Foreclosures at a Record High in 2010
Posted by Lee Cameron on Friday, January 14th, 2011 at 1:20pm.
There's no denying that 2010 was a very rough year for the housing market. in particular, a still-struggling economy and high unemployment rate contributed to a record high amount of foreclosures.
Over the course of the year, almost 3 million foreclosure notices were filed and more than 1 million people lost their homes. And the number would have been even higher if notices hadn't leveled off somewhat at the end of the year due to the foreclosure freezes. Experts estimate that the robo-signing scandal halted thousands of foreclosure processes across the country during the last quarter of the year. There aren't any hard numbers on the amount of foreclosures that were stalled during that time. Some estimates say tens of thousands, while others reach as high as a quarter of a million.
As always, Nevada ranked the highest state in country for the amount of foreclosures. One in every 11 homes in Nevada faced foreclosure in 2010. Florida ranked third in the nation with one in every 18 homes going into foreclosure (though, thankfully, this is a 6% decrease from last year).
The issue that got the most headlines, of course, was the robo-signing scandal. Information had leaked out that due to the overwhelming amount of foreclosure papers coming in, many of the nations largest banks stopped doing the necessary leg work to make sure that these homes were actually in default before signing the papers. Many of these banks called for a freeze on foreclosures toward the end of the year while they investigated these claims.
Unfortunately, the foreclosure process will begin again on most of those properties this year, adding to what will already be a tough 2011. Some industry analysts estimate that as many as 11 million homeowners may face foreclosure in the coming months. I hope everyone is holding on tight, it may be another rough year.
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