Foreclosed homes are regularly set on the market by the two major home lenders: government agencies and banks. Be they government foreclosures or bank foreclosures, what matters most is that they can be purchased at expenses lower than their real market value. This is why homebuyers or investors generally are in haste as soon as a reliable foreclosure opportunity is listed. After having investigated the real estate market and its potentialities, homebuyers must move quickly if they want to grasp this temporary chance. In what follows we will see some of the basics and advantages of opting either for government foreclosures or for bank foreclosures.

The most popular government agencies that frequently market foreclosure properties are as follows:
1) the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (you are probably already familiar with HUD foreclosed homes);
2) the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (for the well-known VA foreclosures); 3) local agencies of taxation;
4) the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC – the department dealing with foreclosure sales);
5) the Internal Revenue Service (IRS – once again the segment dealing with foreclosures).
However, the market of government foreclosures is led by HUD foreclosures and VA foreclosures.

In any case, the point is that with government foreclosures one of the above mentioned government agencies is holder of the property’s title. As a rule, they will place any foreclosed property at auction. The buyer’s advantages are basically drawn from bidding opportunities generated by auction circumstances: the potential buyer’s chance to set a limit for the house value, the certainty over the time interval spent to acquire a property, the possibility to evade prolonged negotiations with the former homeowner. As with any auction, government foreclosures are purchased if the bidder’s offer is appropriate. Also, your involvement in government foreclosures auctions needs to be mediated by a certified real estate agent who is regularly rewarded a 6% bonus for having successfully sold the property. The real estate agent’s indemnity is an additional figure to the sum you place as a bid.

To what concerns bank foreclosures, there are three major ways of purchasing such properties. One of them is in pre-foreclosures. In this case, you will need to act promptly, because there is actually very little time up until a property in a pre-foreclosed stage is transferred to foreclosure terms. So before properties actually become bank foreclosures, the active, smart homebuyer/investor – who has previously undergone a serious investigation of an area’s real estate market – will know to move in the direction of negotiating directly with the distressed homeowners. If pre-foreclosure attempts fail, the next step is an auction.

With bank foreclosures, the auction is required by the banks whose lends haven’t been acquitted on time. In such circumstances, the homebuyer/investor could try to overpass the bank’s bidding offers. Yes, the bank will also bid in such auctions, interested in stepping further along the process of profitably selling foreclosures. If the auction is won by the bank, the property becomes an REO (real estate owned) foreclosure property. This is the third way in which you could purchase bank foreclosures. When you are interested in REOs, you will negotiate directly with the bank. The main advantage of the potential homebuyer/home investor is that this is the most certain manner (and one of the fastest) of acquiring a foreclosed property. You will need to make an offer, but be careful: the offer should be commonsensical, don’t expect a bank to accept a discount of 50%, even if we are talking about foreclosures. Most often, you will get a 10%-20% lower price for an REO foreclosure.

In the end, the key toward purchasing foreclosures, no matter the entity selling them, is given by two stages:
careful real estate market investigation and promptness in action when the time comes to place your offer.
Remember that the market of foreclosures, no matter how advantageous, is highly competitive, since many homebuyers/investors are interested in it.

About the author: The above Real Estate information on Buying Government Foreclosures or Bank Foreclosures: Basics was provided by William Henderson, a Florida Licensed Real Estate Agent with over 15 years in the Banking, Finance and Real Estate related fields. William can be reached by email at whenderson586@gmail.com or by phone at 786-346-5611. You can also check the website http://www.foreclosuredump.com for up to date properties for sale in your area.

 

Thinking of short selling your home? I can help get the process done!

 

I service the following area of Miami Dade County: Miami Beach, Brickell Area, Downtown Area, North Bay Village, Normandy Isle, Surfside, Sunny Isles.

07.14.10 By Credit.com Staff

In an effort to find more affordable home prices, more Americans turned toward foreclosures during the first quarter of 2010, according to a new report. The study - conducted by foreclosure listing and information website Foreclosure Deals - reveals that 31 percent of home sales during the first three months of the year were for homes whose previous owners defaulted on their mortgage loans.

The total number of foreclosure home sales during the first quarter is 33 percent lower than those sold during the first three months of 2009. A combined total of 232,950 foreclosed homes were sold in January, February and March. Lower sales prices are one of prime reasons consumers turn toward a foreclosure, with the average price being 27 percent lower than a traditional home during the first quarter of 2010.

