Foreclosures Drop 2nd Straight Month ... Yeah Baby this is good

[Peacetrain]

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage foreclosure filings dropped for a second straight month in February, and notched the smallest annual increase in four years as housing-rescue efforts contained activity, a report released on Thursday showed.

Foreclosures are by far one of the biggest threats to the U.S. housing market, which remains highly vulnerable to setbacks and heavily reliant on government intervention. If foreclosures keep dropping, it will be one of the strongest signals yet the market is on the path to recovery."

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=10382525

THIS IS HUGE FOR CALIFORNIA:

State's home default cases plunge
A 40.2% drop in the first quarter suggests that the foreclosure crisis is easing.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/21/business/la-fi-foreclosures-20100421

[notadmblnd]

1. Anyone can say anything they want.

but until I see good things happening for the people (family/neighbors and other people in my community), I'm just not buying.

[high density]

3. Yup, 'cuz we all know anecdotal data is better than statistics of large populations.

Got it.

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. You and yar fancy book larnin'!

If it t'aint ahappenin' where these ole eyes kin see it, it t'aint ahappenin'! That's what I says and that's what I means! **Grumble grumble**

[Peacetrain]

4. In Michigan you guys are in really a tough tough spot and have been for years..

I was reading about the prospect of farming in inner city Detroit and taking out the abandoned housing.. that really looks like a promising thing.. I would be curious what your take on that is?

But you are right.. just as all politics are local, when you are in the middle of a tornado tearing up the farm, no one is looking at the good weather 100 miles away.

[proudohioan]

16. You certainly have lived up to your screen name on that one....

that is about the most thoughtful and sensitive comment I have heard from a DUer in a long time.

:)

[Arugula Latte]

17. Farming in Detroit has already started.

Many lots have been turned into urban gardens/farms. Oprah :) had something about the topic a couple years ago. Here's another link:

http://www.absolutemichigan.com/dig/michigan/the-rise-of-urban-farms-in-detroit/

[Peacetrain]

20. Wow thanks for the link...

That is very exciting

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. By that logic, there was no economic downturn at all.

:shrug:

[notadmblnd]

19. some people seem to think that.

[YOY]

2. Job losses subside, critical situations overcome or enveloped mortgage holders...

It was bound to taper off eventually.

Now once employment starts rising...I'll cheer.

[Peacetrain]

5. There is even good news on unemployment..

Jobs are being created but the unemployment numbers are not moving.. and that means that long term unemployed are moving back into the job market.. and that is a very GOOD thing,

[ClarkUSA]

6. The housing market is trending up from bottom. n/t

[avaistheone1]

8. How sweet it is

"I think the system is basically sound, I truly do," Bush said. "I understand there's a lot of nervousness. The economy is growing. Productivity is high. Trade's up. People are working — it's not as good as we'd like. And to the extent that we'll find weakness, we'll move."

Bush defended his insistence that the U.S. economy was not in a recession, even though many economists believe it is.
He said the traditional definition of a recession — two quarters in a row of negative growth — had not been met.
"I'm not an economist, but I do believe we're growing," he said. "I'm an optimist. I believe there's a lot of positive things for the economy."

He acknowledged, however, that "it's not growing as it should."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,382541,00.html

No doubt things are going in right direction, but we are far from out of water yet.

We can not create jobs as fast as our country is outsourcing them. Many banks are also holding off foreclosures so they don't show in these statistics. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/27/business/la-fi-squatters27-2010feb27

“The time it took to file a NTS after an NOD took 188 days in March, up from 142 days in February.

“Lenders giving borrowers time to have loan mod applications reviewed or short sales processed could certainly be at least partially responsible for the delays.

“One other thing to note. We are seeing more and more NTS postpone for the maximum period of one year which then requires the notice be cancelled, and a new notice re-filed. Refiling of the NOD is not required, so these NTS re-filings will cause NTS to rise relative to NODs.”

http://mortgage.freedomblogging.com/2010/04/27/foreclosure-notices-are-still-playing-catch-up/30863/

[Teaser]

9. this is really bad news

I'm just not sure how yet.

[BlooInBloo]

11. Give it 1 hour. DUers will explain it to us.

[DCBob]

18. Many on this site were predicting foreclosures would skyrocket and bring the recovery to a halt..

Guess they will have to modify their sky is falling scenario..

[Dappleganger]

10. There is a HUGE shadow inventory on the mortgage companies' and banks' books.

Just sayin'.

BTW, foreclosures are UP in my area as well as short sales.

[TexasObserver]

12. recommend

[depakid]

13. To get an accurate interpretation of the article, you have to look at the key data graphed here:

Watch what happens to the trend lines as the ARM resets occur in greater numbers.

[DCBob]

15. Fascinating graph..

thanks for posting!

[tranche]

21. I've been watching this graph for years. With Subprime it was disastrous...

I thought it would be too with the Option Arms, but I'm not so sure. With unemployment slowing I think those with those mortgages may be able to refinance or continue making the payments. It won't lead to the foreclosures we saw in 2007/2008, but it will lead valuable capital being funneled to banks for years to come, thereby holding down the economy. I guess that's why we wanted to flood the market with dollaresos.