Bank Foreclosures on the Increase in London Ontario

The London Free Press wrote an article on the increase of foreclosed homes in the area. It's not really that surprising, the main reason for the increase being the huge job losses in the manufacturing sector. St. Thomas in particular, as well as other small towns have been hit very hard. Job losses equal home owners not being able to pay their mortgage payments. London also hurts from this as some of the laid off manufacturing jobs were of people living in London and working in St. Thomas etc.

If you are looking to purchase a home in 2009, perhaps you would like a free list of all the foreclosed homes for sale and power of sales in the London area. Can be found HERE.

Here's the Free Press Article:


With the economy limping, London process servers have been racing to keep up with a slew of foreclosures, the likes of which they haven't seen since the early 1980s.

"It's unfortunate that when times are bad, we are busy," Doug Russell of London and Western Ontario Process Servers said yesterday.

Russell has served notices of foreclosure in London since 1983, first as a deputy sheriff and later for his own firm.

Back then, the culprit was interest rates that soared toward 20 per cent. But now foreclosures seem driven by an unemployment rate that's grown to 6.9 per cent, with thousands of manufacturing job losses in the region alone.

Another process server, Bill Armstrong, estimates the number of foreclosure notices he's delivered has more than tripled in the last year.

"I've never been this busy and I've been in the business 20 years," he said.

As busy as it's been in London, it's been even busier in neighbouring centres such as St. Thomas and Aylmer, he said.

"Some smaller communities are hurting more," he said.

While the number of foreclosure notices soared in November and December, this week and last have been slow, as lenders often don't proceed during the holidays.

But Armstrong fears it will get even worse this month because of a global recession whose effects have yet to be fully felt. "The economy is going to get much worse. I just don't see any signs of a turnaround," he said.

That risk was highlighted in a December report by the Bank of Canada

While central bank officials believe the housing sector is holding up so far, they warn foreclosures may increase this year, in part because household debt as a percentage of income is at an all-time high.

"With the economy expected to slow, conditions are already in place for an increase in default rates among highly leveraged households over the coming year. The risk is that the increase in default rates on household borrowing could prove more substantial if a more severe economic downturn (with significant increases in unemployment and weaker incomes) materialized," the bank wrote.

Also on the upswing among the local process servers are legal claims for unpaid loans and credit cards, Armstrong said.

And it's not just low-income earners who are struggling -- both Armstrong and Russell say they've delivered foreclosure notices to impressive homes.

"It can happen to anyone. It's really sad and I think it's going to get sadder and that's unfortunate," Armstrong said.