Since last summer, when banks were aggressively repossessing homes, foreclosures are down by almost half in Prince George’s County, 40 percent in Prince William and 30 percent in Fairfax. In the District, foreclosure activity remains low.
The drop may be nothing more than a temporary reprieve for troubled homeowners, many of whom still face the same unaffordable terms on their loans. There were 6,200 foreclosures in the region during the first three months of the year, and they should pick up again now that several banks have completed their reviews, industry experts said. But for the time being, house hunters looking for bargains are not finding as many foreclosed homes to choose from.
“In the summer of last year, we were getting on average two or three foreclosure listings a week,” said Barbara Newcomb, a Maryland real estate agent who sells foreclosures for banks. “If we get one a month now, we’re lucky. And it’s not just us.”
The local trend jibes with national figures released earlier this week by RealtyTrac, a company that provides foreclosure data and listings, showing that foreclosure activity hit a three-year low in April. For each of the past seven months, foreclosure filings slipped from the corresponding period a year earlier, in part because it’s taking longer to complete the process. The average time it takes for a lender to repossess a home after a borrower has defaulted stretched to 400 days in April from 340 days a year earlier and 151 days in that period in 2007.
For some troubled borrowers, the delays have given them hope of hanging onto their homes, said Vicki King Taitano, an attorney with Maryland Legal Aid. Those who fell behind on their mortgages because they lost their jobs, for instance, have more time to look for work.
Even though many of the large lenders have lifted their foreclosure moratoriums, the companies are resubmitting documents to the courts, which gives some borrowers even more time to find a job. Lenders are responding to concerns that many documents contained forged signatures and that bank employees who made sworn statements vouching for the veracity of the documents had never reviewed them.
But for most struggling homeowners, the delays have not translated into a second chance, many housing advocates say. Instead, the delays have left borrowers in flux, prolonged their emotional anguish and added to their financial headaches.
In Virginia, where foreclosure sales do not require court approval, foreclosure activity slowed slightly because of the flawed paperwork debacle, said Kristi Kelly, a consumer lawyer in Fairfax.
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