Listings Foreclosures - Read the Latest Foreclosure Listings News.

An increasing number of mortgage lenders have been choosing short sales over foreclosure listings because home prices have been falling rapidly anyway.

During the boom times, people who were unable to continue paying their mortgage loans due to job loss or serious illness sold their homes easily through foreclosure listings or through auctions to pay their loans. In the past several months, home prices have fallen so low they are not even enough to pay the balance of the mortgage loans.

Lenders have been considering short sales because they have realized that in many cases, they are losing more when they go through the process of foreclosure and selling the assets through foreclosure listings.

When lenders foreclosed, they undertake processes that include filing documents in court, sending notices, coordinating with property managers and selling through auctions or foreclosure listings. In addition to the costs of these procedures, the foreclosure process also takes time especially if the homeowners undertake legal maneuverings to delay the process and allow them to stay in the repo properties for a longer time for free.

When lenders agree to a short sale, they agree to accept as full payment an amount lower than the mortgage loan balance. They lose in the process, but their potential losses in foreclosure could be bigger if the foreclosure process takes a long time and if their foreclosed properties stay in foreclosure listings for months or years.

According to Fair Issac Corp., handler of the FICO credit score, a short sale also damages an individual’s credit score, but not as much as foreclosures do. Borrowers also prefer short sales because they save their credit records and they save themselves from the pain of foreclosures and evictions.

Mark Pearce, deputy banking commissioner of North Carolina, said short sales across the country have soared by approximately 20 percent in the last six months. Pearce is one of banking officials running a nationwide foreclosure prevention organization collecting foreclosure and short sale information from mortgage servicers.

Additionally, David Knight, vice president of Wells Fargo’s mortgage servicing division in Fort Mill, said his bank’s short sales have tripled in the last 18 months especially in areas of Wells Fargo’s operations where job losses rose to unprecedented levels and where home prices fell from inflationary levels to bottom levels. These areas also had unprecedented numbers of properties that were thrown into foreclosure listings.

Homes in foreclosure listings are considered to be great buys because they are cheaper than new and existing houses. The growing supply of foreclosed properties has greatly contributed to the drastic decline in housing prices.

According to foreclosure tracking service RealtyTrac, about 3 million homes are expected to be added to foreclosure listings in 2009, an increase of three to four times the previous year.

Prices of homes in foreclosure listings range from twenty to eighty percent below the market value. With these prices, it is no wonder then that potential homebuyers flocked to foreclosure sales or foreclosure auctions.

However, homebuyers planning to purchase homes in foreclosure listings should take precautionary steps to avoid turning their investments into lemons.

Experts agree that the process of buying homes in foreclosure listings is riskier than purchasing properties the traditional way.

If you want to buy foreclosed properties, the easiest way to find them is through the Internet where foreclosure listings sites are posted featuring various foreclosed properties to choose from.

Find repo homes in areas with high rate of distressed properties, such as Arizona, California and Florida. These areas offer foreclosed properties at bargain prices.

However, do not just pick the least expensive property. You must take into consideration several factors such as the neighborhood where the property is located, the employment market and school district.

Buying a cheap property in an area with high unemployment and crime rate is not a good investment decision because home values in that neighborhood will take some time to recover.

Another best way to get a bargain deal is by buying from pre-foreclosure sales. This means that you purchase the property from the owners of distressed homes directly before it goes into foreclosure.

Homeowners during the pre-foreclosure stage are more than willing to sell their properties at any cost because they want to avoid the social stigma attached to the foreclosed property and the trouble of negotiating with lenders.

However, a little caution should be exercised on your part as some of the properties sold during pre-foreclosure stage may have hidden liens and back taxes.

You can also find best deals in foreclosure sales or auctions. However, another cautionary note, because properties sold at auctions are on as-is condition, you may find homes that needed major repairs and this may entail you to spend an undetermine amount of money to rehabilitate the property. It would be for your benefit if you have the home inspected first before signing the final deal.

Once again, the foreclosure crisis took a bite on the housing market and this time, prices of homes in foreclosure listings bore the brunt of its attack.

As demand declined and foreclosures increased, prices of distressed homes in foreclosure listings in 20 cities across the United States dropped by 19 percent in the first month of 2009 over the previous year. The percentage drop represented the fastest decline on record.

In December 2008, prices of homes in foreclosure listings dropped by 18.6 percent. The decline in home listings prices has been going on every month since the start of 2008.

Experts pointed out that the flood of unsold properties in the market may continue to drive home prices down, reduce household wealth and consumer spending.

On the flip side, sales of new homes and pre-owned houses increased in February of this year. This indicated that the housing crisis, which has been going on for four years now, may be easing a bit as government efforts to ease credit and help troubled borrowers may be showing their intended purpose.

However, Barclays Capital Inc. economist Michelle Meyer cautioned that the downward momentum has just started and prices of homes in foreclosure listings will start to stabilize on the second six months of 2010.

She added that the drop in prices of homes in foreclosure listings will continue to dampen the household balance sheets.

According to economists, the median forecast for prices of homes in foreclosure listings will show a drop of 18.6 percent over the previous year.

In January of this year, home prices declined by 2.8 percent compared with 2.6 percent dropped in December of last year.

Meanwhile, all 20 cities included in the price index showed an annual decrease in January. Some of the cities leading the home price drop are Phoenix, Arizona by 35 percent and Las Vegas, Nevada by 32.5 percent.

MacroMarkets LLC chief economist Robert Shiller did not give much hope on the current home price trend, but was somehow optimistic that prices would stop declining at some rate.

Already, reduce borrowing costs and low home prices are attracting homebuyers. The affordability index of the National Association of Realtors showed an increase in February.

On the other hand, RealtyTrac data showed that foreclosure rate in February surged to 29.9 percent compared with the previous year. One out of 440 houses is in some state of foreclosure process.

If you are an investor looking for opportunities in the real estate sector or a prospective homeowner looking for a more affordable property to buy, now is the time to buy. The low home prices due to large numbers of foreclosure listings will enable you to earn a profit even after spending for repairs.

The main tool used by real estate professionals in appraising properties in foreclosure listings is sale prices of houses in the area. They will compare the market prices of similar houses in nearby areas to houses in foreclosure listings that they are appraising to get a comparable amount.ses in nearby areas to houses in foreclosure listings that they are appraising to get a comparable amount.

A rising number of renters across the country have been made homeless because of the sudden inclusion of their rental homes in foreclosure listings. Oftentimes, they do not know their units have been foreclosed until they are evicted from their units.

The continuous addition of homes to foreclosure listings across the country has sparked the creativity of several people and companies out to swindle homeowners in one of the most vulnerable periods in their lives.