Foreclosure Sales Up for West Coast States Except Washington

Foreclosure Sales Up for West Coast States Except Washington

Foreclosure sales on the West Coast started strong for the beginning of 2012, with Washington as the exception, according to ForeclosureRadar.

Arizona, California, Nevada, and Oregon are the other states included in the report – all of which saw increases in foreclosure sales to investors. Trustee sale investors pay the full amount in cash without inspections or title insurance prior to purchase.

This is the fourth largest month on record in California, and the busiest since March of 2011, stated ForeclosureRadar.

Nevada experienced the largest month-over-month increase in foreclosure sales (+59.8 percent), with Washington being the only state seeing a decline (-31.3 percent). Nevada’s

increase, combined with the significant declines in new foreclosures that began in October 2011, is quickly diminishing the foreclosure inventory in the state.

California also saw a substantial increase (+14.6 percent), and the state underwent the most activity, with investors purchasing 3,964 properties for $766.2 million, according to ForeclosureRadar.

“January’s numbers should put to rest any notion that we will see a wave of foreclosures in 2012, at least in the western states that we cover.” said Sean O’Toole, founder & CEO of ForeclosureRadar. “Foreclosure starts remain near record low levels, significantly lower than a year ago, when many banks still had self-imposed moratoriums in place due to the robo-signing scandal. Add to that a foreclosure timeframe of more than 8 months, and there is little chance of a wave this year even if all the banks started the foreclosure process en masse tomorrow.”

Oregon (-26.5 percent) and Arizona (-6.3 percent) had a decrease in foreclosure starts, which is when a borrower receives a notice of default and the foreclosure process begins.

ForeclosureRadar stated that despite what appears to be significant percentage increases in foreclosure starts in California (+15.5 percent), Nevada (+16.6 percent) and Washington (+25.1 percent), compared to January one year ago, foreclosure starts are significantly lower now.