This Foreclosure Boom is Terminal

If anyone at this point can identify how long it will be until we stop seeing this national epidemic of foreclosures, I’d sure like to know.  According to RealtyTrac there was a 57% increase in foreclosure filings nationwide in between January 2007 and January 2008.  Also, according to Les Christie of CNN Money “Subprime loans defaulting even before resets.”  Perhaps the foreclosure epidemic is “coming in like a lion, and out like a lamb” much like the seasonal change in front of us, OR, perhaps it’s coming in like a den of lions and not going away anytime soon.

 

As a REO-specific brokerage office we see a lot of what’s going on in the foreclosure industry behind the scenes.  It may seem like things are being taken care of at the Federal level with Bernanke cutting rates to prevent a recession, but even Bernanke will tell you that it’s a “band aid on a broken bone.”  There is not a doubt that 100% financing is still being offered to home buyers, albeit underwriting is a bit more stringent.  Can anyone tell me why ARMs and IO loans are still being offered to Joe Homeowner?  Is this any way to get us out of an epidemic?  In Colorado this year our lending industry has been tightened up through certification processes, however, we’re in a counter-cyclical state and are 3-4 years ahead of the rest of the nation when it comes to the real estate market.

 

We sit back and watch California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Ohio, and many more states do things that we’ve already tried and they simply don’t work.  Perhaps a Colorado-based task force for the rest of the nation is not a bad idea.  I’m not saying that we’re better than anyone else; I’m just asking why nobody else in the nation is asking “Hey didn’t Colorado just go through all of this for the past 5 years?  Shouldn’t we talk to them about what we’re up against?”

 

Our jobs are getting more challenging and requiring an increase in performance.  I have taken on the responsibility to help this nation get through this downtrodden real estate market one client at a time.  I will be looking for new and better ways of accomplishing this task and welcome a challenge to anyone out there who would like to step up to the highest level of service possible and see if we can’t just help each other develop some of the greatest service since the inception of REALTOR.