Forclsoure News in Tampa Bay

RealtyTrac released a report stating Foreclosure filings of all kinds, including notices of default, notices of auctions and notices of auction sales, dropped 4.4% during October, but it's not because fewer people are losing their homes. Instead, the market is seeing a temporary stay from banks freezing foreclose auctions to review loan documents. The drop in repossessions came after increases in four of the six previous months, topped by an all-time high in September, when 102,000 people lost their homes. In October, 93,246 homes were repossessed. Rick Sharga, Senior Vice President of RealtyTrac, believes there could be a further drop-off in November, because the impact of the freeze was not fully reflected in the October report. While that may result in further declines in bank repossessions, Sharga expects it to take many months before overall foreclosure rates really improve. There is still a very large backlog of borrowers who stopped paying their mortgages long ago but who have not yet been served forclose noticee filing and so are not being counted in RealtyTrac's statistics. "Today, servicers are waiting longer and longer to put people in foreclosure," said Sharga. "It's not unusual for someone in default go six to nine months without receiving a notice of default."