1,200 MA Homes Seized In March
Nearly 1,200 homes in Massachusetts were seized last month by lenders, up about 140 percent from March 2007, The Boston Globe reported April 25, 2008.
The data comes from The Warren Group, a publisher of real estate data.
"Foreclosures during the first three months of the year topped 2,800, also up about 140 percent over the same period last year. Massachusetts is on pace to shatter the previous record for the most foreclosures in a year, set in 1992."
The foreclosures are most common in urban areas and with multi-family properties.
"In Lawrence, at the current pace, 4 percent of the city's residential properties will be seized by lenders this year."
Although many of the multi-family foreclosed properties remain on the market many months, investors appear to be buying single-family foreclosures much more quickly. In fact, my experience has been that many bank-owned, single-family properties receive multiple offers.
Many people believe the foreclosure crisis will worsen before it improves.
"There are indications that worse is yet to come: The number of petitions to foreclose, an indicator of future foreclosures, climbed by 33 percent to 2,918 in March, compared with 2,189 filed in March 2007."
What many potential home buyers don't realize (or simply don't want to believe) is that the foreclosure situation is different from community to community. Not every city or town has been affected by foreclosures.
"The problem continues to plague some communities more than others. Ninety-five Massachusetts cities and towns have yet to record a foreclosure this year. Brookline is the largest town on that list, followed by Lexington. By contrast, the cities hit hardest, including Lawrence and Brockton, are amassing foreclosures twice as fast as last year."
Based on its population, Boston hasn't had that many foreclosures. Dorchester has had more than the rest of the city combined.
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