October foreclosure filings dip

There were 546 households in the Natural State facing possible foreclosure last month, but new filings declined in Northwest Arkansas and remained flat in the Fort Smith market, according to Calif.-based RealtyTrac.

The Arkansas tally was up 4.5%, with the U.S. rate down 28%. Nationally, the marketing firm reported 133,919 properties, or one in 978 households, were seriously delinquent on their mortgages in October. Some states like Maryland, Delaware and New York saw triple digit increases in the number of judicial foreclosures filed last month.

Arkansas is a non-judicial state meaning that the foreclosure process does not require a court hearing or judges signature to complete.

In Northwest Arkansas there were 84 new filings in October – 59 of those were in Benton County where there were 31 properties slated for auction and 28 already making their back to the lender. The total filings in Benton County were down 37% from a year ago.

RealtyTrac reported 25 new filings in Washington County, and 21 of those were slated for auction as four properties were recovered by lenders. Total filings are down 34% from a year ago.

In the Fort Smith market there were 12 new filings last month, compared to 11 a year ago. This market had 4 properties listed for auction and 8 going back to lenders.

Crawford County reported 13 filings, down from 17 in October 2012. In Crawford County the all 13 of the new filings were for properties slated for auction.

The backlog of homes that clogged up the pipeline in recent years is thinning out in Arkansas, but defaults among amended mortgages from two and three years ago have started to escalate, according to local notices published in recent weeks.

It has taken two and three years to move some properties through the pipeline, but lenders are seeing better demand from institutional investors seeking rental properties and pushing these deals through at a faster pace today, according to Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac.

Prudential Alliance Realty in Tulsa notes that banks have let homeowners stay in the defaulted homes as renters as long as prices were moving downward. But now that prices are moving up again and there is investor demand lenders are starting the foreclosure process.

There are 368 foreclosed home listed for sale at this time in the local multiple listing service with includes all four counties in this report, according to Jim Long, agent with Crye-Leike Real Estate in Benton County.

The number of foreclosure listings rose from 354 last month and are down from 373 in August.

Foreclosure listings peaked at 393 in July, rising from 222 in March of this year. The listings have slowed a bit, according to Long, who adds the clean, well-kept properties are still selling fast, as more investors are back in the market.