Surely Says...Texas Real Estate Update...

This is a must read article, RE:  Residential Mortgages,

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Mark Dotzour-Real Estate Center,  Texas A & M

Lender Processing Services (LPS) is an information and technology provider to the mortgage industry. As a byproduct of their efforts, they monitor nearly 40 million mortgage loans and issue a report each month that details the current health of the active mortgages in America.
Here are some facts I found interesting from their October report, which analyzes their mortgage data at the end of September. The facts are listed in order of importance to me.

6,373,000
This is the estimated number of properties that have a mortgage that is 30 days or more delinquent or in foreclosure. This is the “shadow inventory” that you hear about in the media. Potential buyers are aware of this. They are worried that if and when these houses are finally foreclosed and sold, that prices will fall while this avalanche of surplus property is sold. Until this number is dramatically reduced, expect home sales volume to be tepid at best.

FL, MS, NV, NJ and IL

These are the states with the highest percentage of noncurrent loans. This is where the fear of shadow inventory is highest.

MT, AK, WY, SD and ND

These are the states with the lowest percentage of noncurrent loans. This is where the fear of shadow inventory is the lowest. People should be buying homes like hotcakes in these states with mortgage rates at ridiculously low levels.

8.9 percent

The year-over-year change in the foreclosure presale inventory rate is up 8.9 percent. This means that the percentage of homes entering the category of “foreclosure presale” is still going up. We won’t see the peak of the mortgage foreclosure pressure ending until this number starts to drop.
I find LPS to be a useful source of market information