Minneapolis Duplex Foreclosures Slow

Last week you may have heard that duplex and single family home activity nationwide was at a 40 month low.

This would explain why there are so few duplexes on the Minneapolis/St Paul market to buy.

Don’t dance in the streets just yet. According to RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio, “This slowdown continues to be largely the result of massive delays in processing foreclosures rather than the result of a housing recovery that is lifting people out of foreclosure.”

In fact, data provided by the Mortgage Bankers Association suggest there are still about 3.7 million properties with loans that are seriously delinquent.

In Minnesota, one property owner of every 882 is either delinquent on their mortgage or somewhere in the foreclosure process. While this looks stellar compared with the one homeowner out of every 97 in Nevada, it loses some of its luster when measured against the one homeowner out of ever 17,580 in North Dakota who is facing foreclosure.

Saccacio said there are two different stretches where they’re seeing the delays; between delinquency and the start of the foreclosure process, then again when the process has started and lenders are taking more time to complete the process.

These delays are due in part to the lenders desire to give duplex and homeowners more of an opportunity to get a loan amodification, complete a short sale, or find some other solution.

Nationwide, the average length of time for a foreclosure to be completed as of the first quarter of 2011 was 400 days. At the same time last year, that number was 340 days.

At some point, the log jam will clear. Until then, see this as a window of opportunity to sell your Minneapolis duplex if you’re considering doing so.