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A record 269,962 U.S. homes were seized from delinquent owners in the second quarter as lenders set a pace to claim more than 1 million properties by the end of 2010, according to RealtyTrac Inc.

Home seizures climbed 38 percent from a year earlier and 5 percent from the first quarter, the Irvine, California-based data company said today in a statement. More than 1.65 million properties received a foreclosure filing, including notices of default, auction and bank repossession, in the first half. That was up 8 percent from the first six months of 2009.

“Foreclosures haven’t peaked yet,” Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said in a telephone interview. Unemployment suggests that bank repossessions may climb for another six to nine months, he said.

Waning consumer confidence and the jobless rate, which was 9.5 percent in June, are holding back a housing recovery. The expiration of a federal tax credit for homebuyers also cut demand, even as average borrowing costs for a 30-year fixed-rate loan set record lows. The rate was 4.57 percent last week, according to McLean, Virginia-based mortgage finance company Freddie Mac.

“It’s not interest rates that will get us out of this, but jobs,” Retsinas said. “New defaults seem to have stabilized, but there’s still a lot of volatility overall.”

One in 78 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in the first half, and filings surpassed 300,000 for the 16th consecutive month in June, RealtyTrac said. A total of 529,633 homes were seized by lenders -- the last stage of the foreclosure process -- in the first half, said Daren Blomquist, the data firm’s marketing manager...

...Nevada, Arizona

Nevada had the highest foreclosure rate, as one in 17 households received a filing in the first half. The number of properties that got a notice totaled 64,429, down 13 percent from the previous six months and 6 percent from a year earlier.

Arizona ranked second at one in 30 households and Florida was third at one in 32. Rounding out the 10 highest rates were California, Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Idaho, Illinois and Colorado.

California led in total filings as 340,740 properties got a notice, down 15 percent from the previous six months and almost 13 percent from a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac.

Florida was second with 277,073 properties, down 9 percent from the previous six months and up 3 percent from the first half of 2009. Arizona was third at 91,484, down almost 2 percent from the previous period and up by a similar proportion from a year earlier.

Other states among the 10 highest totals were Illinois at 85,223; Michigan at 78,509; Georgia at 71,949; Texas at 64,883; Nevada at 64,429; Ohio at 59,927; and New Jersey at 36,542.

dbackjon wrote:So, if McCain had won, there wouldn't be a foreclosure problem?

dbackjon wrote:So, if McCain had won, there wouldn't be a foreclosure problem?

Cluck U wrote:

dbackjon wrote:So, if McCain had won, there wouldn't be a foreclosure problem?

So if McCain had won, you would not be holding him and Congress accountable for not fixing the problem?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Government watchdogs told a Senate panel Wednesday that the Obama administration's effort to help homeowners avoid foreclosure isn't working and that the Treasury Department has failed to fix the program.

Special inspector general for the financial bailouts Neil Barofsky said the program has not "put an appreciable dent in foreclosure filings," during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the $700 billion bank bailout. He also said the Treasury Department has ignored earlier demands that it set clearer goals for the program.

Elizabeth Warren, who chairs a separate Congressional Oversight Panel on the bailouts, said Treasury's failure to act more quickly could be hurting the recovery.

More foreclosures could force down the price of homes and further hurt the already-ailing housing industry.

The homeownership program aims to reduce mortgage payments for millions of homeowners who can't afford their monthly bills. Recent data suggest it has helped about 400,000 households avoid foreclosure. About 530,000 have fallen out of the program.

The bailout has provided up to $50 billion for the mortgage modification programs. So far, about $248 million in bailout money has been spent on the program.

Barofsky said Treasury is giving mortgage companies too much leeway to decide which homeowners will qualify for a program to reduce the principal balance of their mortgages.

The program relies on voluntary cooperation from mortgage companies, Warren said. She said many of the mortgage debt collectors make more money when they foreclose than they do when helping homeowners.

"We have a crisis, and the consequences of not having cooperation from (mortgage) servicers is . . . felt by this entire economy," Warren said. "We need a program with far more urgency and some real teeth in it."

Also appearing at the hearing is a leader of the Government Accountability Office.

Their three offices are designated to provide transparency and oversight for the bailout program that Congress passed in October 2008.

Most of the financial bailout programs have ended as the financial system regained its footing. Treasury lent out a total of $385 billion from the $700 billion fund. As of June 30, about $198 billion had been repaid, according to the independent Government Accountability Office.

Cluck U wrote:

dbackjon wrote:So, if McCain had won, there wouldn't be a foreclosure problem?

So if McCain had won, you would not be holding him and Congress accountable for not fixing the problem?

bluehenbillk wrote:The ONLY thing I could point to being probably better if McCain was President would be the immigration/border problem.

ASUG8 wrote:I thought this thread was about epilepsy.....carry on.

blueballs wrote:...However I can't refinance or modify either loan because I am upside down on one (my primary residence has lost about half its value due to short sales and foreclosures in the nighborhood) and have been self employed for two years- the first of which was 2008 which was the worst year in my industry in the past 25 years and has no effect or bearing at all on my current income or health of my business. Please bear in mind I am a partner in a mortgage lending operation and I can't get approved so what does that tell you about the average Joe?