According to a number of housing market observers, a considerable percentage of Seattle repo homes for sale and foreclosures in various areas of the state ended as such due to lack of efforts to pursue mediation between banks and borrowers. The recent law, called the Foreclosure Fairness Act, aims to address this shortcoming by providing troubled borrowers with a chance to mediate with their mortgage servicers or banks.

Under the regulation, homeowners can avoid losing their homes to foreclosures or Washington repossessed properties listings by seeking mortgage modification with the help of lawyers or housing counselors. The state of Washington is only the third region in the U.S. to adopt a program for foreclosure mediation. The states of Maryland and Nevada already have a similar program in place. According to local market analysts, the mediation law came at the right time since the state is currently facing escalating levels of foreclosure problems.

During the first three months of 2011, repo houses for sale totaled over 5,600 in Washington State, while over 7,000 properties are headed to foreclosed property auctions. The number of households who are currently at risk of falling into foreclosure is estimated to be around 30,000. The region is ranked 10th among all U.S. states in terms of areas with the highest rates of foreclosure during the 2011 first quarter.

With distressed commercial properties and residential foreclosures projected to rise again this year, housing market observers agree that the recent law will go a long way towards controlling the flood of foreclosures entering the market. The measure requires mortgage servicers to notify homeowners of their delinquency once they start falling behind on payments, something that analysts believe will encourage negotiation between the two parties and could lead to finding alternatives to foreclosures.

The law also stated that homeowners who answered the notice will be provided with two more months before a default notice is filed on their properties. The latest regulation also gives homeowners the right to seek help from courts to stop foreclosures if the service firm failed to act in good faith. Analysts are hoping that the latest effort will lead to fewer foreclosures and repo houses for sale in the region.

Mediation Aims to Reduce Foreclosed and Repo Houses for Sale Numbers is a post from: Foreclosure Homes Investing

Washington ACORN President John Jones said that the crisis in foreclosure is deeply felt in the state. He added that the increasing number of Washington foreclosures is not a surprising data. Jones, sitting on the corner of Ballard’s 24th Avenue NW and 80th Street, pointed out that people near his present location are facing foreclosures.

Washington ACORN is a non-profit social justice organization that aims to help people save their homes from foreclosures. According to Jones, the organization has already assisted in saving 300 homes in Washington since January of this year.

Jones noted that people who come to their office are usually hopeless. He said that borrowers sometimes think that it is impossible to keep their homes. ACORN, on the other hand, believes that the impossible just requires longer time to do.

Felipe Gomez, one of the homeowners that ACORN helped, agreed with the belief of the organization. He recalled that he was in a bad mortgage and ACORN helped him get through with the confusing negotiation process with his lender.

Gomez said that he refinanced his 8-year old Seattle home without knowing that interest rates in adjustable rate mortgages increases over time. The payment for his mortgage would not have been a problem had he not lost his electrician business.

Although Gomez blames himself for the lapse in judgment, he is thankful that ACORN stepped up and negotiated a more affordable payment term for him. He said that the ignorance of borrowers like him on mortgage fine prints can really cost them to lose their homes due to foreclosures.

State Helps Its Residents Avoid Washington Foreclosures is a post from: Foreclosure Homes Investing

Rob McKenna, the state’s Attorney General said that they weren’t trying to forbid all rescues but were giving consumers increased protection.

Owners of foreclosure homes in Washington, as in other parts of the country, have been subject to scams involving the rescue of repo properties.

The federal and state governments, therefore, are passing new laws and filing lawsuits to reduce the number of homeowners falling prey to these practices.

FBI’s Sharon Ormsby, chief of financial crimes, said the instances of scamsters pledging to save distressed properties will continue to rise. She compares it to getting to be as problematic as the problem of mortgage frauds.

The regional director for the Federal Trade Commission, Brad Elbein, said that the FTC has, in comparison with filing no cases for rescue of major foreclosures last year, filed three in this year. A particular case he spoke about concerned thousands of homeowners and millions of dollars worth of property.

Elbein also said that this problem has risen considerably in the past.

Ormsby spoke of instances where scamsters approached homeowners facing foreclosure, with the offer of acting as a go-between between them and the lenders for a fee; they would then take the fee and take-off, leaving the homeowner in a lurch.

Speaking of other instances, she said that homeowners would sign the property over to rescue agencies and then start to pay the rescue companies rent, with the knowledge that the rescue company would pay on the mortgage. The company instead, would sell the home, with none of the equity going to the original homeowner.

Owners of foreclosure homes in Washington should take extra care while dealing with rescue agencies or professionals.

Washington Foreclosure Homes – Tread with Care is a post from: Foreclosure Homes Investing

Washington foreclosure homes also seem to be on a rise. The total number of Washington foreclosures came out to be 7,720 this quarter as compared to 6,630 in the first quarter, though there has been a slight improvement in the rate. One home in every 350 households was a foreclosure home in Washington this quarter as compared to 407 homes in the previous quarter this year. What is strange with the decreasing rate is Washington foreclosure homes is that they ranked 24th in the first quarter this year while they rank 26th in the second quarter, showing a little deterioration when compared to other states.

The hardest hit counties and showing the worst rate of Washington foreclosures are Cowlitz, Pierce, Clark, Franklin, Adams and Snohomish. Cowlitz showed maximum 95 foreclosure homes with one in every 431 homes being a foreclosure. While certain counties like Walla Walla and Whitman showed only one distressed property. Looking at the overall scenario of Washington foreclosure homes, they are actually not leading the race since most of the counties are not so badly hit by the foreclosure activity.

Washington foreclosures are not the only ones to be blamed for the overall reports. 96% of the states and 95% of the biggest metropolitan cities and areas have shown a consistent increase in the foreclosure activity over a period of years. As far as the rates are concerned, the national race is won by Nevada with one foreclosure home in every 43 households followed by California, Arizona and Florida.

Real Estate and Foreclosure Homes Improve a Bit is a post from: Foreclosure Homes Investing