The Town Broker

New Jersey Foreclosures – In The Nation’s Top 10.

New Jersey foreclosures are on the rise. Back in March I wrote a piece looking at the impact of foreclosures on your property value. What I was seeing then were New Jersey foreclosures well below national level (we were 39th out of 50 states in foreclosure notice filings at the time). But I shared my concern about their growing numbers, and speculated on what it could mean.

Last week Realty Trac (the nation’s leading source on foreclosures information) released their May 2010 foreclosure report. The report cited a month-over-month decline in national foreclosure filings, and was generally optimistic. But the devil is in the details…

New Jersey Foreclosures Break Into National Top 10.

The report shows that 10 states account for 70% of all the nation’s foreclosure notice filings. But as the tide seems to be stemming across the nation, New Jersey foreclosure notices are not keeping pace. This report shows NJ landing in the Realty Trac Top 10 for the first time that I can recall. (There are lots of reasons for this, which go beyond what I want to cover here today.)

Right here in Union County, some towns are seeing a DRAMATIC increase in default notices. Take a look at this chart showing the increase in foreclosure notice filings reported by Realty Trac between February 2010 (the data used in my previously cited post) and today:

Surprised? I have to say that despite seeing this trend coming, I was taken aback at just how quickly the change occurred. And look at the towns that are seeing the largest increase. Probably not what you expected, right?

Help For Those Facing Foreclosure

Keep in mind that receiving a default notice does NOT necessarily mean that you’ll lose your house. Good people find themselves in this situation for lots of reasons. A severe reduction in income through job loss or an unexpected health crisis are among the most common reasons why people fall behind. The most important thing to do is put your ego aside, and TAKE ACTION while there is time!

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development is one of the best starting places for those looking for foreclosure help. Here you’ll find strategies for avoiding foreclosure, options for refinancing, and ideas about what to do if foreclosure seems inevitable. Believe me…I’d much prefer to see people keep their homes and sell them on their own terms! But as a full service real estate broker, I can help you explore your options if selling seems to be the best course of action. I have the knowledge and experience to help you sell your house…even if you’re underwater and need to sell short.

Remember…taking action is the most important step. I’ve seen reports that show nearly 70% of all foreclosed homeowners never reached out for help! Don’t make that mistake. I can be reached most easily by calling the cell at 908-216-4836.

Tags: New Jersey Foreclosures, Union County Foreclosures

This entry was posted on Monday, June 14th, 2010 at 11:06 am and is filed under Distressed Property, Real Estate Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1. Angie Perez said at June 14th, 2010 at 1:05 pm

   What a great blog post! Since I follow you on facebook, I must say that if I had to guess as to what was causing the increase in foreclosure notices, my guess would be that it has something to do with the fact that banks are not willing to modify loans until a homeowner falls behind. I think you posted something like this on your facebook business page where homeowners were intentionally being late. . .

   I have other guesses, but my best guess would be some homeowners are strategically doing different things to get the bank’s attention. That’s my take for now.

   Thanks for the post. I am bookmarking it for another read later this week.

2. halbenz said at June 14th, 2010 at 1:29 pm

   I also think that there were a lot of interest only and negative amortization loans written at the height of the market. I know some folks who used these to stretch into homes that they otherwise couldn’t afford (even in some of the affluent communities like those on the chart). The scary part is that a lot of these will be resetting over the next 18 months. Many homeowners don’t have enough equity to make refinancing work. Sadly, I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet…

3. Gwen said at June 15th, 2010 at 4:04 pm

   This doesn’t bode well for New Jersey. I think we need more time until we can get this turned around. Maybe next Spring?

4. halbenz said at June 15th, 2010 at 4:29 pm

   Hey Gwen. Thanks for jumping into the discussion. It’s hard to know for sure how this will all shake out. I see a lot of ugly loans out there which are scheduled to reset through the end of 2011. The homeowners are upside down in their equity position, making refinancing virtually impossible. This could take some time…

5. Why I Became A Distressed Property Specialist said at June 30th, 2010 at 8:04 pm

   [...] slowly), foreclosures continue to rise in New Jersey. In fact, right here in Union County, foreclosure notice have nearly doubled over the past 3 months.  I think we can all agree that this is a very troubling statistic. The [...]

6. Facing Foreclosure - Step 1: Taking Responsibility | Prevent Foreclosure NJ said at July 10th, 2010 at 3:45 pm

   [...] facing foreclosure, most people experience a wide range of reactions. Emotions can run the gamut from anger to [...]

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