Foreclosures Going Higher and Higher

Foreclosure filings soared 57% in March, a shocking but not unexpected outcome of the ever-worsening mortgage crisis. Nearly a quarter million homes went into foreclosure in March, with just over fifty thousand of those homes actually being lost to foreclosure. Ouch. Things just keep getting worse for a great many homeowners who got in over their heads during what looked to be at least one of the few modern-day gold rushes (I’m thinking the Internet boom as the other one). For you folk in Nevada–sorry, the gamble doesn’t seem to be paying off. Nevada leads the country in defaults.

Trends show that a greater percentage of borrowers are simply walking away from homes they can no longer afford, rather than figuring out some sort of deal with the mortgage lenders they borrowed cash from. Banks are being left with the title to these homes, which they don’t particularly want to have. Instead, the banks are putting the houses up for sale–but not many people are buying right now. Understandably so. Home prices continue to drop, in particular in the hardest hit areas of the country, such as Nevada, California, and Florida. Of course, these are the same states where speculators jacked up the prices to begin with, figuring they would be making a killing in the future. Unfortunately for them, the homes are coming back to kill them–and with a vengeance.

For us sitting on the sidelines (for me, anyway), the prospect of buying one of these homes is just getting better and better. To quote myself:

I’ve been saving for a while, expecting to pay a lot more than I will likely pay, so the percentage down I’ll be putting just gets higher and higher. Of course, there are other factors–such as the recession we’re in (yes, we’re in it, regardless of what you may think), that may put a kink in my plans. But I am optimistic.

At least I am for now.