County foreclosures to impact economy

Homeowners also affected in wealthier ZIP codes Homeowners also affected in wealthier ZIP codes

BY KATIE ARCIERI Staff Writer BY KATIE ARCIERI Staff Writer

Published 01/20/08

The rise in home foreclosures across Anne Arundel County could slow economic growth this year, stunting consumer spending, pulling down home prices and affecting developers putting together new deals, economists and observers of the local market said last week.

There were 1,800 foreclosure filings in the county by the end of last year, a roughly 40 percent increase from the 1,300 filings in 2006, said Clerk of the Circuit Court Robert Duckworth, who added he hasn't seen this many filings since the dot-com bust around 2000.

Between 80 percent and 90 percent of the filings were foreclosure sales, he said.

"I'm not...

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Realty Trac Stats Scewed - February 15, 2008

If you're reading numbers from Realty Trac, you should remember that the company reports defaults on loans and not properties - an important distinction that could artificially inflate foreclosure statistics since a first mortgage and a home equity line could count as two foreclosures, although they are both on one piece of property. Another piece of information that I don't think most consumers are aware of is that a foreclosure filing includes default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. One property can fall into each of these categories as it goes through the foreclosure process. RealtyTrac counts each of these as separate incidents and can skew the statistics. Now be aware that I am not denying that there are a record number of foreclosures out there. In fact, that is how prices have fallen and many people that have not been able to buy in years are now first-time buyers. But I think it's important to remember to take the doom and gloom news with a grain of salt and remember that in the long term real estate is a great investment.

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Mary Bargteil - Arnold, MD - Karma: Bad

more like the truth - January 22, 2008

And the Feds just cut the rate by 3/4 of a point b/c the world markets are free falling based on the mortgage problems facing all major U.S. banks. The market is seriously dipping and the foreclosure increase is an accurate reflection of that.

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Jim Schuyler - Arnold, MD - Karma: Bad

Comment removed by HometownAnnapolis staff. - January 21, 2008

Staff message: This comment had to be removed because a long Web link caused problems on the page.

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- Karma: Bad

Sensationalism - January 20, 2008

The sensationalism that ?The Capital? lends to the woes of the real estate market, foreclosures, & subprime loans, continues to worsen the situation. The public has a difficult time deciphering the information in print and television; and for the ?The Capital? to continually overstate the problem, and misreport and magnify the numbers to portray more gloom is reprehensible. The incidence of foreclosure in AA County continues to hover around 1% of all homes, which means that more than 99% of the people will continue to be unaffected. The worst thing happening to the public is not the # of foreclosures affecting property values but the media?s portrayal of this. Today?s headline in the business section: ?County foreclosures to impact economy? was given the biggest boldest typeface! Critical reading of this article uncovers little data of how this will happen. There have been at least three other real estate articles recently that either use misleading statistics or ones that the common reader could care less about unless blown out of proportion. Your 17 Jan opinion ?Our Say? reported that the AA COUNTY property values plummeted DOWN 42%. This is false & leads to panic by AA county home owners. Last weekend: Foreclosures are up 383%? You were very creative to make that stat interesting. That stat doesn?t show the larger picture that 1122 foreclosures make up about .74% (.0074) of all the homes in this county, the # is only significant if you are one of these unfortunate families facing losing your home. It is very sad that ?The Capital? abuses the trust that is expected from your press. These facts are easily verified and you continually manufacture these stories to promote the doom & gloom that you think sells more papers. Why do you continue manipulate the stats of your Real Estate articles? You owe it to your readership to present the facts as responsibly as you can. Otherwise you continue to be the villain of declining property values.

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chris wood - Severna Park, MD - Karma: Bad