Georgia foreclosures have been on a rollercoaster ride over the past two years says Daren Blomquist, Realty Trac Vice President. Recently he presented his analysis supporting this statement at the 2013 Inaugural Meeting of the Georgia Association of Realtors.
He was approached by two realtors from Walton County, which has the highest foreclosure rate in the state. Both told him his analysis was exactly what they had been experiencing.
Below is his presentation outlining Georgia's situation.
Georgia is among the non-judicial foreclosure states — most of which have been less susceptible to being tossed to and fro by the storm waves generated by the robo-signing settlement, however, it has most definitley seen it's "ebbs and flows" directly correlated with the major highlights of the robo-signing settlement case.
Blomquist's Slide 7 above most clearly demonstrates this. After trending higher through most of 2010 and during early months of 2011, Georgia foreclosure activity decreased on an annual basis for 13 straight months starting in March 2011. This trend began just a few months after the robo-signing controversy came to light in October 2011 and after the 49 state attorneys general investigation into foreclosure practices by the nation’s five leading lenders had gotten into full swing.
In April 2012 the settlement was finalized and Georgia foreclosure spiked for three straight months in April, May and June 2012.
Starting in July 2012 there have now been six straight months of annual decreases in Georgia foreclosures, which would correlate direclty with a Georgia Court of Appeals ruling in July 2012 that held lenders to a higher standard in providing information about the entity that actually owns the mortgage to homeowners on foreclosure notices.
Blomquist believes this rollercoaster ride over the past two years in Georgia isn't over yet. He states that it actually foreshadows more bumps in the state’s foreclosure trends before its housing market can return to smooth sailing.
The three-month surge in foreclosure notices in mid-2012 — not to mention the 32 percent of Georgia homeowners who are seriously underwater (see slide 16) — indicates there are still many homeowners in danger of foreclosure in the state.
2013 is expected to be an important year in which these idle foreclosures will push through the pipeline, along with the huge foreclosure inventory that already exists in the state (see slide 11) ensures that the lingering foreclosure problem will continue burden Georgia home prices. Georgia's saturated market provides inventory for Realtors to sell and buyers and investors to buy.
Source: David Blomquist, RealtyTrac.com February 14, 2013
