Nevada foreclosure filings take another dive

By Buck Wargo

Friday, Dec. 18, 2009 | 3 a.m.

Foreclosure filings plummeted in November in Nevada, but analysts are not sure if this marks a trend.

California-based RealtyTrac reported that foreclosure filings in Nevada dropped by double digits for the second consecutive month. The 9,295 filings in November were 33 percent below October’s. That month’s filings were 26 percent below September’s.

November’s filings were 33 percent below November 2008.

“It has been pretty amazing what we have been seeing in Nevada and Las Vegas in terms of the last two months,” RealtyTrac spokesman Daren Bloomquist said. “It was surprising to us. We didn’t expect to see this ... because so many forces are driving foreclosures. It is still up in the air if this is a temporary reprieve or if it has truly turned. We are going to be watching it closely in the next two months.”

Bloomquist said it appears the new state mediation program implemented July 1 is affecting the filings. That program allows homeowners who receive a default notice to request a mediation session with the lender to rework the mortgage. Those monitoring the program said lenders are reducing principal and interest rates to keep people in their homes.

In addition, Bloomquist said a federal loan modification started this year might be gaining some traction. It gives lenders $1,000 for making loan modification so that only 31 percent of the homeowner’s monthly income goes toward repayment, Bloomquist said.

Some lenders are agreeing to more short sales to prevent the house from going into foreclosure, he said. A short sale allows the homeowner to sell the home for substantially less than he owes on the loan.

If foreclosures continue to drop, that would be healthy for the housing market by allowing inventory to be gobbled up and prices to stabilize, he said.

“It does seem like a possibility because the city was hit so hard and prices have fallen so much, Las Vegas may be poised to hit the bottom quicker and recover quicker than the rest of the country,” Bloomquist said.

That perception, however, differs from some national analysts who maintain foreclosures will continue to be problem in Las Vegas.

Nevada held the top spot in the nation as it has since January 2007. It had one filing for every 119 households.

Las Vegas fell to No. 5 in November with one filing for every 102 households. The city’s filings fell 33 percent in November but were still four times the national average.

“This is good news for Las Vegas, but even if the trend continues it still has a long way to go before the city is out of the woods in terms of its foreclosure problem,” Bloomquist said.