Syracuse (WSYR-TV) -- The latest housing report shows the foreclosure rate has gone down across the country, but not in NY State. One of the biggest jumps was right here in Syracuse and one local realtor expects to see even more people lose their homes in the coming year.
Realtor William Cross specializes in foreclosures. He says, "It takes on the average of three years for the whole process to go through the court system and I believe, based on what I've seen, there are a lot of homes out there that are waiting to come on the market and we'll see more of them.”
In Syracuse, a snapshot of the past three years shows foreclosure rates climbing steadily from about 2.5 percent in October 2010 to just over 4 percent this year. And more people are having trouble keeping up. In the same span, the 90-day mortgage delinquency rate rose from 5.2 percent to roughly 6.9 percent.
Cross says job loss, corporate down-sizing and an overall lack of positive economic news in Central New York has pushed the area beyond national foreclosure rates.
"It used to be a lot of the lower priced ones we saw, now we're seeing right up into the $300,000 to $400,000 price range,” Cross explained.
Cross says banks risk damage from flooding, or even theft if they keep a vacant house for too long, so they're often willing to make a deal if they don't get offers early.
One thing to keep in mind is that the seller usually takes on the cost of the survey, abstracts and deed stamps. With foreclosures, that's the buyer's responsibility, generally anywhere from $1,000 to $1,200.
"In all the years I've been doing real estate, I've never seen the interest rates lower, but if you don't have the money, you don't have the money,” Cross continued.
It’s been a slow month for sales. Cross says, in the past month, investors who flipped houses would buy a lot of foreclosures. Lately, they’ve been too worried about being able to resell them in a stale market.
