Infusion Wire: Peak Foreclosure 2010

Mike Calhoun: My Vision >>

Here’s a fact that woke me up more than the coffee did: “25.5 percent of consumers now have a credit score of 599 or below.” Wow…Good morning!!

We’re working harder every day because this Short Sale market just keeps building momentum. Thanks to ActiveRain, we’ve got a lot of new readers in the past few weeks, so today I wanted to recap some “Big Picture” concepts.

So let’s review…

Here’s the single-sentence summary from yesterday’s post: “From the week ended June 5 to the week ended July 10, more than 2.1 million Americans lost their benefits, and another million will join them by July 31.” As we’ve discussed before, the number one indicator for future foreclosures is unemployment, and unfortunately, that’s one trend that shows no signs of reversing, or even improving all that much.

This morning, Realty Trac released their report for the first half of 2010, and they’re expecting over a million homes will be repossessed this year. As their VP Rick Sharga said, “The underlying conditions haven’t improved.”

Not only that, but it’s looking like conditions might get even more drastic in the second half of the year. HousingWire editor Paul Jackson was the source of my morning wake-up call:

New data released today by FICO Inc. show that a whopping 25.5 percent of consumers now have a credit score of 599 or below. That’s a market of more than 43 million people, and growing every day, too—thanks to unemployment levels that appear set to remain painfully high for the next five years.

This is the definition of growth market, too: historically, only 15 percent of consumers have found themselves with a credit score below 600. Now, a quarter of consumers fit the profile.

To round out today’s Big Picture, the Wall Street Journal is reporting on a sharp rise in housing inventory in markets around the country. The best recent estimates from S&P called for three full years before Shadow Inventory is remotely cleared out…expect to see those estimates increase in light of the new numbers!!

Nobody knows just how bad it’s going to get. What we can say, with total confidence, is that we’re all going to very busy for the rest of the year…and probably several more years to come. If you’re not already using our Short Sale Engine, right now would be a great time to check it out. If you’re dealing with a lot of Short Sales, we have THE best technology for processing your paperwork, automating your business and empowering your associates. Take a look at what we can do for you…

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Always Winning, Together!!