Massachusetts Home Buyer Guide

October Marked the 20th Straight Month of Year-over-year, Double-digit Increases in Foreclosure Petition Filings

The number of Massachusetts foreclosure petitions recorded in October increased 17.6 percent to 1,135 compared with 965 recorded in October 2014, The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reported December 3, 2015. 

It's true. Massachusetts foreclosure petitions have increased 19 straight months on a year-over-year basis.

Although both the number of foreclosure petitions and foreclosure deeds recorded in Massachusetts increased in July, the foreclosure crisis is a thing of the past.

The number of Massachusetts foreclosure petitions increased 81 percent in June compared to June 2014, The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reported August 4, 2015. 

The number of foreclosures in Massachusetts spiked in May and increased through the first five months of the year as well, The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reported June 30, 2015.  

Lenders worked through the backlog of Massachusetts foreclosures in 2014. 

Massachusetts saw the number of "zombie" foreclosures decline 46 percent in the third quarter of 2014 compared to Q3 2013, according to the "Zombie Foreclosure Report" released by RealtyTrac on October 30, 2014.  

RealtyTrac defines zombie foreclosures as residential properties in the process of foreclosure that have been vacated by the owners, but these properties have not gone through the entire foreclosure process yet. In Massachusetts – it is different from state to state – the recording of a foreclosure deed is the final step in the foreclosure process.

The number of zombie foreclosures nationwide totaled 117,298 in the third quarter, a 17 percent decline from the second quarter and 23 percent decline from Q3 2013 (152,033). Zombie properties comprised 18 percent of all active foreclosures in the United States during the third quarter. Not all of these properties will reach final foreclosure. Some will sell as short sales.

Massachusetts foreclosure petitions jumped 72.5 percent in July compared to July 2013, The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reported September 2, 2014. 

The U.S. foreclosure inventory declined 34.4 percent in July compared to July 2013, according to a report by Black Knight Financial Services, a data services company for the mortgage and loan services industry, Banker & Tradesman reported August 26, 2014.   

July marked the lowest level of foreclosure inventory since March 2008. 

There were 90,700 foreclosure starts in July, up 2.7 percent compared with June, but down 19.6 percent compared to July 2013.

We announced in this blog in July 2013 (Massachusetts Foreclosure Crisis Over, Foreclosure Petitions Down 86%) and again in April 2014 (Safe to Say the Massachusetts Foreclosure Crisis is Over?) that the foreclosure crisis in Massachusets was over, dead, done with, kaput, and the crisis is definitely history; however, something surprising, if not completely unexpected, has happened in recent months.

Foreclosure petitions – the first step in the Massachusetts foreclosure process – have risen on a month-over-month basis for a couple months. By no means are we back in foreclosure crisis mode, not even close, but as lenders get the last of the foreclosures off their books there may be an opportunities for some home buyers and investors.