Pioneer Valley foreclosures reported down so far this year
source: The Republican Newsroom
Thursday May 07, 2009, 6:51 PM
Associated Press, accessed: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/pioneer_valley_foreclosures_re.html?category=Business+category=Franklin%20County+category=Springfield May 7, 2009, 9:35 p.m.
By JIM KINNEY jkinney@repub.com SPRINGFIELD - Lenders are foreclosing on fewer Pioneer Valley homes this year, compared to a record-setting number of foreclosures in 2008. The number of foreclosure deeds, typically the final step in the foreclosure process, fell 3.27 percent in Hampden County for the first quarter of 2009. There were 237 foreclosure deeds filed in the first three months of this year. That was down from the 245 foreclosure deeds filed in the first quarter of 2008. The number of auction notices, an earlier step in the process, filed in the county fell 60.17 percent from 575 to 229. The Warren Group, a Boston-based provider of real-estate information and publisher of Banker & Tradesman newspaper, released figures Thursday based on information collected from registers of deeds around the state. In Springfield, the number of foreclosure deeds were unchanged at 154 for the first quarter of both years. But the number of auction notices fell 55.2 percent from 369 in the first quarter of 2008 to 165 this year. Lawyer Eugene B. Berman, chairman of the Hampden County Bar Association Foreclosure Prevention Task Force, said while the declines are good news, that doesn't mean that the foreclosure crisis is over. The county had 1,040 completed mortgage foreclosures, up 41.7 percent compared with the 734 foreclosures in 2007. The previous record of 818 was set in 1997.
"Yes, there is a bit of an abatement," Berman said. "But the totality is overwhelming." He said lenders held off on foreclosures early this year as they waited for the Obama administration to come up with a foreclosure-prevention plan. Now, some homeowners are taking advantage of that plan and refinancing their loans, Berman said. Also, lenders are holding off on taking homes simply because the lenders know they won't be able to sell them again... In Hampshire County, the number of foreclosure deeds fell 29.03 percent from 31 in the first quarter of 2008 to 22 in the first quarter of this year. Auction notices went from 12 in the first quarter of 2008 to none in the first quarter of this year... Berman said the Bar Association has a hotline, (413) 322-7404, that people can call if they fear foreclosure.
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