Is metro Atlanta's foreclosure rate still among the highest? You betcha!
My state of Georgia has been especially hard-hit by the housing collapse.
Over the last few years, foreclosure numbers repeatedly have hit and then broken new records here. When will it end? Apparently, no time soon.
Just a few days ago First American CoreLogic Inc., a real estate information company, said Atlanta had about 385,100, or 31 percent, of all residential properties with mortgages in negative equity at the end of the fourth quarter 2009.
In the metro Atlanta area, subprime mortgages abounded during the real estate run-up, Now, they are nine times more likely to be delinquent or in some stage of foreclosure than comparable prime mortgages.
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution review of federal mortgage data, a high-interest, subprime loan financed one in every four home purchases in metro Atlanta in 2005.
Our local papers also report that option ARM defaults, while much more rare than subprime loans, are on the rise. Option ARM defaults are afflicting higher priced neighborhoods and homes in the 22-county Metro Atlanta area.
More than 441,500, or 28 percent, of all residential properties with mortgages in Georgia, were in negative equity at the end of the fourth quarter, according to a new report.
But the fact is, metro Atlanta on the whole is experiencing a more bleak foreclosure outlook than the state of Georgia as a whole.
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Georgians, don't let your neighborhood fall victim to the blight. Who do you know who might be having trouble making their mortgage payments? Anybody in danger of lender foreclosure? Please, please, please put them in touch with me.
Maybe I can help your community avoid more Georgia foreclosures through a short sale. Isn't it worth a conversation to find out?
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