The initial three months of 2012 in Beaufort County has experienced a remarkable rise in the total number of foreclosures although this trend is apparent but not troublesome. In comparison to the last quarter of the previous year, there is a straight 40% increase in the total number of foreclosed properties from January to March 2012. Real estate data firm RealtyTrac issued a report recently to show that there was a statewide increase in foreclosure numbers.
The broker-in-charge at Beaufort based Lowcountry Real Estate Edward Dukes said that this sudden rise in foreclosure numbers is due to the suspension of many foreclosure cases last year which resumed this year.
Since 2010, lenders filed out a large number of foreclosure cases without proper verification of the mortgage documents. With the emergence of various foreclosure scandals, lenders suspended their foreclosure processing and were waiting for the situation to stabilize. According to Dukes, this yearlong backlog is increasing the foreclosure numbers.
Duke’s business associate, John Trask stated that many banks have not yet disclosed their foreclosures and so the number is yet to spike more. He said, “They may have delayed some of these foreclosures so as not to pile it up on one year. Or maybe they were just in the Christmas spirit”
Trask also warned that these statistical reports are not the only things to look out for, but everyone will have to focus on them in the midst of the economic recession which has devastated this country.
He added, “There’s a lot of inventory still to shake out, and it’s a process that’s going to take time. There will be peaks and valleys, and I’m guessing that’s what this is.”
The entire Palmetto state is experiencing this increase in foreclosure numbers so the trend is not new to Beaufort County. On a year over year basis, the foreclosure numbers in Myrtle Beach have increased by 95%, Greenville by 15% and in Charleston, the spike is 8.5%.
However, this nationwide report is a combination of both step up and step down cases. An increase in foreclosure numbers have been reported in nearly 50% or more of the metro areas of the country in the first three months of this year. Along with this quarterly increase, the report also shows that there is an improvement in foreclosures in most of the areas in the country with respect to the figures seen in 2011.
Photo by Idea go.
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