The number of properties falling under bank and VA foreclosure listings in San Diego County, California is expected to rise again in the coming months as more homeowners fall behind in their mortgage payments. During the month of March, data showed that defaults have gone up from the previous month.

California has remained one of the states with the highest levels of foreclosure activities during the start of the year, with listing of foreclosure in Irvine and distressed properties in Sacramento, San Diego and other key areas remaining elevated despite year-over-year decreases in majority of local markets. Housing market analysts asserted that the lull in foreclosure caused by the documentation controversy seemed to be over, with foreclosure filings set to swell again for the rest of 2011.

More homes will likely end up in California foreclosure listings starting next month, analysts have claimed, as delinquencies jump in most metro regions of the state. In San Diego County, loan defaults were up in March 2011 by 34% compared with February 2011 based on data presented by DataQuick Information Systems. A total of 1,837 loan defaults were recorded in the county during the month. Although the total represented a 19% decline compared with March 2010, analysts stated that the housing market of the region is still in a slump.

The rise in loan defaults between February and March was the highest jump ever recorded in San Diego County in over two years. Analysts reported that these potential foreclosures will further expand the already existing lists of bank foreclosures and properties under VA foreclosure listings in the area. In March, a total of 1,047 foreclosures are already in the market, representing a rise of 17% compared with February.

Although existing foreclosures in the county declined by 8% from one year ago, analysts asserted that figures showed that the market seemed to be reverting back to the scenario seen during the peak of the housing market crisis. They also expect nationwide foreclosures to start increasing again in the coming months as lenders become more comfortable with new parameters set in place by legislators to improve the processing of foreclosures.

Housing market experts have revealed that bank and VA foreclosure listings are unlikely to get some respite during the year. Most of them believe that 2011 will be a difficult year for the U.S. housing market and any form of recovery or improvement will not happen until next year.

Although Nebraska has its own share of problems with bank and VA foreclosures, the state is definitely at the lower rung of the nationwide ranking in terms of foreclosure rates. This, economists stated, is part of the reason why the region is considered less economically stressed than other U.S. states.

Foreclosure listings in Omaha are not as high as in other regions, making the area healthier economically compared with the rest of the nation. In the latest Associated Press ranking of the most and least economically stressed regions of the U.S., the Buffalo County of Nebraska came in second with a stress score of 4.30, bested only by Ellis County, in Kansas. Another Nebraska area, Madison County, made it to number nine of the least stressed metro areas, with a score of 4.93.

The shorter list of foreclosure homes in Nebraska also contributed to the whole state getting ranked second nationwide in terms of least stressed U.S. states for January 2011. Nebraska was ranked the second healthiest state all over the country for the month, with an overall stress score of 5.85. The healthiest state for January was North Dakota, which had a stress score of 5.24. According to the AP, the nationwide stress score went down to 11.2 in January of this year from 11.9 a year ago, but up from the December 2010 score of 10.4.

The decline was attributed to fewer bankruptcies and lower unemployment during the month. The AP also revealed that the ranking was derived by gauging several factors, including unemployment, number of foreclosed properties, such as bank and VA foreclosures, and rates of bankruptcies. The higher the score, the more economically stressed a place is deemed to be.

Aside from nationwide foreclosure listing, industries that dominate the employment market of a region also have a lot to do with its economic performance. The data showed that states heavily influenced by manufacturing industries gained the most improvement for the month. States with majority of their employees working in manufacturing, retail, technical and professional sectors recorded the biggest economic improvements, while those that are mostly reliant on construction and real estate posted the biggest declines.

Because of its oversupply of bank and VA foreclosures, Nevada was again ranked first among the most economically stressed regions for January, posting a score of 21.41. California was at second place, while Florida, Arizona and Michigan rounded up the top five. In terms of counties, Imperial County, in California, was considered the most stressed for the month.

