How Long Does it REALLY Take to Foreclose on a Home?
Five years ago, the word “foreclosure” was on the dust heap pile of daily lingo, surrounded by the likes of “8 track and cassette tapes”, “black & white TV’s”, “Walkmans” etc. The problem is that while the latter will not be making a comeback any time soon, the word “foreclosure” has catapulted back into vogue and looks like it’s here to stay a while.
Any newly licensed Realtor can tell you that the law says that a foreclosure takes 111 days to complete. A delinquent homeowner has 90 days to make up any back payments, and then an additional 21 days to pay the loan off completely if they can’t come up with the money owed (anyone ever wondered how a homeowner who can’t find 90 days worth of payments is supposed to now pay off the entire loan balance?). However, I digress. The salient point here is that a foreclosure, by law, takes 111 days.
Anyone want to know what is happening with foreclosure times in the real world, and not the one in the legal books?
In the State of California, as of June of this year, the average time for a foreclosure is (drumroll please)…317 days! That’s right…just a little short of 1 year…and that is the average, which is, as we all know, is made up of some that take less time, and some that take more. In Nevada, it is about the same…319 days.
How about the longest? That would be our good friends in the great State of New York. The state that brings you massive deli sandwiches and the Empire State building also goes big with foreclosures, because in that state, the average time is…(bigger drumroll please)…960 days. Yes, that is not a typo…it takes over 2.5 years, on average, to foreclose on a home in the land of the Big Apple. Amazing, isn’t it?
And the shortest? That would be the cowboy State of Texas. I have never spent much time in Texas, but rumor has it that our Southern neighbors don’t mess around, because the average time to foreclose on a property in Texas is 92 days. That’s right…if you can’t (or won’t) make your house payment…no problem…but the bank is not going to mess around with your plight. You are supposed to pay, and if you don’t, then start packing.
There is a moral to this story…and here it is. Guess which state has had the lowest drop in residential housing prices since all this housing “mess” started in 2007?
I know, it’s too easy…but God Bless the people who shoot straight in Texas…because they have the lowest percentage of housing price loss in the country. Some may call this a coincidence…others a cause and effect. Hard to say. We’ll let you decide…but come on…2.5 years to get someone out of a home that they are not paying on? Welcome to the Bizarro World of real estate, where truth is far stranger than fiction.
So dazzle your friends at your next gathering with this new found information…and watch the ones who are making their house payments choke on their drinks.
Posted at 10:43AM Aug 01, 2011 by Christi Rainey in General | Comments[0]
