New Foreclosures in Racine Bring The Number of Repo Houses to an all Time High
Feb 20, 2009 | Filed under Repo Houses | Comments (0)
In the last two months there have been over 230 new foreclosures filed in the Racine County area, bring the number of repo houses to an all time high. This figure is only close behind Milwaukee, which is a substantially larger area, although it must be said that the number in Milwaukee is also much much higher.
The problems we can see in Racine are by no means unique to the county, the surrounding counties all have similar difficulties, the figures just vary depending on several factors such as the dominant industries and the geographical proximity to Lake Michigan which provides a great deal of tourist income. The reasons for the repo houses in Racine appearing on the market are the same as the national issues promulgating the economic downturn.
For those residents who thought they were getting a bargain basement deal on a mortgage in the summer of 2007, there is a daily struggle to meet repayments which have leapt out of all proportion with last year’s rates. This is combined and indeed fuelled by the higher levels of unemployment and general atmosphere of economic uncertainty.
There is also an increased availability of newly built real estate in the Racine area leading to a saturated property market. In the case of people who are increasingly unable to meet monthly payments, they may consider selling their house but be unable to do so as the market is flooded by new builds but also the increased availability of foreclosure properties going at a discounted rate. In reality this means those in the worst situations are effectively trapped in a spiral of debt with a very real probability of having their repossessed home.
With every disaster there are mostly losers, but there are also a small number of winners and many shrewd property investors are cashing in on the large numbers of available repo houses in the county. The properties are often vandalised and damaged beyond habitability, damage usually inflicted by the residents being evicted. These investors will employ electricians, carpenters, plumbers and even lawyers to speed up the process of getting the repo houses back into the resale market.
It is hoped by all that the trend of more repo houses being filed for foreclosure will have peaked soon and we can expect to see the market settling back into normality at some time before the end of the first quarter of 2009. Racine’s unemployment figures are currently the highest in the region at 9/4% compared to the national average of 6.1%, there is a severe labour shortage also, as people move further afield to find work in the hope of saving their home from repossession.
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