"Buyers are attracted to foreclosures because they offer tremendous discounts," Foreclosure Deals business analyst James Foxx said. "The numbers show that each year, the total number of foreclosures sold has increased, and that's not just a reflection of supply. They're very popular, and for good reason, there's no better investment value in real estate currently out there."

Statistics reveal that foreclosure home sales have increased by 320 percent overall since 2007.

Many lenders, such as Fannie Mae, have implemented programs and created help centers to assist borrowers and try to reduce the incidence of foreclosure. But as unemployment rates remain high and the backlog in repossessing foreclosed properties may be skewing the real amount of Americans who have defaulted on their mortgage, it is unlikely that recovery will come as quickly as many individuals hope.

1. Market until Sold For $9.95 Per Property
When you choose Foreclosuredump.com advertising, you have the comfort of knowing your home will be showcased until sold, however long it takes. There are no time limits. There’s no certain period in which your home must sell. Foreclosuredump.com doesn’t give you a month, two months, a year; we just promise to advertise your property until sold. It’s that simple and it only costs you $9.95 per property.

As long as you want it advertised, Foreclosuredump.com will keep it online.

Plus, you have total control over when it’s displayed – Want to remove your advertising for a while because you’re going out of town? No problem! Your property’s listing will still be available when you’re done. Just let the customer service department know, and they’ll remove it and reactivate it when you’d like.

At Foreclosuredump.com, it’s all about putting the power back in your hands. That’s the difference. That’s the Foreclosuredump.com difference

2. The Power of the Internet
What’s the best and fastest way for home buyers to find their next home? Hint: it’s also the easiest. They shop the internet.

Not only is the Internet available worldwide, streamed into living rooms and offices 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but it also is convenient whether the weather is sunny or snowing. As many parts of the Unites States experienced frigid temperatures and snowfall this January, keeping many buyers away from open houses or touring properties, there’s one thing you can be sure they’re still doing: looking at your house online.

In today’s society, there’s no question that the Internet is the most important tool in maximizing your real estate marketing needs. Through strategically chosen descriptions and images, you can allow interested buyers to tour your property without leaving their living rooms. That’s a benefit everyone can appreciate.

That’s why it makes sense to advertise with Foreclosuredump.com: you’re putting your home where the buyers are looking and buying

3. Custom URLs
Did you know all Foreclosuredump.com property advertisements come with their own custom URLs? It’s astounding! Choose to market your home through Foreclosuredump.com, and you’ll receive a customized Web page, perfect for sending to your friends, neighbors, potential buyers and anyone else you deem worthy of seeing your property

Essentially, here’s how it works: When you load your pictures and the property description the webpage is essentially made and your unique URL is made and can be blasted everywhere and you will be taken directly to that property.

You can include your custom URL in e-mails, on your Facebook page, in online forums, your own custom flyers, craigslist, backpage and any other social networking site you can think of

4. Customer Service
One of the best benefits of selling on your own through Foreclosuredump.com is the support you receive. When you have questions, want to make changes or just aren’t sure who to ask about something, the friendly and knowledgeable customer service department is there for you!

• Available seven days a week, Foreclosuredump.com’s customer service staff is unquestionably one of the most helpful resources for do it yourself sellers.
  
  

5. Complete Control
One of the most appealing reasons to sell with Foreclosuredump.com is that you have complete control over your property listing!

Not only do you customize your ad yourself, choosing how much text, the photos you put up, as well as what info is important to include, but you also have full authority to make changes when your property ad goes live all for the low price of $9.95 till it sells.

That’s because when you use Foreclosuredump.com’s  internet sit to put your ad together, the listing is not set in stone. If you would like to change something, all you have to do is go into your account manager and change it. This is your property, so no one knows it better than you! Whether you would like to add text, drop text or change photos, you are free to customize your ad as you see fit.

Have questions about marketing and advertising your property on foreclosuredump.com? Feel free to contact one of our friendly customer service reps as they are available to help you seven days a week!!!

For examples of how a property can be showcased in a Foreclosuredump.com ad, check out these existing listings!

• Approved_Short_Sale_South_Beach
• Bank_Owned_Condo_at_One_Miami
• Beautiful_Bank_Owned_Property_on_Brickell

We here at Foreclosuredump.com are dedicated to helping you SELL YOUR PROPERTY FAST!!!!! No Questions!! Try us out today!!

