Less Than 3% Of Boise Homes Are Foreclosures, But That Could Change...

Boise HouseBoise Forclosures Facts

If you're looking to buy a distressed property, Boise foreclosures make up a small percentage of the overall Boise real estate market, but there still are many available to the buyer. To locate the forclosure properties in the Boise area, click here: Browse Boise Foreclosures. Of the 1,879 homes for sale in March in Ada County, only 47 were REO (foreclosed) properties, or 2.5% of the total number of homes (excluding condos and townhome properties), according to the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service. Some of that could be attributed to the number of short sales, which typically takes longer than foreclosures. National real estate experts, though, warn of a possible uptick in the number of homes entering foreclosure in the coming months.

A Look At The Settlement

Federal and state officials reached a $26 billion foreclosure settlement in February with some of the country's largest home lenders: Ally Financial, Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. The settlement covers allegations of seizures made without the proper paperwork, also known as robosignings. It was the second largest settlement involving states, trailing the tobacco industry's $206 billion settlement in 1998.

At least $17 billion will go toward lowering the principal owed by homeowners who are either underwater (meaning they owe more on their home than it's worth) or are delinquent on their payments. This is expected to affect as many as 1 million homeowners. And as many as 750,000 homeowners who are underwater are expected to be able to refinance their home loan at lower rates.

Will It Speed Up The Foreclosure Process?

For those who are behind on their mortgage for their property, Boise and other cities across the country could soon start to see a rise in foreclosures, industry experts say. The reason? For all the good that came out of the settlement, the agreement clarified how banks must handle foreclosures. That, in turn, may speed up the foreclosure process. In other words, if you're behind on your property, Boise homeowners and homeowners across the country could see their foreclosure cases moving forward.

How Boise Fits In

It's not all doom and gloom, though. Nationally, the number of homes entering foreclosure dropped 8% in February and 19% in January, according to RealtyTrac, a market researcher. In Boise, foreclosure starts fell drastically compared to the national average, dropping 34% from 2010-2011. That's still almost double the number prior to 2007 but nonetheless shows steady improvement.
Eighty-seven percent of the foreclosures in Boise were for properties priced below $200,000, 75% for properties priced below $160,000. Those totals include bank-owned properties, homes for auction and short sales. In turn, that helped pull down the median house prices in 2011.

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