Market Conditions - July 18, 2006 by Carla L. Davis
Responding to numerous market factors, foreclosures are on the rise. The Midwestern states, according to a press release yesterday from ForeclosureS.com, are seeing foreclosure rates as high as 57 percent over average. That rate comes from the city of Chicago. The report goes on to say, "In Chicago, the level of foreclosure activity is more than double the national average." Many experts have weighed in on this topic over the last year, citing specific worry over high risk loans that in many cases are being labeled as predatory lending. Loans in which a homeowner pays only interest (thus the term "interest-only" loans) for an agreed upon period of time has given many Americans the chance to become homeowners. But as interest rates continue to rise, the sticker shock of even higher mortgage payments -- with higher interest and an untouched principal balance -- are proving to be too much for many pocketbooks. The Northeast, though prices have fallen in some areas, is still seeing what many call a "fallout." "According to our New England researchers as of July 11th, 3,074 Massachusetts properties went into foreclosure in the last 60 days," said ForeclosureS.com president Alexis McGee. | 
