“Foreclosure posting activity has surged again in Bell County reaching its second highest (monthly) level on record. This marked the 10th consecutive month that Bell foreclosure postings have exceeded 100,” said Bonnie Brown, vice president and foreclosure analyst at FLS.
Ms. Brown said 90 percent of the August foreclosed real estate - valued at $17 million - is for single-family homes, condominiums and townhomes. And for year to date, lien holders have filed foreclosure proceedings on $111 million worth of Bell County property.
The average value for Bell County foreclosures this year and this month has a value of about $108,000, Ms. Brown said.
Bell County foreclosures for August represents the second largest gain in the nine-county Central Texas area monitored by FLS. Travis County, which is home to Austin, had a larger increase, 62 percent.
Ms. Brown said Veterans Administration loans accounted for 45 percent of residential foreclosures this year. This is the single largest type of loan that defaulted for Bell County homes.
For the year, VA foreclosures are up 71 percent over 2007.
Deborah Huddleston, a mortgage consultant who specializes in VA loans at CTX Mortgage in Killeen, hears and sees a lot about foreclosures these days. She said VA loans fall into foreclosure for a couple of reasons:
n Deployment to the Middle East stresses families.
n VA loans that require no money down, which means they’re easier to walk away from.
“If they have problems when they go overseas, it’s too easy to let them go,” Ms. Huddleston said.
Add to that a large supply of new houses, which makes selling existing homes tough, and you’ve got a one-two combination that affects the market.
“If you get a home in Killeen and sell it in two or three years you’re not going to make a profit,” Ms. Huddleston said. “They (homeowners) can’t sell it and they’re going in the hole. I have people coming in for refinancing and they’re over 100 percent. People who are going to be in the area a short time really shouldn’t buy a home.”
Year to date, Bell County foreclosures are also up significantly, 33 percent, compared to 2007. This is the largest gain among nine counties in the Central Texas region.
