While the rates of foreclosure in many states in the east have slowed to a crawl as judges, courts, homeowners and lenders struggle to determine just how to handle the continuing fallout from the robo-signer fiasco, the west coast is not experiencing the same delays. In fact, Foreclosure Radar, a California-based tracking firm, reported earlier this week that foreclosure auction sales along the west coast have “bounced back,” with significant increases in sales volumes during January 2011 in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington[1]. Numbers of properties returning to banks and being sold to third-party investors returned to “pre-robo-signer levels,” reported the firm.

While on the east coast, states like New York are moving to land every homeowner in foreclosure a free lawyer to help with their defense[2] and homeowners in many areas are experiencing foreclosure delays of up to three months as lenders wait to see what the ramifications of new foreclosure rulings in the area will be[3], “both banks and third parties bought more properties in January 2011 than in any other single month” in Arizona, while in all of the “west coast states” but Oregon “banks sold more homes than they took back,” reported Foreclosure Radar.

Sean O’Toole, Foreclosure Radar’s CEO and founder, believes that these numbers are not an anomaly or a “surge” that often happens after new legislation on foreclosures goes into effect, but rather an indication that “we’ve simply returned to prior levels [of foreclosures and sales], which to me indicates banks remain reluctant to aggressively foreclose.” Do you think lenders should just foreclose and get the whole thing over with, or do you think that this reluctance is a good thing for homeowners and/or the housing market?

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[1] http://www.dsnews.com/articles/west-coast-foreclosure-sales-climb-to-pre-robo-signing-levels-2011-02-15

[2] http://www.credit.com/blog/2011/02/all-new-yorkers-facing-foreclosure-to-get-a-free-lawyer/

[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/business/16housing.html?src=me