After a jump from ’08 to ’09, fewer locally and statewide lost
homes last year
While 2010 ended with a record number of foreclosure filings
nationwide, the number of filings in San Benito County and
statewide dropped from the year before, according to statistics
released last week.
There were 1,478 foreclosure filings in the county last year,
including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank
repossessions. That number is down from 2,170 such filings in 2009
and is 603 fewer than in 2008, according to Irvine-based
foreclosure analyst RealtyTrac.
After a jump from ’08 to ’09, fewer locally and statewide lost homes last year
While 2010 ended with a record number of foreclosure filings nationwide, the number of filings in San Benito County and statewide dropped from the year before, according to statistics released last week.
There were 1,478 foreclosure filings in the county last year, including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. That number is down from 2,170 such filings in 2009 and is 603 fewer than in 2008, according to Irvine-based foreclosure analyst RealtyTrac.
In Hollister, there were 1,363 foreclosure filings last year, down from 2,049 in 2009. San Juan Bautista reported 115 filings in 2010, six fewer than the year before.
While there were more than 2.9 million foreclosure filings nationwide in 2010 – a 2 percent increase from 2009 and a 23 percent jump from 2008 – California foreclosures dropped nearly 14 percent.
“It looks like California might have, technically speaking, peaked in terms of foreclosure activity,” said Daren Blomquist, a RealtyTrac spokesman.
But with foreclosure filings on about 550,000 properties in 2010, California still had the fourth-highest rate of foreclosure filings nationwide. Blomquist said he didn’t expect much of a change this year for the state.
The number of filings in California and nationwide would have been higher in 2010 had it not been for a fourth-quarter decline after widespread reports of shoddy paperwork and rushed foreclosures by mortgage brokers, according to RealtyTrac.
“Total properties receiving foreclosure filings would have easily exceeded 3 million in 2010 had it not been for the fourth-quarter drop,” James Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s chief executive officer, said in a press release announcing the new data.
RealtyTrac is projecting another nationwide increase in foreclosure activity in 2011, Blomquist said.
Experts say that the type of distressed homeowner has been changing. Before, most people losing homes were those who took out bad loans. Many of those people, however, have gone through the system. There are not more traditional foreclosure cases, where people losing a job or suffering from the bad economy run through their savings and can no longer afford to pay for their home.
The upside of the foreclosure trend is the affordability of homes for people looking to buy.
The Sacramento Bee contributed to this report.
News to You
The number of foreclosure filings in San Benito County dropped from 2009 to 2010, possibly a result of the nationwide controversy over “robo-signing” and questionable practices by mortgage servicers, after which many banks halted the foreclosure process. The county followed the state trend of a drop in foreclosures in 2010.
