on delinquent loans where neither the existing loan modification programs or the new short sale and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure alternatives work,” he said.

This comes on some the heels of some promising end of year statistics, overall foreclosure filings in Rhode Island decreased 23 percent in 2009 compared with the prior year.

This Week’s Real Estate Insight:

While we still have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, Rhode Island does seem to be bucking the trends for foreclosure filings. Nationally,  Rhode Island accounted for less than 1 percent of the foreclosure filings reported nationwide in 2009 and  total U.S. activity increased more than 21 percent over the level reported for all of 2008.

The Rhode Island Association of Realtors released their third quarter statistics last week, and to no surprise, distressed home sales are driving the market. More than 1in 4 single-family houses sold in the third quarter were foreclosures or short sales. More than half of all the distressed sales were in Pawtucket, Providence, Cranston and Warwick, with double-digit price declines in these communities. Foreclosures and short-sales drove down the median prices 18% from last year to $230,000, excluding these distressed sales, the statewide median price of houses sold during the third quarter was $268,500.
  One bright spot, the median single-family house price increased in six communities: Barrington, Warren, Providence’s East Side, Exeter, Charlestown and Narragansett.
With more than 4 million homeowners, or 9 % of mortgages, either at least one month behind on their payments or in foreclosure, investors and savvy buyers are starting to get back into the market, so I thought it would be good to have my legal expert Sheila Harrington, from the Law offices of Harrington and Rhodes LTD.  come on the show to discuss the pros and cons of buying distressed properties. The bottom line is there are bargains to be had, but there are pitfalls as well, due diligence and patience seem to be key in getting through the process.
 
This Week’s Real Estate Insight:

If you are thinking about buying distressed property,  you will want to make sure that you are armed with as much information as possible, RealtyTrac is a great place to start your education.

 

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