Foreclosures Increased 57 Percent In The Past Year

Foreclosure filings increased 57 percent from January 2007 to January 2008, according to a report released yesterday by RealtyTrac. Some states were hit by foreclosure much harder than others.

Nevada, despite actually experiencing a decrease in foreclosure activity between December 2007 and January 2008, was the state with the highest rate of foreclosures in the nation in January 2008. 6,087 properties in Nevada faced foreclosure filings in January 2008, according to the report.

And from January 2007 to January 2008, Nevada's foreclosure activity increased by 95 percent, according to the report.

"California’s January foreclosure rate ranked second highest among the states, and Florida’s January foreclosure rate ranked third highest. Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 were Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, Georgia, Connecticut, Ohio and Michigan," according to the report.

Florida, Arizona, Georgia and Colorado each had individual markets that were ranked in NuWire's Top 10 Foreclosure Markets for 2007.

California had the second-highest rate of foreclosure filings, but the highest number of actual foreclosure filings, coming in at a total of 57,158 properties, according to the report. California had a 120 percent increase in foreclosure activity from January 2007 to January 2008.

Florida had the second highest total number of foreclosure filings, at 30,178 properties, and a 158 percent increase in foreclosure activity from January 2007 to January 2008, according to the report. "The Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., metro area documented the highest January foreclosure rate among the 229 metro areas tracked," according to the report.

What does this mean for investors? For those who are interested in potentially getting great deals on properties, it means that opportunities abound. Investing in foreclosure properties was number three on NuWire's list of 2007's Top 10 Investments Under $25,000.

For more information on investing in foreclosures, see our previous articles Capitalizing on Record Foreclosures and Buying HUD Foreclosures: What Investors Should Know.

And if there are any investors who want to go all out when purchasing a foreclosure, they should keep their eyes on the headlines. Michael Jackson's infamous Neverland Ranch is set to be auctioned off unless he can come up with $24.5 million by March 19. For more details, see Eric's previous post Michael Jackson Facing Foreclosure: What's Next For Neverland Ranch?

This was a guest post from Trista Winnie, Associate Editor at NuWire. If you like what you read here you should check out CommonCensus, a blog where Trista contributes regularly.