Georgia Foreclosures (Atlanta, Clayton, Jersey: real estate market, apartments, lease)

[Tab1975]

I just read an article on AJC.com that states that the Georgia foreclosure rate is SKYROCKETING.

Since allot of us on this site are always mentioning buying a home, I would like to know from the people that reside in GA, if you know why the rate is so high.

I have a girlfriend that moved to Clayton County in 2004. She followed her family down there because her mom and dad sold their home of 25 years and moved to Henry County in 2003. She went down to visit and on her second visit, she fell in love with her current home and brought it. She moved in Feb of 2004.

But in her case as I think in a lot of the cases of foreclosure, she was not gainfully employed to have a home. Even though she was telling me one thing, I knew different. See in NYC you can have a $1250 rent, but she was making about 40K yearly here. So he was making it. But there she took a pay cut. Her boyfriend was doing a little job hustling (temping). Then he got a permanent job. But all I know if right now is she is waiting on a decision n whether they can add her missed mortgage to the end of her term.

I know that unless I have all my ducks in a row, I am not going to be a homeowner in the next two years. I have a lot to fix on my credit report and I know that the housing is not going to boom again, no matter what these shady agents will tell you. I can wait. Until I have the right job, the right money saved the right credit score. I will do the apt. until it is time for me.

I think that people should stop biting off more than they can chew.

[pjacksone]

I'm a mortgage loan processor by trade. One reason is because people have been wooed into those interest only loans so they can't really afford the house when they step foot into it. A second culprit is that a lot of people got ARM (adjustable rate mortgages) when the interest rates were low, now that rates are rising and they are coming due, people are panicking because they can't afford the payments. I had a customer recently wanting to refinance they ARM loan - the rate was going from 7.99% to 10.99%. My mouth fell open.

[Georgia]

PJack has a point.

Georgia has many issues on the housing front, first we have the seagulls coming in droves to slap a McMansion together on any piece of property they can find. This creates a glut, which we currently have, in which folks trying to sell simply cannot. If they are in trouble foreclosure is not far behind.

With the overdevelopment folks from NY City etc., come down and get caught up in the "moment". This is walking into a Georgia home for 300k with all the molding, tray ceilings, whirlpool tubs, rolling hills, ohhhh ahhhh, then they "overbuy" and become "housepoor" (ie. Pjacks interest only loans)

After the above reality hits and hits hard. There is upkeep, property taxes, homeowners insurance, association fees, all utilities, drapes, more furniture, etc. Things one does not have when renting apartments in the boro's or LA etc. The next thing they forget is most of the loans they jump into, esp. interest only are ARM's. As T-Bills increase by 10-20 points their payment goes up 200-400 per month.

It is unfortunate that many folks fall into this trap. Some are even more blind when you see the poor sole move in, then next week you see one or two new cars in the driveway. In many cases they are leased Acura's, Lexus's, etc. Hey! my car insurance here is nothing like Cali or NY, but woops! I did not know about ad vallurum

You cannot play sad and blame others for the mess, just themselves. I do feel though that there are many of the seagulls and mortgage brokers who can act as the slimy salesperson and leverage folks on their weaknesses in both discipline and financial knowledge.

Just some thoughts,

[LLD]

Not only those crazy interest-only loans but these new 40 and 50 year loans too have contributed to the forecloses IMO. Both I think are tools that try to deal with the outrageous housing prices in CA and some of the East Coast areas but mostly all that has happened is people that can't really afford a house have bought one and people also bought way more house than they could afford too.

For investors or people with tons of money they just use these tools to buy in areas they think will have high and quick turnover and if they make a bad choice out of say 5 investments they can afford that one bad choice because there other 4 did fine. But for people that don't have that kind of money, taking a chance on their main residence has too often created problems.

[Zelia]

I missed the foreclosure article in the paper, but I saw the article on the net. It's a very good article, and it explained the dire circumstances here in Georgia.

What really surprised me is that LENDERS CAN FORECLOSE ON A GEORGIA HOUSE IN AS FEW AS 37 DAYS. We're only one of three states that can foreclose in such a short period of time.

As of October, 2006 here are the top 10 foreclosure states:

1. Colorado

2. Nevada

3. GEORIGIA

4. Michigan

5. Illinois

6. Florida

7. Ohio

8. Tennessee

9. New Jersey

10. Utah


The article said that hundreds of Geogians lost their homes on Tuesday. In Georgia, foreclosures are up 99% over last year. In October, almost 7,000 homes were in the foreclosure process.

Yeah, the adjustable mortgages are wreaking havoc. Some people bought homes with interest rates under 4%, and are now paying 6% and 7%. That's a big jump.

I guess the lenders are now willing to negotiate, because there's just so many foreclosures.

Z

[dlh891]

I know that it is very easy to get a home loan in Georgia too. My husband and I came here to visit friends that just moved outside Atlanta and he suggested we ride around with their realtor since we had been thinking of moving here for years. The second day we found our dream home, put a contract on it, and closed on it 14 days later with only about $2000 out of pocket. Forget the fact that we did not have jobs here or that my husband is the only one on the loan and the mortgage payment is about 70% of his (then) take home pay. I thought it was crazy.

Luckily, my husband got a promotion with his company when he told them we were moving and as soon as we close on our Florida house this week, it will be like we won the lottery....and we have our dream house.

[backfist]

Unfortunately, I happen to be one of those poor souls from Colorado who owns a house that won't sell. I can't give the thing away, and I'm barely hanging on to it.

Although our interest rate is fixed under 6%, I'm convinced that Colorado's foreclosure rate is the highest because (1) jobs don't pay that well, and (2) because so many people bought in the "must-live-in" neighborhoods 5 years ago and couldn't get in, but for those ARM's. And now that mortgages have gone up by $500 - $700 bucks, those mediocre jobs aren't going to cover it.

Sad and scary.

[Tab1975]

When I came down to GA in July, I started a contract for my home and my loan was under FHA. I was locking in at 7%. I am fuly aware of the ARM's and the intrest only loans and I am stating clear of that. ARM's are only for people that are going to stay in the house for 5 years or less. That loan works out better for them. Interest only loans to me are good for house flippers that need the cost to be low just in case it is a slow seller. I would rather a more traditional mortagage,but I am willing to do the work that it takes to gain that. If it means that I live an in apt for a year or two. Then I am doing it. If it means buying a car at the auction instead of a new car, then I will do it. People see things and want them. Never thinking about the future.

I hope that the new home owners will learn from these mistakes and make better choices.

[Prichard]

If you want to get a real good gauge on what's going on with any particular real estate market, don't look at how many foreclosures have been filed! Look for two things: How many foreclosures are getting sold "pre-foreclosure"; and how competitive the foreclosure buzzards are during the bidding.

[vjb2tellthetruth]

I have lived in my home for 19 years. I purchased the home that was within my income, (not overtime). I cooked most of our meals. We went to the matinee movies. I spent my funds on necessary items (you know like lights,
gas, water, food). You can try this, it worked for me!