LAS VEGAS -- New foreclosure numbers are out and they carry a mix of good and bad news for Nevada homeowners.
Homeowners behind on their payments may have noticed a break from default notices getting taped onto their doors as a side effect of a new law. But that holiday is about to end, meaning the new year may bring a foreclosure flood.
RealtyTrac reports that 6,512 Nevada homes received notices of default in November. In Las Vegas, that comes out to one out every 162 homes. That keeps Nevada's 59 month losing streak of highest foreclosure rate in the nation intact.
Foreclosures plummeted in October after Assembly Bill 284 went into effect. That forced banks to provide proof they own a home before filing a default notice.
"With AB284, I think finally the lenders understand that the documentation must be in order, that's the first thing. This didn't take us overnight to get into. It's going to take them a while to scrub those documents and make sure, especially in light of robo-signing, that they're good," said Nevada Mediation Director Verise Campbell.
Foreclosures, including HOA takeovers, went up by three percent compared to last month. That leads state mediators to think that the dip in foreclosure notices has bottomed out.
They anticipate a spike in default notices the last week of January, 90 days after the new state law went into effect. That's both good and bad news. It's never good news if you get a default notice on your home, but it takes that happening to get homeowners out of a legal limbo and into the option of state-mandated mediation.
