Nebr Foreclosures Down 12% Last Year (Omaha, Lincoln: 2010, HOA, mortgages)

[Dave1215]

More nice news for Nebraska during these bad economic times.

Several bankers from local community banks had recently told me that their loan losses were not too much higher than normal and that they were still lending... this made sense since they had always had conservative underwriting standards and didn't get into the crazy lending practices that have made the news....

The below article from today's OWH is a nice validation of those conversations.

Published Tuesday January 20, 2009
Nebraska's foreclosures low in 2008


Nebraska’s foreclosure rate declined roughly 12 percent last year.

RealtyTrac says the state’s foreclosure rate ranked 39th in the nation in 2008.

RealtyTrac collects data from courts in 13 of Nebraska’s 93 counties to develop its rates. The company says that data provides enough information to show the trend in foreclosures because 61 percent of the state’s homes are in those 13 counties.

RealtyTrac says court records show that 3,190 Nebraska properties were involved in foreclosure proceedings last year. That’s less than half of one percent of all the state’s homes.

By contrast, about 1.8 percent of all homes nationwide were involved in foreclosure last year. That’s up from about one percent in 2007.

Omaha.com Money Section

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[monkeynoodle]

My wife and I drove around yesterday to a few housing developments, although not as busy and bustling with workers as in the past, we saw in just a few blocks over 10 new houses were being built. My hope is that with a stronger local economy we have weathered and will continue to weather this economic downturn we are seeing nationwide with the housing market.

[Dave1215]

We are not insulated from a downturn, but we are definetly moderated... meaning we won't see the extremes that the rest of the nation does...

[Dave1215]

Another article today that talks to the moderating affect of the midwest culture... while the headline was slanted to the negative I thought the article was generally a positive.

Published Thursday January 22, 2009
Economists say recession will hit state this year
BY STEVE JORDON
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER


Nebraska missed the first half of the national recession, but the "second act" will hit the state this year with declining employment and other problems, a group of the state’s economists predicted this morning.

However, the recession will not be as severe in the state as nationwide, they said, and the state should begin to pull out of the recession late this year, about the same time as the national economy.

Nebraska’s employment grew by only 0.7 percent in 2008, less than the 1.2 percent the economists had predicted when they issued their latest report in June.

This year, employment is to drop 1.1 percent, followed by growth of 1.5 percent in 2010. Each percentage point represents about 10,000 jobs.

The economists are John Austin, Bruce Johnson and Eric Thompson of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Iksoo Cho and Hoa Phu Tran of the Nebraska Department of Revenue, Chris Decker of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Tom Doering of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, Lisa Johnson of the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development, Ken Lemke of Nebraska Public Power District, Shannon Ramaeker of the Nebraska Department of Labor and Scott Strain of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce.

Omaha.com Money Section

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[SCGranny]

Nebraska didn't have the high hysteria of other states (one of which I just left last year) when the Congress demanded that underwriting standards be relaxed. I knew people who didn't even work full-time, whose income was far less than mine, who 'qualified' to buy quarter-million-dollar homes. The sudden influx of predatory lenders in the previous six years was unbelieveable - people were refinancing family properties with balloon mortgages, not understanding that they would be liable for a HUGE cash payment in a few years, thereby losing those properties. Some folks were being financed at 28%, because of their low credit scores. It was insanity; cheaply built McMansions going up side by side, with the cheap siding already rippling and warping, homes that doubled in artificially raised values every six months. I knew people whose garages fell off of their houses, or who had their lawn irrigation systems pounded in upside down, and who had no recourse because the builders were long gone.

Rapid, uncontrolled, and unplanned development based on the lowered loan qualifications is what is now killing many states and banks. NE may want development and growth, but at such a price it is simply not worth it.