Real Estate

Stockton, California reported the highest foreclosure rate among the nation’s 100 largest metro areas from Jan to Jun 2007, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure sales. Detroit and Las Vegas documented the next highest foreclosure rates. RealtyTrac’s 2007 Midyear Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report showed the foreclosure activity in the top 100 metro areas for the first half of 2007. As foreclosure rates continue to rise, 82 out of 100 metro areas recorded year-over-year increases in foreclosures.

Stockton reported one foreclosure filing for every 27 households with a total of 8,169 foreclosure fillings on 4,239 properties. The rate of foreclosure has increased exponentially to three times more than the number reported last year, for the same period.

Detroit, with one in 29 households going for foreclosure, recorded the second highest foreclosure rate. A total of 28,705 foreclosure filings were made on 20,231 properties, which is almost double the number reported from Jan-June 2006.

Las Vegas documented one foreclosure filing for every 31 households, making it the third highest in foreclosure activity among the 100 metro areas. It reported 22,928 foreclosure filings on 13,028 properties, double the number reported during the first half of 2006.

Six of the top 20 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates were in California and four in Ohio.

The following are the top 20 U.S. housing foreclosure markets from Jan to Jun 2007, the total number of foreclosure filings and households per foreclosure filing.

1. Stockton, California: 8,169 foreclosure filings; one foreclosure filing for every 27 households.

2. Detroit/Livonia/Dearborn, Michigan: 28,705 foreclosure filings; one filing per 29 households.

3. Las Vegas/Paradise, Nevada: 22,928 foreclosure filings; one filing per 31 households.

4. Riverside/San Bernardino, California: 41,351 foreclosure filings; one filing per 33 households.

5. Sacramento, California: 20,516 foreclosure filings; one filing per 36 households.

6. Denver/Aurora, Colorado: 23,842 foreclosure filings; one filing per 42 households.

7. Miami, Florida: 20,275 foreclosure filings; one filing per 46 households.

8. Bakersfield, California: 5,365 foreclosure filings; one filing per 47 households.

9. Memphis, Tennessee: 10,800 foreclosure filings; one filing per 49 households.

10. Cleveland/Lorain/Elyria/Mentor, Ohio: 8,844 foreclosure filings; one filing per 50 households.

11. Fort Lauderdale, Florida: 15,720 foreclosure filings; one filing per 50 households.

12. Atlanta/Sandy Springs/Marietta, Georgia: 36,502 foreclosure filings; one filing per 54 households.

13. Fort Worth/Arlington, Texas: 13,221 foreclosure filings; one filing per 57 households.

14. Fresno, California: 4,867 foreclosure filings; one filing per 60 households.

15. Indianapolis, Indiana: 11,677 foreclosure filings; one filing per 62 households.

16. Dayton, Ohio: 5,966 foreclosure filings; one filing per 63 households.

17. Dallas, Texas: 23,284 foreclosure filings; one filing per 65 households.

18. Akron, Ohio: 4,378 foreclosure filings; one filing per 70 households.

19. Oakland, California: 13,482 foreclosure filings; one filing per 70 households.

20. Columbus, Ohio: 10,706 foreclosure filings; one filing per 70 households.

When you are first starting out investing in houses, you should always look for ugly or bad houses that need to be upgraded. These homes are much cheaper to purchase, although they will take some work to improve. You should start out by looking for houses that need some work, such as clean up, painting, and in some cases new carpet. You don’t want to buy something too run down, as it could cost a fortune to repair.

If you think of yourself as a handyman and feel that you can do the repairs yourself, you can save a lot of money. On the other hand, if you need to hire someone, you should always make sure that the individual or company that you hire is qualified to do the repairs. If you aren’t comfortable with doing any of the repairs, you should inquire about a subcontractor or company that will do it for a reasonable price, or perhaps a share of the money once you have resold the house.

If the house you are thinking to purchase and resell has any type of structural problems, you should always get an estimate from a reliable contractor before you make the purchase. If you decide to stay in the business, you’ll learn a lot more over the years, although you should always hire a contractor when you first start out. Once you get all of the estimates together, you can make that final decision on how much of an offer you want to put down on the property.

After you have a team together and successfully renovated and resold several homes, you’ll begin to feel quite a bit more confident with buying homes that need repairs. All it takes is time and practice – and you’ll be buying homes that the average investor wouldn’t think twice about. This can be a huge advantage when you are looking for homes to buy and resell, as there will be less competition to worry about. You’ll also be able to get a lower price when buying the home, simply because you can use the cost of the repairs to your advantage.

Once you are able to do repairs on homes, including structural problems, you’ll have a huge advantage in the market. You’ll be able to buy virtually any home, including those that other investors choose to ignore. Doing so can be very profitable for you, especially if the house is in a well known and well desired neighborhood. After you have done the repairs, you can resell the home for a much higher price than you paid to acquire the home.

When you start looking for houses that you can repair and resale, you should always take your time and buy the right homes. You won’t have the money, time, experience, or support to buy the bigger houses at first, which means you won’t have any room for mistakes. Once you have purchased and resold a few smaller homes, you’ll eventually be able to work your way up to the bigger homes – which is where the big profits will come into play.

Always keep in mind that when you first start out, you’ll need to take things slow. You can expect profits to come overnight, as it will take you some time to learn. Once you have been at it a few years and have several houses to your credit, you’ll be ready to tackle anything. At that point – you’ll make a lot of money in a career that is truly exciting.