House Filings Down

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — No one wants to lead the state in foreclosures. Washington County dropped from first to 11th in September with 50 foreclosures, down from 76 in August and 182 in September 2011.

Benton County held onto its second position with 92 foreclosures, up from 71 in August, but down from 114 last September, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties.

The two counties have been at, or near, the top of the state’s foreclosure list for the past couple of years.

First place for September went to Mississippi County in the Delta, where one in every 974 homes fell into the foreclosure pipeline.

Totals compared to last September were up statewide, but down nationally.

“We’ve been waiting for the other foreclosure shoe to drop since late 2010, when questionable foreclosure practices slowed activity to a crawl in many areas,” said Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac vice president, in a news release.

But the shoe is not falling as hard as expected and is having little impact on the house market nationally, Blomquist said.

Arkansas’ foreclosure activity slowed last year after a judge in the state’s Eastern District ruled only lenders “authorized to do business in the state” could use the nonjudicial foreclosure method. The case was resolved in June and foreclosure activity has ticked upward.

Tom Reed, a partner with Streetsmart Data Services, said foreclosure numbers should continue to normalize as the housing market improves. Reed said to expect the occasional uptick as homeowners and financial institutions put homes on the market they’ve held on to through the housing crisis. As prices rise, more of these homes will hit the market, he said.

This so-called shadow market is hard to track and could cause some market fluctuations, Reed said.

More than 770 homes faced foreclosure in the two-county area in October 2010, at the height of the local housing crisis.

Paul Bynum, owner and director of MountData, a real estate marketing firm, said the local housing market is improving.

“Things are kind of on an upswing and foreclosures don’t help. No market wants to have a bunch of foreclosures,” he said.

Foreclosure sales can mean lower appraisals for neighbors. Foreclosures and bank repossessions were driving down prices in homes in the $120,000 and lower range a year ago, Bynum said.

Homes in that price range are now in a sellers’ market, meaning there is more demand than supply.

“That means either banks are getting more for their foreclosures or there are just not as many pulling down the market,” Bynum said.

The time it takes for a home to work through the foreclosure pipeline has also shortened. In Arkansas, it took an average of 199 days, down from 392 days a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac. The national average was 382 days, up from 378in 2011.