RealtyTrac, the leading online marketplace for foreclosed properties, announced this morning that the number of foreclosures nationwide in March 2008 rose 57 percent since March 2007. The numbers jumped 5 percent from February to March this year. The top 10 states for foreclosures were Nevada, California, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Massachusetts and Maryland.
The situation sounds grim in Nevada, where one in every 139 households received a foreclosure notice last month. That’s 3.9 times the national average and the highest state foreclosure rate for a record 15 consecutive months.
On a year-over-year basis, default notices were up nearly 57 percent and bank repossessions were up nearly 129 percent, but auction notices were up only 32 percent, indicating that more defaulting homeowners are simply walking away and deeding their properties back to the foreclosing lender,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “This deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure process allows the lender to take possession of a property without putting it up for public foreclosure auction.” If you want to learn more about foreclosures and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, search for these terms at ThinkGlink.com.

April 15, 2008.