The number of foreclosures, including properties under VA home listings, rose rapidly in several local markets of South Carolina last year. Some areas of the state recorded the fastest growth in foreclosure rate in the whole U.S. in 2010, with unemployment and bad loans largely blamed for the trend.

Foreclosure listings in Columbia and in other areas of the state recorded some increases in 2010, but the area that posted the biggest jump in foreclosure rate was Spartanburg. The city recorded the fastest growth in foreclosure rate in the whole U.S. last year, with foreclosures jumping a massive 228% in 2010 compared with the previous year. During 2010, the city had one household out of every 60 housing units under some stage of foreclosure.

This is considered huge, given that the population of the metro area is a little less than 300,000. Housing industry analysts stated that the major reasons behind the massive growth in the number of properties from the area that fell under South Carolina foreclosure lists were unemployment and bad loans, particularly those taken out to purchase investment residential properties.

Spartanburg's unemployment rate last year was at 10.9%. However, during 2009, it jumped to an all-time high of 12.7%, way higher than the national unemployment level. Majority of those who lost their jobs in the past two years reportedly had mortgages. Upon losing their jobs, more than half of them lost their properties to foreclosure, adding further to the number of properties falling under foreclosed bank and VA home listings.

Despite the huge number of properties under listings of foreclosure houses, the city has shown some signs of economic improvement during the last few months of 2010, buoyed mainly by additional hiring at the BMW factory situated in the area. In addition, retail sales seemed to be picking up at Spartanburg as consumers have started spending again and seemed to be gaining some much needed confidence.

Market analysts, however, expected properties under bank foreclosures and VA home listings to increase again this year as the foreclosure crisis hits its peak and lenders try to unload as much foreclosed properties as they can to lower the inventory of unsold properties.

Search foreclosure lists in South Carolina cities:

• Foreclosure Listings in Summerville
• Foreclosure Listings in Greenville
• Foreclosure Listings in Hilton Head Island
• Foreclosure Listings in Spartanburg
• Foreclosure Listings in Conway

The number of bank, government, and VA foreclosures increased in most metro areas of Florida in 2010 compared with the previous year. Among the 20 metropolitan areas in the U.S. with the highest rates of foreclosure last year, nine are in Florida. Although the number of foreclosure-related filings declined for the whole state by 6% in 2010, foreclosure rates remain high in most of the state's key markets.

Foreclosure listings in Cape Coral were some of the highest in the whole U.S. in 2010, with the Cape Coral-Fort Myers region ranking second nationwide in terms of foreclosure rate. The metro had a foreclosure rate of 8.4%, second only to Las Vegas, which posted a rate of 10.9%. Another Florida metro area that ranked high was Miami-Fort Lauderdale at fifth, with a rate of 7.1%, while Orlando-Kissimmee was in ninth place, with a foreclosure rate of 6.9%

Florida home foreclosures list problems were also significant in Deltona-Daytona, which was ranked 13th with a foreclosure rate of 5.8%, followed by Naples-Marco Island at 14^th, with a rate of 5.5%. Four other Florida metro areas made it to the top 20 list of U.S. regions with the highest rates of foreclosure in 2010.

Port St. Lucie was at 16^th, with a rate of 5.2%, followed by Tampa-St. Petersburg at number 17, with a rate of 4.9%; Polk County at 18^th, with a rate of 4.8% and Sarasota-Bradenton at number 19, with a foreclosure rate of 4.7%. Most of these Florida metros also recorded higher numbers of bank and VA foreclosures in 2010.

According to housing market experts, the problem of huge supplies of foreclosure listings will be alleviated if the predicted job growth for 2011 materializes. Analysts stated that more jobs will not only help increase demand for residential properties, but they will also cut down the number of homeowners who are delinquent in paying their mortgages.

Majority of local economists are confident that unemployment will diminish in the state in 2011, which will then lead to more non-foreclosed and foreclosed houses, such as VA foreclosures, being purchased by investors and homebuyers. However, they also stated that home prices will not improve much during the year.

