As mortgage companies evaluated borrowers to see if they were eligible for mortgage help, November posted the fourth straight monthly decline in the number of homeowners on the edge of foreclosure.
RealtyTrac Inc. reported today that 1 out of every 417 homes or 307,000 households nationally received a foreclosure-related notice last month which was down 8 percent from a month earlier. Falling below Octobers numbers, banks repossessed over 76,000 homes last month.
Under the Obama administration's foreclosure prevention effort, Making Homes Affordable, millions of borrowers continue to be evaluated to see if they are eligible for a mortgage modification.
Analysts feel that the foreclosure crisis will most likely get worse before it makes a promising turn for the better permanently.
Rick Sharga, senior vice president at the Irvine, California-based foreclosure listing service said, "We don't really believe the underlying problems have been resolved. Many borrowers simply aren't going to qualify for help."
California posted the nation's third highest foreclosure rate with Merced, California having the highest foreclosure rate in the state, with 1 out of 83 homes receiving a foreclosure filing which was followed by Stockton and Modesto.
With Nevada recently adopting a program that requires mediation before a bank can seize a property, Las Vegas, which was the highest foreclosure city in the nation, has decreased its foreclosure rate for four-straight months and is now the 5th highest city nationally with foreclosures.
With evidence mounting which shows serious failings of the Obama administrations mortgage relief plan to help borrowers avoid foreclosure, it was reported yesterday that nationwide only about 10,000 homeowners received permanent loan modifications this fall.
The Making Homes Affordable program states that eligible borrowers who are behind or at risk of default can have their mortgage interest rate reduced for five years to as low as 2 percent. These modifications are temporary, but are supposed to become permanent after the borrower makes three payments on time and completes all the required paperwork, which includes proof of income as well as a hardship letter.
Data from the Making Homes Affordable plan, from its inception through October, has shown that fewer than 5 percent of homeowners nationwide who have finished their trial periods of loan modifications have had their mortgage payments permanently lowered to more affordable levels.