Foreclosures down in 2011

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Updated: March 11, 2012 8:36AM

A national foreclosure report released Wednesday said foreclosures were down in 2011 compared to 2010, and those involved with the real estate market here agree things are improving.

Indiana ranked 11th in the nation when it came to its inventory of foreclosed homes and its percentage of homeowners who were more than 90 days late on their mortgage payment according to the report, issued by CoreLogic, a provider of information, analytics and business services.

Though the report did not provide a complete state-by-state breakdown of statistics, it noted that complete foreclosures for all of 2011 nationwide totaled 830,000, compared with 1.1 million in 2010.

Local figures on foreclosures weren’t available, but Peter Novak, chief executive officer of the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors said that, anecdotally, member real estate agents are reporting an improvement.

“I think foreclosures have come a long way in the last three years. I think everyone was taken by surprise when the market started to dip,” he said, adding GNIAR has not tracked foreclosures.

Still, he said short and distressed sales remain a big part of the local real estate market, though those numbers seem to have peaked about a year ago. That, in turn, lowers property values.

It also can kill a deal, Novak said, when a buyer and seller agree on a price and a lender comes in and says a home is worth less than what they’ve agreed upon.

Yet he’s hearing the market is on the upswing from his members.

“I heard 2012 was going to be a bigger year for foreclosures, with homes coming off adjustable (mortgage) rates, but all the signs are not saying that,” he said. “I think at this point, a lot of good signs are out there.”

Buyers who held off for four or five years are now in the market, enticed by low prices and low interest rates.

“In general, the feeling we’re getting is, people are tired of putting their lives on hold and the economy is showing some signs of improvement, and (buyers are) ready to take that plunge,” he said.

Porter County real estate agent Minakshi Ghuman said in the last three months in Center Township, which includes Valparaiso, 28 of 43 repossessed homes sold or have sales pending.

“In Valparaiso in particular and in Porter County as a whole, what I’m seeing now is foreclosures are more visible and are moving faster” on the market, she said.

Real estate agents also are going after the training they need to handle the distressed sales market, she said, further pushing along sales of those homes.

“For those of us in it for the long haul, things are improving and will continue to get better,” she said.