This past week, my son came down with some sniffles and a fever. He is only 14 months old so every little thing that happens can be scary.
In my family, we try to put a positive spin on illness. It is the body’s defense mechanism against unwanted visitors.
The sickness is part of a healthy progression allowing the body to expel toxins, heal and come out the other side stronger.
Occasionally, illness does not run its course naturally and this is when things become scary.
The current housing/foreclosure crisis is akin to a stubborn illness that just won’t go away. This is especially true in New York where state laws help drag the process out with the hope of assisting distressed homeowners.
In New York, the average foreclosure process takes 1,072 days. Is it time to let the illness run its course?
Nationwide Recovery
According to Realty Trac, the United States housing market has seen an 8% decrease in foreclosed homes in 2012 from the prior year. Banks are on pace to complete 650,000 foreclosures in 2012 compared to 800,000 in 2011.
Realty Trac attributes declining foreclosures to a number of factors including rising home sales, job growth, increased cooperation from lenders and a decline in high risk mortgage loans.
This downward trend could also be attributed to alternative foreclosure solutions (short sale, modification, etc.) more liberally offered by banks.
Whatever the reason, I am of the opinion that foreclosures may be running their course with a healthy housing market set to spring.
The New York Malaise
While foreclosures are down across most of the nation, the New York metropolitan area is seeing the opposite occurrence. New Yorkers saw the largest increase in foreclosure filings in the third quarter.
According to Realty Trac, this increase comes from banks working through severe backlogs of foreclosure cases.
Foreclosure filings in Nassau County rose 35% in the third quarter.
Due to the massive backlog and the difficulty of processing a foreclosure in New York, these numbers should continue to rise.
Getting Well
As a consumer defense lawyer, I work my hardest to fight foreclosure and keep my clients in their homes. As a member of society at large and the local community, I feel that it might be time for the illness to run its course.
As these diseased homes “get well” and go through the foreclosure process, perhaps the market will recover and the sickness will fade.
Unfortunately, many times foreclosure is the best financial option for the homeowner so it is important to be objective.
So, as I watched my son fight, purge and recover from sickness I realized that economic markets must do the same. As a society, we are still under the weather and the housing market has caught a serious bug.
It may be time to let the natural forces of the market run their course so we can purge, recover and come out the other side stronger.
Image courtesy of my son Paxten after recovering from his fever.