Ever since the great recession of 2008 home foreclosures have been abundant across the country as well as in King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties in Washington State. With that said, in more recent years foreclosures have been on the decline which is good news for the Washington state economy and the Seattle metro area in general. These home foreclosure statistics also correlate to the decline in bankruptcy filings in Western Washington which have declined about 20% over the past year and even more so since 2012.
Home foreclosures usually correlate with the amount of bankruptcy filings as people who need financial help are often behind in their mortgage payments and need to find a way to top a home foreclosure which usually leads to a debtor filing a chapter 13 or chapter 7 bankruptcy to buy more time to either catch up on payments, work out a loan modification with their lender, or make arrangements to sell or refinance a property. In addition to filing for bankruptcy to stop a foreclosure, home owners in Washington state may also participate in the states foreclosure fairness mediation program in which borrowers can stop a foreclosure as long as you have received a notice of default and/or it has no been more than 20 days since you have received a notice of trustee sale.
In my opinion I think foreclosure sales and bankruptcy filings will return to normal levels within the next year or so. With that said, consumers will always have debt problems and foreclosure sales will continue to happen. If this happens to you it is best to know your options and whether it is worthwhile to try to retain your home or look at your work out options so that you can come out ahead one way or another.
If you have additional questions regarding stopping home foreclosures in Washington State, give Symmes Law Group a call today at 206-682-7975 to learn about your options.
