RealtyTrac reported that metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 or more saw a dramatic decline in foreclosure rates. That is an 84 percent drop over last year, but the housing market isn't in a recovery just yet.
RealtyTrac is a firm that tracks delinquencies, impending home auctions, and repossessions throughout the country.
The states that experienced the largest decline include New York, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois and Connecticut. All of these states are judiciary foreclosure states.
These slow down can be attributed to court cases filed by foreclosure attorneys flooding the courts, and a slowdown in paperwork processing by mortgage lenders. Banks have also delayed seizures for newly delinquent mortgage holders by offering mortgage modifications and other strategies meant to curtail new foreclosures that are clogging the market due to slow sales.
The decline is also due to resubmissions of faulty or fraudulent paperwork by large banks, which caused an onslaught of criticism last fall. Some homeowners have been the targets of wrongful foreclosures and were able to challenge a bank’s decision with the backing of a foreclosure lawyer.
In contrast, some states that have had the highest foreclosure rates saw an increase in the overall number of foreclosures in the first six months of this year, but the numbers are down from the same time last year. California, Nevada and Arizona are the states that have been the most affected by the housing crisis.
Despite the decline, millions of homes will still receive foreclosure notices, but they may be delayed until 2012 or 2013. A foreclosure attorney can make it possible to fight a foreclosure in some of these states. It could be years before the housing market recovers, especially in this sluggish economy.
