3/10/15
EUGENE, Ore.—Home foreclosure filings continue to soar in the 24 counties monitored by Gorilla Capital as total judicial and non-judicial foreclosures were up 128% in February 2015 over February 2014. It is the third consecutive month that foreclosures filing were at least 95% higher than in the same month the previous year.
Last month, there were 247 judicial foreclosures and 655 non-judicial foreclosures filed in Gorilla’s Oregon counties. In January, there were 300 judicial and 615 non-judicial foreclosures filed in Oregon counties monitored by the company. There were less than 400 total foreclosures filed in each of the first two months of 2014 compared to more than 900 in each of the first two months of this year.
Foreclosure filings were up 1,100% in Jefferson County as compared to February 2014, and 486% in Yamhill County, 300% in Curry County, and 231% in Lane County. Crooks County was the only place where foreclosure filing dropped (40%) compared to the previous year.
“The national foreclosure crisis is healing at a faster rate than Oregon’s because state legislation enacted in August 2013 that was meant to help lenders and home owners through the process more quickly has put a burden on the under staffed court system and has slowed down Oregon’s foreclosure process,” said John Helmick, CEO of Gorilla Capital. “Even with a slowly improving economy and increased home prices in some communities, we still don’t know how many properties are waiting to begin the foreclosure process, but I believe the foreclosure paper jam will clear over the next four to six months as more distressed home owners and lenders slog through the cumbersome state system.”
Helmick says the good news with more foreclosure being filed is that vacant or Zombie homes sprinkled through every neighborhood in the state will soon be sold and come back to life when the new owners move in.
“The foreclosure crisis impacts everyone, including neighbors,” Helmick said. “The sooner distressed home owners and lenders can move through the foreclosure process, the sooner all parties, including neighborhoods, can begin to heal.”
Gorilla reports that as in previous months, 50% of the houses it purchased in Oregon last month were Zombie homes compared to 67% in its national portfolio.
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