After reading the paper today I was a bit surprised at the high number of foreclosures coming out of some areas around the country. Detroit appears to be in a real crises. Roughly 4.9 percent of the households in the Detroit metro area were in some stage of foreclosure in 2007, which is 4.8 times the national average; according to the study released by mortgage research company RealtyTrac Inc.
Stockton, Calif., ranked second with about 4.8 percent of its households in some stage of foreclosure, while the Las Vegas metro area was third with a 4.2 percent rate. In all, 72,616 filings on 41,273 properties were reported in the Detroit metro area, which includes Livonia and Dearborn. The foreclosure rate represents a 68 percent jump from 2006.
In Stockton, 22,184 foreclosure filings were reported on 10,608 properties last year, up 271 percent from 2006, RealtyTrac said.
The Riverside-San Bernardino metro area east of Los Angeles was ranked fourth, with 102,506 filings on 51,739 homes, a rate of 3.8 percent.
Sacramento was ranked fifth, with 3.1 percent of its households reporting late payments.
The other California metropolitan areas in the top 20 were Bakersfield, ranked seventh; Fresno, ranked 14th; and Oakland at 16th.
The Las Vegas metro area, which also includes Paradise, Nev., reported a total of 59,983 foreclosure filings on 30,375 properties in 2007.
Ohio, which has also been racked by high unemployment, had four metro areas among the top 20, including Akron at 12th, Dayton at 15th and Toledo at 19th.
The metro area comprising Cleveland, Lorain, Elyria and Mentor was ranked sixth, with some 2.9 percent of all households in some stage of foreclosure.
Miami ranked eighth with a 2.7 percent rate, the highest among all metro areas in Florida. Fort Lauderdale was 10th and Orlando was 20th.
The other areas in the top 20 were Denver-Aurora, Colo., at No. 9; Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga., at No. 11; Memphis, Tenn., at No. 13.; and Indianapolis at No. 18.
With all of this happening, I can't say I understand why banks don't simply re-negotiate the loans with their clients instead of following through with converting those ARM loans to a full amortized loan; knowing it will lead to default. Most of these homes will end up in the hands of overseas investors buying them in bulk for 50-70 cents on the dollar from the banks. How sad.
I was thinking recently if "buy American" would be making a come back. What are your thoughts on that, Michael?
I remember when I started in Real Estate, it was during a "buy American" time, and we were told to drive American made cars to sell real estate. I had a Caddy :)
It's seems the current trend is "Buy America", and not by Americans. It would appear that ignoring all the advertisements and speaches pleading loyalty to the American brands has hurt the stability of the economy. We buy all of our products from overseas, then they use the money to buy our land and our company's. I just read this piece in an article online:
"Last year, foreign investors poured a record $414 billion into securing stakes in American companies, factories and other properties through private deals and purchases of publicly traded stock, according to Thomson Financial, a research firm. That was up 90 percent from the previous year and more than double the average for the last decade. It amounted to more than one-fourth of all announced deals for the year, Thomson said.
During the first two weeks of this year, foreign businesses agreed to invest another $22.6 billion for stakes in American companies - more than half the value of all announced deals. If a recession now unfolds and the dollar drops further, the pace could accelerate, economists say".
So, I guess it's as my Grandfather always told me, "we're giving the country away". Ironically, if I wanted to by land overseas many country's wouldn't allow me to buy. As for car's, my wife loves BMW, but I gotta Dodge with a great big V8!
The last paragraph in your post really addresses the most important question that seems to beg a scratch on the head by thinking Americans.
After China and India and several Asian countries own more of America than Americans do, then we might wake up and pay attention. Hopefully it won't be too late.
Good post with great information.
The other issue is that America needs to wake up to the value of quality in the things we produce.
I'm certain of it!
More than 10,000 homes in the Detroit area entered some stage of foreclosure in the third quarter, a 42% jump from the previous quarter and a 121% jump from the same time last year, One in every 80 houses in Detroit began the process of returning to the bank -- a rate that is almost five times the national average!