Published Thursday, August 06, 2009

Foreclosures: August total 3rd highest on record in Coweta

The Newnan Times-Herald

Foreclosures are still on the rise in Coweta County, with 196 being advertised in The Times-Herald this month, a 43 percent increase from the 137 listed in August 2008 and a 75 percent increase from the 112 listed two years ago.

This month's number is also an increase over last month, when 169 foreclosures were listed in The Times-Herald's legal advertisement section.

This month marks the third highest number of foreclosure notices on record, behind June's record number of 253 and the March number of 216.

The areas in Coweta County with the highest rates of foreclosure are in the extreme north and south, according to the latest data from First American CoreLogic, a collector of national, state, and local data on home prices, foreclosure, and delinquency activity.

Homes in the Palmetto, Moreland and Grantville zip codes are listed in the "high" foreclosure rate category, with rates exceeding 2.8 percent. Most of the rest of the county, such as Newnan and Senoia and surrounding areas, have only moderate rates of foreclosure (1.3% to 2%), while the lowest rate of foreclosure is in Sharpsburg, with a moderately low rate of foreclosure (0.8 to 1.3 percent).

Derenda Rowe, director of the Newnan-based One Roof ministry, said that there are many reasons why a family might face foreclosure.

"A lot of people are afraid to call their mortgage companies, believe it or not," she said. "It can't get much worse than getting foreclosed on. It pays to at least try to call the bank or the mortgage company and see if you can work toward a solution."

She said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has programs that might help families facing foreclosure, at www.hud.gov or 1-800-225-5342.

The national foreclosure rate was 2.6 percent in June. U.S. home prices continue to be well below 2008 levels. The latest Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller Home Price Index for 20 U.S. cities indicated May home prices were 17.1 percent lower than a year ago, but showed improvement over April data, when prices were down 18.1 percent.

The index posted record annual declines for 16 consecutive months between October 2007 and January 2009, but now have shown four consecutive months of improvement in annual returns.

"The pace of descent in home price values appears to be slowing," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee for Case-Shiller.

The average home price in metro Atlanta has increased by 0.3 percent between April and May, according to the index. Year-over-year, the average price of a metro Atlanta home dropped by 15 percent.

The mortgage delinquency rate has increased in metro Atlanta, according to First American CoreLogic preview data for June 2009: 7.80 percent of mortgage loans were 90 days or more delinquent compared to 4.90 percent for the same period last year, representing an increase of 2.80 percentage points.

During the past 12 months, from July 2008 to June 2009, there were 189,468 foreclosure filings in metro Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, or approximately 519.09 per day. That compares to the previous 12-month period of July 2007 to June 2008 when there were 127,703 foreclosure filings, or approximately 349.87 per day.

Public record foreclosure filings include the three steps in the foreclosure process beginning with the pre-foreclosure filing or Notice of Default (NOD), which typically occurs after the 90-day delinquency period, the Notice of Foreclosure Sale when the property is scheduled for auction, and the Notification of Sale filed after the property is sold at auction. If the property isn't sold at auction, it goes back to the lender and is considered Real Estate Owned (REO). Because data is collected from public records, it is subject to limitations with regard to geographic coverage and differences in how various municipalities record foreclosure filings.

Foreclosure data for First American CoreLogic is reported based on the actual number of active mortgage loans rather than the total number of households in a given area, which provides more accurate results by removing paid-in-full mortgages from the equation.

Month-by-month foreclosure listings in The Times-Herald:

Sept. 2008 -- 177 (up from 109 in 2007, or 62 percent).

Oct. 2008 -- 142 (up from 130 in 2007, or 9 percent).

Nov. 2008 -- 166 (up from 116 in 2007, or 43 percent).

Dec. 2008 -- 126 (up from 118 in 2007, or 6.7 percent).

Jan. 2009 -- 176 (up from 156 in 2008, or 12.8 percent).

Feb. 2009 -- 153 (up from 123 in 2008, or 24.3 percent).

March 2009 -- 216 (up from 128 in 2008, or 68.75 percent).

April 2009 -- 182 (up from 145 in 2008, or 25 percent).

May 2009 -- 176 (up from 128 in 2008, or 37.5 percent).

June 2009 -- 253 (up from 125 in 2008, or 102.4 percent).

July 2009 -- 169 (up from 136 in 2008, or 24 percent).

Aug. 2009 -- 196 (up from 137 in 2008, or 43 percent).