According to experts, second home foreclosures may be less traumatic and distressing because it usually means that owners of these properties are losing their retirement or vacation property and not their primary residences.

Because of the growth in the number of second-home foreclosures, RealtyTrac, which collates foreclosure data across the United States, has launched a service for property renters.

The RealtyTrac service sorts out rental properties whose owners have different address. It provides a clear picture of the extent of rental property foreclosures in a given area. Statistics provided by RealtyTrac showed a significant rise in the number of rental properties in Southern New Jersey with foreclosure filings. And owners of these rental properties are living elsewhere.

In April 2009, about 36 percent of houses in bank foreclosure home listings in Cape May and Atlantic counties were owned by individuals living elsewhere.

Meanwhile, RealtyTrac figures showed that 31 percent of distressed properties in Cumberland County and 20 percent in Ocean County are owned by individuals living elsewhere. Nationwide, rental homes account for 30 percent of properties in bank foreclosed home listings.

Industry experts believed that distressed properties in foreclosures in Southern New Jersey are second homes because all-year rentals in the area are rare because of expensive rents.

According to Daren Blomquist of RealtyTrac, the foreclosure monitoring company has started tracking rental houses in foreclosures because tenants may be caught unaware of the foreclosure problem of the property they are renting. This is to help them identify properties that are in the process of foreclosure.

Blomquist explained that tenants of repossessed homes could get evicted without any notice. He also noted the possibility that tenants may lose their security deposits.

The foreclosure-notice service for tenants launched by RealtyTrac monitors the address of renters and warns them if there is filing of foreclosure on their rented properties.

Data gathered by RealtyTrac showed that an estimated 450,000 rental houses across the United States are subject to filings of foreclosures.

Meanwhile, New Jersey has a law protecting the rights of tenants. The Anti-Eviction Act prohibits eviction of renters even if the houses where they are living are included in bank foreclosed home listings.

Second Houses Noted in Bank Foreclosed Home Listings is a post from: Foreclosure Homes Investing

The ratio of New Jersey’s sub-prime mortgages in relation to homes being foreclosed is the country’s fifth highest.

One of the findings of the study observes that the New Jersey foreclosure homes crisis is not evenly distributed between different strata of homeowners in the state. A majority of the sub-prime foreclosure homes in New Jersey are in zip codes belonging to urban areas. This has caused specific neighborhoods with moderate incomes to suffer financial pain.

The study went on to say that for every thousand homes in New Jersey, there were three foreclosure homes belonging to the sub-prime market and also that within each county, these were neighborhoods where the residents had household incomes which were lower than in other parts of the county.

New Jersey currently has in excess of 3.47 million homes. At the end of June more than 10,446 foreclosure homes in New Jersey were on sub-prime mortgages.

The study also found that between Essex and Union existed 25%, the highest share, of the sub-prime foreclosure homes in New Jersey.

In Essex 1,127 mortgages, which account for about 75% of the sub-prime loans in foreclosure, are mainly in 11 of the total of 31 zip codes in the county. The 11 zip codes belong to Newark, Irvington,Bloomfield, Orange, West Orange and East Orange.

With them put together for every thousand homes in these eleven areas, there were 6.7 New Jersey foreclosure homes belonging to the sub-prime market. The state average is less than half of this.

A bleaker picture is presented in Union County, with 789 mortgages, which account for a majority of the sub-prime loans in foreclosure, mainly in 8 of the total of 26 zip codes in the county. The 8 zip codes belong to Union, Roselle, Plainfield, Linden, Hillside and Elizabeth.

With them put together for every thousand homes in these eight areas, there were 8.1 foreclosure homes belonging to the sub-prime market.

New Jersey Foreclosure Homes – A Study is a post from: Foreclosure Homes Investing