Foreclosure in New York Rising Rapidly

This article in the Real Deal caught my attention. According to the NY Times, foreclosure filings in New York State for 2009 are up 17 percent from the prior year, with just over 48,000 cases. Not all filings automatically become bank repossessions, but the number of those spiked enormously. Earlier this year I worked quite a bit in Queens and I was shocked at the high percentage of the places I was showing that were short sales and bank owned properties.  

Many of those filings will become short sales, loan modifications or get pulled back by the homeowners through other means (like paying the arrearage if at all possible). But even if that happens, the sheer raw volume of filings will end up with more REO properties hitting the market, as I first noticed earlier this year. Not surprisingly, the recession has caused other reasons for the courts to be busy- evictions, domestic violence, divorce and business disputes are all signs of an economy that is buckling from enormous stress. 

Stress is the operative word. It describes the people and the conditions.