Loan Mods Take a Nosedive, Short Sales Skyrocket

When it comes to figuring out whatthe real estate market looks like, among the best resources to use arestatistics from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

The OCC recently released theirmortgage metrics report for the first quarter of 2012, and the numbers tell acompelling story.

According to the report, loanmodifications dropped 36.7% from last year and completed foreclosures rose fromlast year by 2.67%. Out of the gate, this might seem like bad news, but theresmore to the story. The truth is the rate at which completed foreclosures isrising has slowed down from last year, and newly initiated foreclosures havedropped 8.1%. And the best statistics we saw was that short sales rose 19.7%!

Its no secret that 2012 hes beenthe year of the short sale so far. Every short sale represents someone gettingout of a distressed property and getting new owners into a home. We love to seethat this number has risen so much, and we look forward to seeing it continue.v