The total value of Florida foreclosures repossessed by banks in the state increased by nearly 8 percent in the first quarter to $1.77 billion, based on figures from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

These properties in bank owned listings also contributed to the downfall of a lot of banks in Florida. On May 7, the FDIC closed the tenth Florida bank to tumble this year and as of March 31, a total of 24 Florida banks were struggling from under-capitalization.

The FDIC has already lost almost $1.3 billion to pay claims arising from Florida bank failures this year, in addition to its $7.3-billion loss in 2008 and in 2009 involving 16 failed Florida banks.

This year, 17 more Florida banks are expected to collapse this year if there is no significant intervention to rescue these distressed banks. Their substantial exposure to Florida foreclosures are tying their hands up, leaving them with no funds to finance their operations.

Based on interviews with Florida bankers, the cost they have to bear to put properties into listings of foreclosure homes so they can resell them has shot up to around $100,000 per one foreclosure case, up from only $40,000 in 2007. The time spent to complete foreclosures has also lengthened from only 6 months in the first months of the crisis to around 18 months this year.

What worsens the situation after all the costs and hassles banks undergo is to be forced to list their repossessed properties as cheap houses for sale, as higher-priced foreclosures languish on the market.

Despite the decline in foreclosure activity in the state in April, Florida moved up from fourth-place to third-place on charts of foreclosure listings by state during the month. It was California which improved by two places from second in March to fourth in April.

To help banks survive the effects of Florida foreclosures, the Florida Bankers Association has proposed in the last state legislature session to speed up the foreclosure process.

By Luke Mullins

Nearly four years after the real estate market peaked, an alarming number of Americans remain in danger of losing their homes. A non-seasonally adjusted 15 percent of home mortgages were either delinquent or in foreclosure at the end of the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. That's the highest-ever tally in the history of the MBA's National Delinquency Survey.

Mike Larson of Weiss Research points to two key factors behind these high delinquencies. Sharply falling real estate values have put about 21 percent of homeowners underwater, meaning that they owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth. Property owners in this position--which is also known as having negative equity--may find it in their best interest to simply walk away from the home (even, in some cases, when they can afford to make their monthly payments). At the same time, an uncomfortably high national unemployment rate of 9.7 percent means that many Americans won't have the income they need to pay their bills.

Today, some particularly hard-hit markets are in the unenviable position of having both elevated unemployment and high concentrations of negative equity. "Clearly, those are the markets where you are going to see some of the worst metrics on the foreclosure side," Larson says. "You are going to see a lot of people walking away [and] you are going to see a lot of distressed inventory that's being dumped on the market." To pinpoint housing markets that are facing these twin default risks, U.S. News compared negative equity data from Zillow with unemployment figures from Moody's Economy.com. (All data refers to the fourth quarter of 2009.) Based on this data, here is a look at 10 cities that face a double whammy of default risks.

1. Las Vegas: Speculators and exotic loans pushed home prices in this gambling Mecca dramatically higher during the first half of the previous decade. But after peaking in 2006, the real estate market's crash cleaned out investors and submerged an alarming portion of area homeowners. Through the fourth quarter of 2009, more than 81 percent of single-family home mortgages in Las Vegas were underwater. Meanwhile, the implosion of the housing sector has hammered the local labor market, says Larry Murphy, the president of SalesTraq. When the housing market was sizzling, construction emerged as a key job provider for Las Vegas residents. But as home prices tumbled, the jobs disappeared. "When the housing market goes in the tank, the construction market goes in the tank," Murphy says. "Then you have unemployment and those people can't buy [property] and so it's kind of like a death spiral." The unemployment rate in Las Vegas reached 13 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.

2. Merced, Calif.: California residents looking for alternatives to pricey big cities helped send home prices surging in places like Merced during in the early to middle parts of the last decade. Real estate values in this city of 77,000 residents, which is located east of San Francisco, increased at monster rates before running out of steam in 2006. The proliferation of exotic, adjustable-rate mortgages played a key role in this development, says John Walsh, the president of DataQuick. But the subsequent crash dragged more than 64 percent of area homeowners underwater through the fourth quarter of 2009. And the impact of the real estate bust stretched beyond home prices. "You go to places like Merced and you've got a real significant percentage of the population [that] was involved in either home building, home financing, or home sales," Walsh says. "And all of the sudden all three pieces of those are gone." As a result, Merced's unemployment rate stood at 19 percent through the fourth quarter of 2009.