Search home foreclosures list in Florida cities:

• Foreclosure Listings in Miami
• Foreclosure Listings in Fort Lauderdale
• Foreclosure Listings in Pompano Beach
• Foreclosure Listings in West Palm Beach
• Foreclosure Listings in Kissimmee

More properties ended in foreclosure list and homes listings from VA in Oklahoma during the third quarter of the current year. According to the latest housing industry data, foreclosure-related filings in the state rise for the July-September 2010 period when compared with last year.

The number of residential properties under Oklahoma City foreclosure listings and other distressed home listings in various local markets of the state recorded a higher total for the quarter. Between July and September, 5,806 filings were posted in the whole state. The figure is 2% higher than the total number of filings recorded in the 2010 second quarter. It is also 15% higher than the number posted in the 2009 third quarter.

Home foreclosures in Oklahoma just started to rise in 2010. The state is one of the few U.S. regions that avoided the housing market crisis prior to the current year. However, the state's foreclosure totals seemed to be catching up with the rest of the country as it posted a ratio of one household under foreclosure for every 282 residential units.

Despite the increase, the state remains at the lower part of the nationwide foreclosure ranking at 31st. In addition, Oklahoma's foreclosure rate is twice lower than the countrywide average. Analysts have stated though, that there is no stopping the state from recording a higher foreclosure total in 2010 compared with 2009. They added that more homes are expected to end up in bank foreclosure listings, government listings and home listings from VA before the end of the current year, albeit at a slower pace than the nationwide average.

Housing experts have explained that one can find foreclosed home listings to be fewer in Oklahoma during the first three years of the housing crisis mainly because of its lower unemployment rate. They stated that compared with other regions, not a lot of people lost their jobs in Oklahoma, thereby increasing the state's protection against mass foreclosures.

In addition, fewer residential properties ended in bank foreclosure listings and home listings from VA in the state because speculative buying of properties did not catch on here as much as it did in other places in the U.S. Low costs of living also protected the region from the worst of the housing crisis.

Search home foreclosures in Oklahoma cities:

• Lawton Foreclosure Listings
• Broken Arrow Foreclosure Listings
• Bartlesville Foreclosure Listings
• Sand Springs Foreclosure Listings
• Sapulpa Foreclosure Listings

The high level of foreclosed properties, including VA foreclosure homes, has been considered one of the major factors preventing the U.S. from staging a much needed economic recovery. However, economists have lately identified another aspect of the housing market problem that might be pulling down the economy more than foreclosure does.

According to some economists, homeowners who continue to pay underwater mortgages might be hindering the nation's economic recovery more so than the thousands of foreclosed properties found in hardest hit areas like Nevada, Florida and California, where Fresno foreclosure listings and other types of foreclosures continue to expand.

As an example, in the state of California, more than 670,000 loans are underwater. Consumers who own these mortgages are paying amounts that are higher than the worth of their homes. This setup, economists stated, weigh down the economy more than the number of properties under California foreclosure property listings.

Most Americans will probably think that continuously paying mortgages, even though they are underwater, would help the economy more than losing properties to bank and VA foreclosure homes. However, economists stated that the problem is that the money being paid for these underwater mortgages is taking funds away from consumer spending, which in turn weighs down the economy of the country.

Like the problem of foreclosed homes list, underwater loans continue to persist in various regions of the U.S. About 15 million borrowers are believed to own underwater loans, with over 7% owing a quarter more than what their homes are worth. In California alone, over 50% of borrowers are estimated to be paying mortgages that are more expensive than their residences.

Underwater mortgages in the largest real property markets, which include California, Florida and Illinois, have average negative loan equity of $107,000. In addition, these borrowers are paying an interest rate that is higher than the current 4.25% average. They are unable to get their loans refinanced primarily because of the amount they owe.

