686 New Foreclosure Filings in County in 1st Quarter: County Clerk. Pace of 2013 new foreclosure actions appears to continue. No Explanation of What Unabated New Foreclosure “Filings” Mean to Touted Real Estate Recovery. Foreclosure Sales INCLUDED in 19% Westchester County Home Sales 1Q Increase

Hits: 57

WPCNR HOMESIDE. From the Westchester County Clerk Office. (EDITED). April  22, 2014 UPDATED 9:45 A.M.EDT April 23, 2014:

The Office of the Westchester County Clerk reported six hundred and eighty six (686) foreclosure actions started between January 1st and March 31th of 2014, equaling the first quarter of 2013.

WPCNR also has learned from the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors that the Westchester County home sales increase of 19% touted for the first quarter includes sales of foreclosed homes.

WPCNR contacted the County Clerk for a statement on the source of these continuing trend in new actions initiated against owners– which come on top of news of a 300%  increase in first quarter judgments settling foreclosure actions.

Mr. Idoni, as he did when he first put out the news of the spectacular rise in  foreclosure judgments in January,  told the Journal News yesterday, the same thing he said on White Plains Week on January 17 two months ago.

On the judgments, he is quoted by The Journal News: “Rather than a rash of all new filings, we are seeing a clean-up of situations where homeowners have been in trouble a long time.”

However, Mr. Idoni, though requested by WPCNR,  did not address the 686 new foreclosure filings that are essentially the same as the first quarter of 2013, though, and what they meant. Do increased filings mean the real estate market prices are being held down by the foreclosure bargains? (Just one thought that comes to mind.) 

The Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors told WPCNR that the increase in Westchester home sales of 19% in the first quarter includes the sales of foreclosed homes put back on the market, after judgments,  but did not have a figure on the percentage of the lift in sales that those foreclosure sales provided. They are working to develop that figure. 

The County Clerk office did not respond to WPCNR’s request for the number of foreclosed homes that were sold in the county during the first quarter. Perhaps they are working on that.

The new fore closure filings for the first quarter are in addition to  the number of foreclosure judgments in the first quarter of 2014  being almost three times the number from the first quarter of 2013 reported Westchester County Clerk Timothy C. Idoni who serves as Clerk of the Westchester County Supreme Court where foreclosure actions are heard.

“These first quarter judgment numbers are the largest we’ve seen since historic highs in 2008 and 2009,” continued Idoni. . (in addition to the 686 new filings).

Foreclosure Judgments Filed

Year

January

February

March

Total

2006

29

25

28

82

2007

55

33

47

135

2008

83

84

76

243

2009

76

56

100

232

2010

42

26

67

135

2011

6

10

16

32

2012

14

15

19

48

2013

26

14

22

62

2014

28

86

66

180

 

Westchester Residential Opportunities (WRO), a non-profit housing agency with offices in White Plains and Mount Vernon, conducts Mortgage Default Orientation sessions most Wednesday’s in their White Plains Office.  Trained counselors are available to help at (914) 428-4507 or by visiting www.wroinc.org.

For more information on the Office of the Westchester County Clerk, please visit WestchesterClerk.com or call (914)995-3081.

Comments are closed.