New Mexico still a great place for Real Estate Investing.
New Mexico holding its own against foreclosures
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| When the real estate market lowers the potential sale price of a home, it becomes easier for a homeowner to walk away from a mortgage. |
By Patricia Chambers
Tuesday, November 6, 2007 6:58 PM US/Western
Foreclosures are taking a toll on the national real estate market, but New Mexico has not been as hard hit as neighboring states.
New Mexico ranks 42nd in the number of foreclosures, according to RealtyTrac, which compiles a nationwide database on foreclosures.
“There have been a lot more (foreclosures) in other areas of the country, especially where homes are severely devalued or depreciated,” said Taos mortgage broker Ted Dimond.
When the real estate market lowers the potential sale price of a home, it becomes easier for a homeowner to walk away from a mortgage, Dimond said.Taos County properties, and real estate in New Mexico in general, continues to attract buyers, so property owners are less likely to choose foreclosure, he said.
The large number of adjustable-rate mortgages taken on by homeowners during the past three to five years, however, are coming due, Dimond said.
“I think this trend is going to stay with us for the next several years,” he added.
The deflation of over-priced markets could be an advantage for people who have been priced out of the market, Dimond said. “It’s not a bad trend for the locals who haven’t been able to pay the prices of out-of-town buyers,” he said.
The last quarterly report shows that foreclosures throughout the country, however, are growing at an alarming rate.
One in every 196 households in the country filed some level of foreclosure in the third quarter of 2007, according to RealtyTrac www.realtytrac.com.
The online publisher carries the largest national database of foreclosure and bank-owned properties in the United States. RealtyTrac provides foreclosure data to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Journal.
The third -quarter report shows one foreclosure for every 1,348 households in New Mexico. Compared to the third quarter of 2006, the state’s foreclosure rate actually dropped 12.3 percent.
Other states, however, are experiencing an extremely high foreclosure rate. The more than 600,000 foreclosure filings reported in the third quarter reflect a 30 percent increase from the previous quarter and a nearly 100 percent rise from over the third quarter of 2006, according to RealtyTrac.
“August and September were the two highest monthly foreclosure filing totals we’ve seen since we began issuing our report in January 2005,” James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a prepared release.
“Although not all areas are being hit as hard as others, the rise in foreclosures is quite widespread, with 45 out of the 50 states documenting year-over-year increases in the third quarter,” the release continues. “Given the number of loans due to reset through the middle of 2008, and the continuing weakness in home sales, we would expect foreclosure activity to remain high and even increase over the next year in many markets.”
The report includes foreclosure filings, such as default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. It tallies the three phases of foreclosure: default, auction and real estate-owned properties.