A foreclosure report from RealtyTrac.com indicates that foreclosures in the US swelled to over 800,000 in Q1 of 2009, a 24% increase from the same quarter a year prior.

To put it in perspective, one out of every 159 houses received a foreclosure notice, just in the first quarter of this year.

It’s no surprise that the hardest hit areas are Arizona, California and up the West coast, along with Florida, the entire East coast and inland to nearly the Mississippi River.  The Midwest has held up fairly well in the foreclosure department, although the highly populated areas of Texas and strangely most of Arkansas are suffering.

In my area, there are some foreclosure opportunities to be had for investment purposes, but they’re not moving.  Investors aren’t gobbling them up like I thought they would, which makes me wonder about the overall perception of the real estate market.  There’s just no appetite for risk right now.

A prospective future rental?

As for me, there’s a 3 bedroom, 1 bath single family home near my previous rental that is currently in foreclosure.  Asking price is $18,000 which would represent a third of what it would appraise for, give or take.

Unfortunately it’s located to the South of the Campus, so it violates requirement #1 of my criteria for future rental properties.

I’ll keep an eye on it, and if it doesn’t move in the next couple weeks, I’ll have to get a tour and find out why.

Real Estate foreclosures, investment property, Rental Property