Foreclosures. A lot of people are looking for that special deal and focus on foreclosed homes as a way to make that dream and goal come true. Often times it is the investor aiming to flip the house to turn a quick profit that searches for these foreclosed or distressed properties. While searching for and buying foreclosed homes can be advantageous (Also dangerous, but that's a topic for another article), the inventory to pick from is becoming smaller and smaller.
According to the report, foreclosed and distressed properties are becoming fewer and fewer. This is a trend that has been continuing for many years.
"In March the foreclosure inventory was down 2.2 percent from February 2016, representing 53 months of consecutive year-over-year declines". The report went on to say that, "As of March 2016, the foreclosure inventory represented 1.1 percent of all homes with a mortgage".
Florida, Michigan, Texas, Georgia and California account for almost half of all foreclosures in the United States.
North Carolina falls beneath the national average for foreclosures. The foreclosure rate in North Carolina for mortgaged properties is at 0.7 percent. The foreclosure inventory percent change from a year ago is down 15.3 percent.
The web site Foreclosure.com, which boasts as being, "America's largest provider of distressed properties, with more than 1.8 million foreclosure, preforeclosure, bankruptcy and tax lien listings across the United States located conveniently in one place" has the following information listed about North Carolina.
The web site claims that there are currently 4,955 foreclosures, 4,624 "Pre-foreclosures", 405 short sales and 972 Sheriff sales.
By the way-The term "pre-foreclosure" is a misnomer. Pre-foreclosure is actually a reference to properties that are in the foreclosure process (which can take months or even years) but have not yet been finally and officially foreclosed upon.
The moral of the story is that there are still foreclosed, distressed and short sale properties to be found. There always will be. But as the CoreLogic reports indicates, there is an almost 4 ½ year trend of declining foreclosures.
Buying foreclosed properties can be advantageous. But there are possible risks involved and challenges to overcome. Buying foreclosed properties often comes with many hurdles to jump and time invested. It is best to work with someone who has experience with the process. Margaret Hitchcock is a Realtor with Hitchcock Realty and is someone with that experience. She knows Carteret County and the area of the Crystal Coast. Contact Margaret at (252) 269-2893.