3. El Centro, Calif.: The same forces that upended Merced's housing and labor markets also hammered the city of El Centro, Walsh says. Residents looking for a cheaper alternative to nearby San Diego moved to El Centro, increasing home prices in this city of 40,000, Walsh says. But when home prices crashed, nearly 57 percent of homeowners found themselves underwater through the fourth quarter of 2009. And without real estate-related industries churning out jobs, the unemployment rate has hit nearly 30 percent.

4. Port St. Lucie, Fla.: The housing market in Port St. Lucie, located on the southeast coast of Florida, experienced one of the most aggressive pricing booms in the state, says Jack McCabe of McCabe Research & Consulting. But the run-up in real estate values wasn't underpinned by growth in population or jobs. "These were markets that were heavily dominated by investor flippers, speculative flippers," McCabe says. "They had no intention of ever occupying the property." When prices crashed, more than 55 percent of single-family homeowners found themselves underwater through the fourth quarter of 2009. And as stagnant sales undercut the housing sector's ability to create jobs, area unemployment reached 14 percent.

5. Fort Myers, Fla.: Over on Florida's west coast, the housing market in Fort Myers experienced a similar phenomenon. An aggressive boom-and-bust cycle has handed negative equity positions to 55 percent of single-family homeowners. And like other housing-boom hotspots, the pain hasn't been limited to real estate values. "We had extremely low unemployment during the boom years because it was all construction jobs," McCabe says. "There was no industry growth and there was no company growth. These were all real estate-related businesses--brokers, title companies, appraisers, and on and on." After the housing euphoria subsided, many employees of real estate-related companies lost their jobs. Unemployment in the Ft. Myers area hit 14 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009.

6. Bend, Ore.: Vacation home buyers, speculative investors, and unique land-use laws worked to drive home prices in Bend sharply higher during the housing boom, says Lester Friedman, president-elect of the Central Oregon Association of Realtors. But as the market petered out, prices headed south in a hurry. "When the market turned, all of a sudden instead of multiple bidders, you've got multiple sellers and very few buyers," Friedman says. Declining real estate values dragged nearly 41 percent of Bend's homeowners underwater. Meanwhile, the housing bust hit the local economy by eroding demand for wood products, an industry that expanded swiftly as real estate values climbed, according to Celia Chen of Moody's Economy.com. Friedman notes that weakness in the tourism sector, which slowed along with the broader economy, has also helped lead to an unemployment rate that topped 14 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009.

7. Ocala, Fla.: The central Florida community of Ocala, which is located north of Orlando, is in the same precarious position as the coastal cities of Port St. Lucie and Fort Myers. Thirty-six percent of homeowners in Ocala are underwater, and area unemployment stood at 14 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. "All throughout Florida--from one coast to the other and in between--the market was overdeveloped and overbuilt," McCabe says. "And that includes the Ocala market."

8. Detroit: A number of cities located outside of the housing-boom hotspots are also facing the twin dangers of high unemployment and negative equity. The erosion of its traditional manufacturing industrial base has helped drive unemployment in the Detroit area to more than 16 percent through the fourth quarter of 2009, Chen says. "And at the same time, there was some very aggressive lending going on during the housing bubble," Chen says. "So many buyers were getting credit who probably shouldn't have gotten credit." High unemployment and exotic home loans have combined to drag nearly 26 percent of area homeowners underwater through the fourth quarter of 2009.

9. Rockford, Ill.: These same forces have worked to land Rockford--a city of 157,000 located in northern Illinois--in a comparable fix, Chen says. Local unemployment hit 16 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009. "The Midwest did go into the recession earlier than the rest of [the country], so the situation has been eroding for a longer period of time," Chen says. At the same time, more than 22 percent of homeowners had negative equity in the final three months of last year.

10. Toledo, Ohio: The housing market in Toledo also faces high unemployment and negative equity. In the fourth quarter of 2009, local unemployment stood at more than 12 percent and roughly 28 percent of homeowners had negative equity. As was the case for Rockford and Detroit, Chen fingered the disappearance of manufacturing jobs and the proliferation of risky mortgages for Toledo's housing headaches.

