Area foreclosure actions down 53% in October, up year-to-date

The number of Fort Smith regional properties in a process of foreclosure fell more than 53% in October thanks to big declines in Crawford and Sebastian counties in Arkansas and LeFlore County in Oklahoma.

Regional figures were counter to those at state levels, with the number of Arkansas and Oklahoma properties in a foreclosure property up 9.6% and 10.69%, respectively, during October.

Nationwide, foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 332,172 properties in October, down 4% compared to September and flat compared to October 2009. One in every 389 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the month.

The report from Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac shows that 111 properties in the Fort Smith region (Crawford, Franklin, Logan and Sebastian counties in Arkansas; LeFlore and Sequoyah counties in Oklahoma) were placed in a foreclosure action during October, down 53.36% compared to the 238 properties in the 2009 period.

Sebastian County saw a 28.39% decrease with 58 foreclosure properties compared to 81 in October 2009. Crawford County had a 42.5% increase with 27 foreclosure properties in October, and LeFlore County posted an 85.7% decrease in October with just 14 properties in a foreclosure process.

However, 1,477 Fort Smith regional properties were in a foreclosure action in the first 10 months of 2010, up 16.48% compared to the 1,268 in the same period of 2009.

Foreclosure action in 2010 continues an unfortunate trend that has seen a rapidly rising number of foreclosure actions in the region. In the Fort Smith metro area, there were 1,335 properties in a foreclosure action in 2009, compared to 1,084 in 2008 and just 588 in 2007.

Northwest Arkansas continues to be the most active for foreclosure actions.
Benton County had 431 properties in the foreclosure process during October, down from the 485 in October 2009, but enough for the county to be ranked first in Arkansas in terms of foreclosure actions per household (1 for every 201).

Washington County was second in the state with 1 property in foreclosure for every 245 households. The county had 341 properties in the foreclosure process during October, down from 394 in October 2009.

“October marks the 20th consecutive month where over 300,000 U.S. homeowners received a foreclosure notice,” James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac CEO, said in the October report. “The numbers probably would have been higher except for the fallout from the recent ‘robo-signing’ controversy — which is the most likely reason for the 9 percent monthly drop in REOs we saw from September to October and which may result in further decreases in November."

Bank repossessions decreased month-over month in 33 states and the District of Columbia, while 14 states posted year-over-year decreases in repossessions, RealtyTrac reported. Including October, lenders have foreclosed on an average of more than 91,000 properties each month this year.

FORT SMITH AREA FIGURES (Properties in the foreclosure process)
Crawford County
October 2010: 27
October 2009: 47

Franklin County
October 2010: 5
October 2009: 6

Logan County
October 2010: 3
October 2009: 5

Sebastian County
October 2010: 58
October 2009: 81

Leflore County
October 2010: 14
October 2009: 98

Sequoyah County
October 2010: 4
October 2009: 1

MOST FILINGS PER HOUSEHOLDS (Top 5 Arkansas counties)
Benton County
October 2010: 431
October 2009: 485
1 filing per 201 households

Washington County
October 2010: 341
October 2009: 394
1 filing per 245 households

Garland County
October 2010: 157
October 2009: 47
1 filing per 300 households

Saline County
October 2010: 112
October 2009: 90
1 filing per 363 households

Craighead County
October 2010: 92
October 2009: 79
1 filing per 430 households