While things may be getting better elsewhere in the States, the foreclosure load is still bad in parts of Virginia Peninsula, where the poor (and a few of the rich) are getting poorer still.
Last week the Circuit Court Clerk’s Office at a place with the unlikely name of Newport News had another try at selling properties on auction. As the temperature reached 90 degrees in the street outside, a dispossessed family watched silently as the opening price for their once happy home was set at under $80,000. Would somebody buy it? Would new owners again fill it with happy sounds?
No one showed up to bid – going once, going twice, sold back to the bank, the sheriff said, almost as an afterthought. Another family home was gone in Virginia Peninsula, another victim of foreclosure.
One-act plays like this can be viewed everywhere across the nation. Waves of foreclosures are still rolling in at many places and in the face of so-called experts too. On Virginia Peninsula, May 2010 first filings of pending foreclosure actions achieved their second highest score in recent years, prompting analysts to forecast more to come in the months (and maybe years) that lie ahead.
In total the Virginia Courts logged almost 400 foreclosure actions of various kinds in May 2010 – that’s up 50% year on year, but at least down from a record 458 last month (compared to a 1% increase nationwide).
A Virginia-based realtor I’ve known and trusted for years confirmed the generally upward trend in the past twelve months. According to her, the increase is due to foreclosures completing, not a general increase in new ones entering the starter’s blocks.
A market analyst inside a leading academic economic forecasting project confirmed that total foreclosure activity is likely to peak some time later this year, and even in the current quarter in some places. Others, while agreeing, are more cautious, warning that things may only return to normal three years later. The harsh reality is that banks will start to return inventory to the market as soon as prices indicate – this will put further pressure on soft prices, causing them to edge downwards again.
Local breaking news for May 2010 compared to May 2009 is as follows:
Newport --> 160 filings --> 38% up
Hampton --> 136 filings --> 100%-plus up
James County --> 10 filings --> down 10%
Isle of Wight County --> 12 filings --> 33 % up
Gloucester --> 25 filings --> 92% up
York --> 12 filings --> 95% up
It’s still a tough old world out there in Virginia Peninsula.
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