No relief in sight as delinquent loans continue to pile up

By Steve Kerch, MarketWatch

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- The number of U.S. residential properties receiving at least one foreclosure filing jumped 21% in 2009 to a record 2.82 million, RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure marketplace, reported Thursday.

The report also showed that 2.21% of all U.S. housing units (1 in 45) received at least one foreclosure filing during the year, up from 1.84% in 2008, 1.03% in 2007 and 0.58% in 2006.

More foreclosure trouble ahead

The foreclosure crisis is far from over, according to RealtyTrac's Rick Sharga. The company will release its year-end report on Thursday showing foreclosures rose 20% over the previous year. He talks with Dawn Wotapka about some trouble spots and the outlook for 2010.

"As bad as the 2009 numbers are, they probably would have been worse if not for legislative and industry-related delays in processing delinquent loans," said James Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

Saccacio said that monthly foreclosure filings peaked in July at 361,000, then declined for four months before rebounding in December. He said short-term factors, including trial loan modifications, state legislation extending the foreclosure process and an overwhelming volume of inventory clogging the foreclosure pipeline contributed to the second-half declines.

But "in the long term, a massive supply of delinquent loans continues to loom over the housing market, and many of those delinquencies will end up in the foreclosure process in 2010 and beyond, as lenders gradually work their way through the backlog," he said.

Nevada's foreclosure rate led the U.S. in 2009, with just over 10% of all housing units in the state being hit with some sort of proceeding. RealtyTrac includes default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions in its foreclosure data.

Despite its 44% leap in foreclosure activity from the end of 2008 to the end of 2009, Nevada's more recent numbers showed some signs of easing. Foreclosure activity in December increased 27% from the previous month but was still down 22% from December 2008. Fourth-quarter foreclosure activity was down 37% from the previous quarter thanks to substantial decreases in October and November.

Arizona registered the nation's second-highest state foreclosure rate in 2009, with slightly more than 6% of its housing units receiving at least one foreclosure filing during the year, and Florida ranked No. 3 with 5.93% of its housing units receiving at least one foreclosure filing during the year.

Just four states -- California, Florida, Arizona and Illinois -- accounted for more than half of the nation's 2009 total, with more than 1.4 million properties receiving a foreclosure filing.

A total of 632,573 California properties received a foreclosure filing in 2009, the nation's largest state foreclosure activity total, an increase of nearly 21% from 2008.

Vermont had by far the lowest foreclosure rate and the lowest absolute number of foreclosures, with only 143 filing reported, or 0.05% of its housing units. North Dakota was second best, with just 0.13% of its housing units receiving such a notice. West Virginia was the third best at 0.17%. South Dakota ranked fourth best, with 0.21%.

Another bright spot: Nine states -- Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Tennessee -- and the District of Columbia managed to bring their foreclosure rates down from 2008.

Steve Kerch is assistant managing editor and personal finance editor of MarketWatch in Chicago.

 

There's no humor in this top 10 list: The states hardest hit by foreclosure.
By Steve McLinden • Bankrate.com
And it's especially unfunny for homeowners and agents in Nevada, Florida, California and Arizona, who've languished in the top four for most of the real estate recession.

"Those states had similar scenarios," says Rick Sharga, senior vice president of RealtyTrac, a California-based firm that tracks U.S. foreclosures. "They all had unsustainably high home prices and had many buyers who really couldn't afford them -- most with toxic mortgages -- followed by (downturn-related) unemployment."

Some of the country's foreclosure problems revolved around a pervasive American mindset of "object identity," says Barbara Fitch of Pacific Star Real Estate in Corona, Calif. "The house is who they are and that is why (so many) are in this jam."

Unfortunately, the foreclosure beat goes on. RealtyTrac reports more than 300,000 U.S. properties received a foreclosure filing in November 2009 for the ninth straight month.

Here's a look at the top 10 states for foreclosure and how they got there:

No. 1: Nevada -- In third-quarter 2009, Las Vegas suffered the nation's highest foreclosure rate at 5.13 percent, or more than one foreclosure for every 20 households -- almost seven times the national average. Investors, who snapped up one of every three homes sold at the boom's height, were gambling on future gains after watching Vegas-area median home prices jump 122 percent from 2000 and 2006 -- twice the U.S. rise of 49 percent in that span.

