Industry experts noted that among these buyers were people who are searching for houses to live in and investors who are looking for bargain properties on listings of bank owned homes. The goal of these investors is to purchase a property, fix it and resell it for a profit.

Experts agreed that the residential foreclosure market is changing, with more buyers showing up at auctions and more repo homes are selling. They explained that the trend is an indication that a great number of homebuyers are confident that the housing market is on its way to recovery.

And with banks becoming more flexible about negotiating with delinquent homeowners, fewer foreclosed properties are entering the market, prompting experts to anticipate a slowing down of the foreclosure crisis in Maine.

The number of distressed properties on listings of bank owned homes in Maine is higher compared with other states in the New England region. In the first quarter, about 1.1 percent of all mortgage loans in the state went into foreclosure, ranking Maine second to Rhode Island which posted 1.5 percent.

However, Maine’s foreclosure rate was lower than the 1.4 percent national repossession rate, according to data provided by the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston. A market study showed that the town of Sanford has the highest foreclosure rate, earning it a moniker as the state’s foreclosure capital from the Maine Office of Community Development.

From September 2007 until November 2008, Sanford posted a total of 65 foreclosures. The town is followed by Lewiston with 44 homes and Bangor with 32. But foreclosures in Sanford started to inch down, averaging 20 each month, according to local real estate professionals.

Meanwhile, the rate of foreclosures in other communities in Maine has been fluctuating since January of this year. Last month, Portland posted 28 foreclosure properties, compared with seven in January. The trend is in contrast with Lewiston where eight properties were placed on listings of bank owned homes last month, as against 14 in January.

Listings of Bank Owned Homes a Hit in Maine is a post from: Foreclosure Homes Investing

The number of foreclosure actions on first mortgages increased in March compared to January, according to Lloyd LaFountain III, superintendent of Maine’s Bureau of Financial Institutions.

The bureau said that out of 86,279 outstanding mortgage loans on March 31, there were 240 foreclosed properties, representing 0.28 percent of total loans. LaFountain said that the negligible foreclosure-loan ratio does not pose a threat to the solvency and strength of banking institutions and credit unions chartered in Maine.

The superintendent further explained that the relatively low number of foreclosed properties may be an indication of the success of homeowner assistance schemes and loan modification efforts launched in the state.

Maine Representative Sharon Treat said that the total number of bank owned homes across the state will further be reduced with the passage of the foreclosure mediation program bill.

The bill, sponsored by Treat and modeled after a similar law in Connecticut, would help homeowners save their homes through the help of the courts.

The program offers foreclosure prevention counseling programs and a hotline for foreclosure counseling.

Under the program, homeowners will be able to work out an affordable repayment scheme with their lenders through a mediation conference supervised by the court. The bill would enable retired judges to help as mediators.

The bill also requires lenders to send to the mediation meetings a bank representative who has the authority to modify loans or work out a repayment scheme during the mediation meetings.

Based on the Connecticut mediation program, the Maine program will cost around $900,000 annually over the next several years. It would be backed by money collected from the addition of real estate transfer taxes on foreclosed properties purchased at auctions. Fees collected from court filing would also be used.

The program, which was created by a group of legislators, bankers and lawyers that comprise the Commission on Foreclosure Diversion, was also designed to facilitate unquestioned foreclosures through the courts. Typically in Maine, uncontested foreclosures take 9 months to close while contested foreclosures take more than 12 months.

David Kennedy, a member of the commission, said that the program would not be able to solve all problems related to foreclosure, but it would reduce the number of families forced out of foreclosed properties.

Maine Bank Report Shows Rise in Foreclosed Properties is a post from: Foreclosure Homes Investing