Although it seemed surprising to consider loan payment a bigger economic drag than bank and VA foreclosure homes, economists stated that paying for a loan that is higher than a property's worth will inevitably hit consumer spending and consequently, the national economy.

Search home foreclosures in California cities:

• Sacramento Foreclosure Listings
• Bakersfield Foreclosure Listings
• Riverside Foreclosure Listings
• Stockton Foreclosure Listings
• Palmdale Foreclosure Listings

The level by which the foreclosure crisis has hit the state of New Jersey varies between two regions, with the southern area getting the worse of it, while the northern region's housing market remains relatively steady. The south has more properties under list of VA foreclosed homes and bank foreclosure listings, according to the state's housing market data.

The state has not been spared by the housing industry crisis, with evidence of the problem showing from Freehold foreclosure listings to distressed property listings in the most obscure housing community. However, the level by which foreclosure has impacted the state does vary between the northern and southern part of the region.

According to state residential property reports, sales prices of properties under New Jersey foreclosure listings and non-foreclosure dwellings in the suburbs of the northern part of the state declined by 2.7% during the January-September 2010 period when compared with the same 2009 period. In the southern region, the decline for the same period in the suburbs was 7.2%.

When it comes to shoreline housing communities, list of VA foreclosed homes and bank foreclosures are also reportedly higher in the south than in the north. Shoreline prices of homes in the north jumped by 3.79% during the nine-month period of 2010 compared with the same 2009 period, while the south recorded a decline of 6% in the same category for the same period.

The list of foreclosure property continues to grow in the south during the year, according to local housing statistics. In areas along railroads, the prices of houses rose by 5.72% in the northern part of the state, while in the south, prices at these areas declined by 6%. Most housing analysts are of the opinion that recovery in the southern housing market will take at least one full year.

Based on inventory levels, analysts are estimating that it will take almost four years for Salem County to sell off all the houses in its books if current sales rates are to be used as basis. In Atlantic and Cumberland Counties, housing market observers have estimated that it will take at least 22 months before the list of VA foreclosed homes, bank foreclosures and non-foreclosure properties can be off loaded.

Search home foreclosures in New Jersey cities:

• Asbury Park Foreclosure Listings
• Englishtown Foreclosure Listings
• Trenton Foreclosure Listings
• Keansburg Foreclosure Listings
• Keyport Foreclosure Listings

Recently, Michigan Democrat Senator Debbie Stabenow has introduced a legislative bill designed to extend the length of period within which an unemployed can draw unemployment benefits. The proposal, if approved, is expected to have some modicum of impact on bank, government and VA foreclosure listings and on the housing market in general.

In the state of Michigan, a lot of residents have welcomed the news. Most areas of the state are suffering from big numbers of foreclosures, with Warren foreclosure listings being just some of the examples of the thousands of foreclosed properties in the whole area.

Some state residents who have lost their jobs are expecting that Stabenow's proposal will help lessen the number of properties under foreclosure listings in Michigan. According to them, this will provide homeowners with more money for food while they search for another job. It also would somehow improve the chances of troubled homeowners of holding on to their properties as they are given more time to look for another employment.

Most people who have lost their homes to bank, government and VA foreclosure listings have also lost their jobs. Stabenow's proposal to extend the unemployment benefits' period to 119 weeks among states that have suffered most from the recession has been greeted with a welcome sigh of relief by areas such as Michigan which has been hit hard by the foreclosure crisis and the economic downturn.

However, not all are convinced that the Michigan senator's proposal is a good thing. According to critics, extending the unemployment benefit period will have no positive impact on listings of foreclosure houses and will not help the economy in general. They added that the only thing the proposal will do is to encourage the unemployed to rely further on the government and to strive less in looking for another job.

Opponents of the proposal also asserted that extending the period for unemployed benefits also makes jobless people feel that they are justified in refusing an employment opportunity just because it does not perfectly fit in with what they want to do or what they are looking for. Critics also stated that no matter how long the benefit period is extended, bank and VA foreclosure listings will remain major problems all around the country.