The crash arrived, and real estate and construction jobs fell away -- followed by many casino jobs. While foreclosure numbers were improving near year-end 2009, a 13 percent Las Vegas unemployment rate and 12.2 percent rate in Reno/Sparks helped keep Nevada in the top spot.

No. 2: Florida -- In Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, unemployment soared from just over 3 percent in early 2006 to 11 percent in fourth-quarter 2009, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, or USBLS. Orlando and Daytona Beach posted slightly higher unemployment, while Cape Coral-Fort Myers posted a 13.7 percent rate, helping place it at No. 4 on RealtyTrac's top 10 foreclosure cities. "It's likely that California will recover before Florida does, partly because of its net growth in population and partly because Florida is lousy with condos, which are typically the last to come back," Sharga says.

From 2003 to 2007 Florida prices doubled and tripled based largely on speculation, says Bernard Haddigan, managing director of Marcus & Millichap, a national commercial real estate brokerage specializing in real estate investment services. Homeowners were aggressively borrowing on future values and lenders were happy to cooperate, he says.

No. 3: California -- At year-end 2009, the Golden State had 18 statistical metro areas where unemployment exceeded 10 percent -- with nine of its cities in the bottom 14 in employment, according to the USBLS. In the hard-hit region surrounding Ontario, San Bernardino and Riverside, home values spiked from around $300,000 pre-boom to $800,000-plus at the market's zenith. When the bust hit, jobs were whacked quickly along with home values. "We learned to borrow against everything," says Fitch. "Buyers should buy houses for less than what they qualify for -- not because it's the largest or because it's a bargain."

Pamela Haile, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Gonella Realty in hard-hit Merced, Calif. -- the top foreclosure city in the country -- says, "We had a lot of lender fraud going on with non-English speaking residents. They were rushed through with lenders who added income to their applications and lied to buyers that it was legal." In Merced, one in every 83 homes received a foreclosure filing in November. "Builders were manufacturing homes using an assembly line (in the area)," explains Julie Jalone of Roseville, Calif.-based MagnumOne Realty. "These homes were sold, sometimes in lottery style, before they were even built." Consequently, she says, owners with mortgages higher than the purchase price came to represent a large portion of the market.

No. 4: Arizona -- The 8.7 percent jobless rate in Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale is the lowest of the top five foreclosure states. However, Arizona foreclosure activity still jumped nearly 8 percent in November with one in every 186 homes getting a notice.

Despite a breakneck growth rate through the past decade, the area remains overbuilt residentially and commercially, says Kevin Schuck, senior vice president for CB Richard Ellis, a national commercial real estate firm. All the growth fueled a run-up in service-related and construction-related jobs "that gave people a false sense that it would continue forever," he says. In Phoenix and other high-foreclosure markets, banks are holding back foreclosure inventory to keep from flooding the market, Sharga says. Nevertheless, "we don't think the (overall U.S.) market will not feel much better until 2013," he says.

No. 5: Idaho -- The inclusion of Idaho, where one in every 259 homes received a filing in November, in the top five may surprise some -- but not Dale Alverson, certified buyer-broker with Boise, Idaho-based 43 Degrees North Real Estate. "It's not really surprising considering we had 20 percent-plus appreciation annually from 2003-2006," he says. "What economy can sustain that?" Add in interest-only loans, "stated-income" loans and investor over- exuberance, "and you had all the ingredients for the perfect real estate tsunami."

On the upside, buying opportunities currently abound in most distressed markets. "As many savvy billionaires have stated, 'Buy when everyone else is selling and sell when everyone else is buying,'" Alverson says.

No. 6: Michigan -- The state's automotive-related job losses have been well chronicled. Nearly 16,000 Michigan residences received foreclosure filings in November, or almost 10 percent above the state's totals in November 2008.

No. 7: Illinois -- The Land of Lincoln saw 16,422 properties owners receive foreclosure notices in November, nearly 108 percent higher than November 2008 and the third highest in volume among all states, according to RealtyTrac.

No. 8: Utah -- Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 2009, about 42.4 percent of all Utah subprime adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, were reset, compared with 27.8 percent nationally, according to the Federal Reserve.

No. 9: Maryland -- More than 30 percent of the state's foreclosures occurred in Prince George's County, which has just 10 percent of Maryland's housing stock. County officials blamed the problem on exotic loans and balloon mortgages.

No. 10: New Jersey -- About 3,000 New Jerseyans have received counseling through the Garden State's "Foreclosure Mediation Program."