Foreclosures, repossessions on the rise

By LESLIE PAPPAS, The News Journal

Posted Wednesday, February 27, 2008
The number of homes facing foreclosure jumped 57 percent in January compared to a year ago, with lenders increasingly forced to take possession of homes they couldn't unload at auctions, a mortgage research firm said Monday.

Nationwide, some 233,001 homes received at least one notice from lenders last month related to overdue payments, compared with 148,425 a year earlier, according to Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac Inc. Nearly half of the total involved first-time default notices.

The worsening situation came despite efforts by lenders to help borrowers manage their payments by modifying loan terms, working out long-term repayment plans and other actions

According to RealtyTrac, Delaware had 173 foreclosure filings in January, up 62 percent over January 2007. In Delaware, RealtyTrac tracks filings for properties that were either listed for sheriff's sale or repossessed by the lender, said Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac's marketing communications manager.

The Office of the State Bank Commissioner compiles data on foreclosure filings, but it tracks the initial court filings, documents that lenders file with county courts after a homeowner falls 90 days or more behind on payments. The initial court filings are considered the beginning of the foreclosure process. Initial filings show 402 households slipped into foreclosure in January, up 73 percent from the same month a year earlier, when there were 233 filings.

Since the foreclosure process takes about 9 months in Delaware, many initial foreclosure filings are resolved before the home is repossessed or listed for sheriff's sale, and do not appear in RealtyTrac's counts.