Important News and Techniques for Today's Real Estate Market

WHY DOES THE PAPER SAY FORECLOSURES ARE HIGHER AND OFFICIAL REAL ESTATE DATA SAYS FORECLOSURES ARE DOWN?

The foreclosure process in Georgia requires that the lienholder advertise, via legal notice in a local news publication, that a foreclosure is pending on a property.  This notice must be given for four weeks prior to the actual foreclosure, which takes place on the courthouse steps on the first Tuesday of the month. 

There are many situations in which the foreclosure process is stalled or stopped altogether during this minimum 4 week process (usually more depending on where that first Tuesday is going to fall in the month).  For instance, a few examples of a stalled or stopped foreclosure would be:  the owners may catch up on the delinquent payments.  The owners may get a contract to sell their home and an official forebearance is issued by the bank to delay the foreclosure.  A loan modification may be made that allows the sellers to better afford their payments.

The point is that not every property that is advertised in the legal notice section as a foreclosure actually follows the foreclosure process all the way to an end-result of foreclosure.