Hampton Roads foreclosures decline for 3rd month
Foreclosure auctions and home repossessions in Hampton Roads dropped in July for the third consecutive month, signaling the foreclosure problem could be leveling off, according to a report to be released today.
The number of local foreclosures last month was 1,219, down 19 percent from June but up 31 percent from July 2009, according to RealtyTrac, a foreclosure-monitoring service based in Irvine, Calif.
Local foreclosure activity reached a record high in April, but has declined each month since. Last month, both the number of foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions fell. Of the seven major cities in Hampton Roads, foreclosures rose only in Hampton and were most prevalent in Norfolk and Portsmouth.
Across the nation, foreclosures rose nearly 4 percent last month. However, the volume of foreclosures nationwide is down nearly 10 percent compared with July 2009. The national figures include notices of default, the first stage of the foreclosure process after a homeowner has missed mortgage payments.
The number of homeowners falling behind on their mortgage seems to be leveling off, RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio said in a news release, but lenders are processing foreclosures at a much faster pace than they were a year ago.
For homeowners, that translates into less time to try to save their homes, said Dotty Acampora, a foreclosure-prevention counselor at the nonprofit Virginia Beach Community Development Corp.
Each week, Acampora scans the foreclosure listings in the newspaper to check whether one of her clients has a looming auction date.
"Once the sale gets posted, my job gets a whole lot more complicated," she said. "I have to start making calls, to the attorneys, to the servicer, to the investor. Really harassing them to get them to hold off."
Josh Brown, The Virginian-Pilot