There are more affordable Illinois homes in the VA foreclosures list as nearly 80,000 homes in the state were notified of default or foreclosure in the first 5 months of this year.

Of these distressed homes, a total of 23,836 were reacquired and entered listings of bank owned properties in Illinois. In May, the pace of foreclosure postings in the state slowed by more than 20 percent but still surged sharply by 38 percent from one year earlier.

The number of units that entered bank owned property listing in May also dropped, with the 4,093 REO homes in May lower by 14 percent than the 4,754 REO units in April. Despite the slowdown in overall foreclosure filings, Illinois did not improve its eighth-ranking in charts of state foreclosure rates in May.

One of the cities in Illinois that has plenty of affordable foreclosures is Rockford. On the website of one foreclosure listings provider, there are currently 1,746 Rockford bank owned homes, higher than the number of pre-owned homes for sale, which was 1,226. The price median for all types of homes sold in April was $100,000, an improvement of 12 percent from the price median one year earlier. The listing price average for all homes in Rockford is $133,503.

One realtor in Rockford has listings of over 400 foreclosures and about 3,000 other types of homes for sale.

On one VA foreclosures list that features Illinois homes, the prices range from $5,900 to $168,900. Among the VA homes on the list are a single-family home in Springfield listed at $105,900, a single-family unit in Bloomington listed at $92,900, and another single-family in Wyoming listed at $67,900.

VA homes are sold as is, but prospective buyers are given ten days to inspect the properties. VA requires pre-qualification documents for financed purchases and proofs of funding for cash offers. Also, the VA does not pay the title fees.

In addition to the affordable prices, another good thing for people interested in VA foreclosures list is the opportunity to get vendee financing.

Search bank owned homes in Illinois cities:

• Aurora bank owned homes
• Chicago bank owned homes
• Cicero bank owned homes
• Elgin bank owned homes
• Round Lake bank owned homes

If a homeowner is able to carry out a short sale to prevent his home from being added to lists of foreclosure VA and other foreclosures, it is generally known that the short sale will not affect his credit score as much as a foreclosure does.

But according to John Ulzheimer, former credit score model developer at credit bureau Fair Isaac Corp., short sales are major delinquencies and they have significant effects on credit scores.

In the recent expansion of the Obama administration’s program to contain foreclosure VA and other foreclosures, federal officials launched alternatives to foreclosures, including short sale and loan forbearance. They informed homeowners that they can protect their credit record if they can work out a short sale.

Sadly, it is not case, according to Ulzheimer, who worked at FICO for many years creating models for credit scores. He said that FICO treats short sale as a major delinquency and that basically the credit score effect of short selling is the same as the effect of foreclosure VA and other foreclosures.

However, Matthew Adler, loan executive at North Star Home Lending, said that based on his experiences with many borrowers he has helped, the credit score effect of a short sale varies. A short sale can reduce the credit score by about 70 to 350 points, depending on what FICO sees in the financial activities of borrowers.

Meanwhile, the popular belief is that foreclosure damages the credit score completely, making former owners of foreclosure VA and other foreclosures unable to get a major loan within ten years after the foreclosure.

According to Ulzheimer, short sales are reported on the FICO system as a charge-off, a settlement or a foreclosure filing, which are all considered major delinquencies by FICO.

He added that persons with good credit scores are affected most by short sales. Often they will see their credit scores falling by more than 100 points after the short sales are recorded. For instance, he said, a person with a score of 750, which is a very good credit level, can see his score go down to 600 through 575 after a sale is completed and posted.

A short sale, Ulzheimer added, will stay on credit records for 7 years.

All in all, although short sales, forclosure VA and other foreclosures affect credit scores, short selling is a better option if only for the less number of years suffered as a result of low credit scores.