Arizona Hard Money

Recently, a report released by RealtyTrac stated that as of June, homeowners had vacated 167,680 foreclosure properties all across the US. This represents 20 percent of all U.S. properties that are currently in the foreclosure process. These are in addition to 544,274 bank-owned owner-vacated foreclosures homes nationwide that have been foreclosed on but not sold to a third party.

The report went on to say that of the total 167,680 vacant foreclosure properties nationwide, Florida had been documented by far the most of any state, with 55,503, accounting for 33 percent of the national total. Illinois posted the second highest total (17,672), followed by California (9,802), Ohio (9,723), and New York (9,173). Additionally, the states where the percentage of owner-vacated foreclosures was above the national average of 20 percent included Indiana (32 percent), Oregon (28 percent), Nevada (28 percent), Washington (27 percent), and Georgia (27 percent).

Meanwhile, Chicago documented the most owner-vacated foreclosures of any metro area nationwide, with 14,717, representing 17 percent of all properties in foreclosure, followed by Miami (13,901), New York (10,074), Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater (9,998), and Orlando (5,569). Florida was mentioned again when the report stated that the state accounted for 85 of the top 100 zip codes in terms of total owner-vacated foreclosures, led by zip code 34668 in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan statistical area.

It also came as no surprise that lower-end foreclosures had vacancy rates that were higher. 29 percent on homes valued below $50,000 and 25 percent on homes valued between $50,000 and $100,000. Meanwhile 12 percent of homes valued $1 million or more were vacant.

Who played best in this game among the servicers? Bank of America and GMAC (Ally) had the highest percentage of owner-vacated foreclosures, with 23 percent. This was followed by Chase with 21 percent and Wells Fargo and Citi lastly tied with 20 percent.