I remember a number of coworkers back in the go-go early 2000s
REFINANCING at least once a year!

Now, with each of them having lost their homes or facing foreclosure,
I realize I was right to ask them if they weren't placing themselves
at risk.

-----------------
"Foreclosure activity rises in most major metropolitan areas"

By Dina ElBoghdady
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 30, 2010; A14





Foreclosure activity climbed in three-quarters of the largest U.S.
metropolitan areas in the first half of 2010, compared with the same
period a year ago, but declined in some of the nation's hardest-hit
regions, according to data released Thursday.

The number of properties in some stage of foreclosure rose during the
first six months of the year in 154 of the 206 metropolitan areas with
a population of 200,000 or more, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac
said in a report.

The 20 regions with the worst foreclosure rates were in the four
states -- Florida, California, Nevada and Arizona -- where home prices
climbed fastest during the boom years and crashed hardest during the
crisis. Nine of the areas on the list were in Florida, eight in
California, two in Nevada and one in Arizona.

Nationwide, more than 1.6 million properties were in some stage of
foreclosure in the first half of the year, according to RealtyTrac, up
about 8 percent from a year ago but down 5 percent from the final six
months of 2009.

In the Washington region, foreclosure activity fell 5.4 percent from a
year ago and nearly 18 percent from the previous six months. About 1
in 78 D.C. area loans was in some state of foreclosure from January
through June.

Foreclosures tend to drag down home prices and undermine the housing
market's stability. The nation's stubbornly high unemployment rate and
the lending community's increased willingness to sell foreclosed
properties are boosting the number of foreclosures hitting the market.

For a period, lenders were under political pressure to delay
foreclosures and modify troubled loans. But as lenders get a better
handle on which loans cannot be salvaged, they are starting to
complete more foreclosures and put those homes on the market.

However, there are "early signs" that foreclosures might have peaked
in some of the most-troubled regions, James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac's
chief executive, said in a statement. Foreclosure activity dropped in
nine of the 10 most-severely affected areas. Even so, the rates still
remain three to five times as high as the national average.

The Las Vegas area still has the nation's highest foreclosure rate,
with 6.6 percent of its housing units receiving a foreclosure filing
in the first half of the year. But the number of filings fell 15
percent from the second half of 2009 and 9 percent from the first six
months of last year.

Foreclosure activity in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area of Florida,
which had the second-highest rate among U.S. metropolitan regions, at
4.98 percent, also slipped. The foreclosure rate there in the first
half of the year is down 30 percent from a year ago and 22 percent
from the previous six months.

Thomas Lawler, a housing consultant, attributes the declines in those
regions to a high concentration of exotic loans that went bad and
cleared the system.

In other areas, "more of the loans are running into problems not
because loans were bad but because the economy stinks," hence the rise
in foreclosure activity, Lawler said.

The report collects data from 2,200 counties nationwide that make up
more than 90 percent of the U.S. population. Some of the foreclosure
filings captured in the first half of this year may have been recorded
in previous time periods.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...072906271.html

THE SOONER AMERICA'S DEADBEAT CREDIT-UNWORTHY BUMS BECOME HOMELESS,
THE SOONER THE U.S. CAN GET BACK ON THE ROAD TO ECONOMIC RECOVERY.

On Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:34:34 -0700 (PDT), "Palin'sHotHeinie"
wrote:

I remember a number of coworkers back in the go-go early 2000s
REFINANCING at least once a year!

I've lived here two years and have refinanced once. In itself it says
nothing.

Now, with each of them having lost their homes or facing foreclosure,
I realize I was right to ask them if they weren't placing themselves
at risk.

Nah, I've paid down $50K in principal during that time.

copyright infringement snipped

Omar Wrote: blah blah blah.