Too much house to keep: Foreclosures aren’t exclusively lower-income

Posted on by Listify Me

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The home at 126 Cherry Laurel Circle in Ridgeland definitely qualifies as a dream home with its four bedrooms, four full bathrooms, three fireplaces and a $1.15 million price tag.

However, the home is owned by a bank.

Public perception suggests foreclosures only affect low- to middle-income families, but affluent families are losing their homes as well.

“There’s been a good number of houses foreclosed on in Annandale, Lake Caroline Ashbrooke, Arbor Landing,” said Brandon real estate agent Lee Gilliland, citing high-end subdivisions in Madison and Rankin counties.

“I’m not going to say there are a glut of expensive houses out there in foreclosure, but they’re there.”

The number of Mississippi homeowners in foreclosure dropped during the first quarter of 2011, although lenders seized 594 properties, according to national foreclosure tracking firm RealtyTrac.

Metro Jackson, which includes Hinds, Madison and Rankin counties, had 334 foreclosure actions, ranging from an initial default notice to outright repossession, hitting one in every 674 housing units. That was down 68.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010, but up 9.5 percent from the first quarter of 2010.

RealtyTrac chief executive James Saccacio said that although U.S. activity fell to a three-year low, an increase in foreclosure activity could occur as lenders refile paperwork that was questioned legally last year. Saccacio warned of a “shadow inventory” of homes where borrowers are behind in their payments but have yet to show up in foreclosure figures.

Nationally, a record 1 million homes were lost to foreclosure last year. RealtyTrac said it expects 1.2 million more will be lost this year.

But Jackson Realtor Jimmie Sandifer points out tighter requirements to obtain mortgage loans may curb the number of foreclosures. Data from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae show the average credit score rising to about 760 in the current market from nearly 720 in 2007, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Carla Palmer-Allen, president of the Jackson Association of Realtors, said foreclosures account for just 5 percent of metro Jackson’s 2,849 active listings of homes under $500,000. In March, 95 percent of home sales moved at the average market price of $155,000.