Foreclosure Alarm Blog

October Wisconsin Foreclosure Numbers

philipharry+food@gmail.com (Philip Crawford) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:52:00 +0000

Although October was another big month for foreclosures in Wisconsin, it was down slightly from the records set in September and also down from the October 2008 numbers.

Foreclosure numbers for October 2009 and YTD.

October 2009: 2,609
October 2008: 2,706

YTD Through end of October 2009: 25,601
YTD Through end of October 2008: 21,174

On a percentage basis, October 2009 was a 4% decrease from October 2008.

YTD 2009 is a 21% increase over the same period in 2008.

Milwaukee County Numbers

October 2009: 595
October 2008: 735

YTD Through end of October 2009: 5,991
YTD Through end of October 2008: 5,388

On a percentage basis, October 2009 was a 19% decrease from October 2008.

YTD 2009 is a 11% increase over the same period in 2008.

September 2009 Wisconsin Foreclosure Numbers

philipharry+food@gmail.com (Philip Crawford) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:47:00 +0000

September was the record for foreclosures in a single month in Wisconsin, eclipsing the record number from July.

Foreclosure numbers for September 2009 and YTD.

September 2009: 2,792
September 2008: 2,083

YTD Through end of September 2009: 22,981
YTD Through end of September 2008: 18,468

On a percentage basis, September 2009 was a 34% increase over September 2008.

YTD 2009 is a 24% increase over the same period in 2008.

Milwaukee County Numbers

September 2009: 633
September 2008: 522

YTD Through end of September 2009: 5,396
YTD Through end of September 2008: 4,653

On a percentage basis, September 2009 was a 21% increase over September 2008.

YTD 2009 is a 14% increase over the same period in 2008.

August 2009 Wisconsin Foreclosure Numbers

philipharry+food@gmail.com (Philip Crawford) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:42:00 +0000

Foreclosure numbers for August 2009 and YTD.

August 2009: 2,484
August 2008: 1,920

YTD Through end of August 2009: 20,189
YTD Through end of August 2008: 16,385

On a percentage basis, August 2009 was a 29% increase over August 2008.

YTD 2009 is a 23% increase over the same period in 2008.

Milwaukee County Numbers

August 2009: 558
August 2008: 507

YTD Through end of August 2009: 4,763
YTD Through end of August 2008: 4,131

On a percentage basis, August 2009 was a 10% increase over August 2008 in Milwaukee County.

YTD 2009 is a 15% increase over the same period in 2008.

The way I interpret these numbers is that Milwaukee had more subprime loans which were the first loans to start defaulting. This subprime bubble of foreclosures occurred in 2007 and 2008 and has now shifted to more prime loans. Thus comparing 2009 to 2008 shows less of an increase for Milwaukee county than for the state as a whole.

July was a record month for Wisconsin foreclosures

philipharry+food@gmail.com (Philip Crawford) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:15:00 +0000

New foreclosure filings totaled 2,760 for the month of July.

This is a new record high for a single month.

Contrast this total with 1,793 for July of 2008 and 2,482 for June.

And the previous 5 months where were:

Feb	2,350
March	2,681
April	2,543
May	2,201
June	2,482

The other very interesting thing to note is that over the past several years, foreclosures have dipped in the summer.

July is usually a low point, not a high point.

More Moving Averages

philipharry+food@gmail.com (Philip Crawford) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:48:00 +0000

I thought it would be interesting to extract Milwaukee out of the statewide numbers. Below are two graphs over the last 900 business days. The first is the statewide number excluding Milwaukee, the second is for just Milwaukee county.

What is interesting to me is that Milwaukee is not going along with the "normal" summer decline in new filings.

50 Day Moving Average Revisited

philipharry+food@gmail.com (Philip Crawford) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 20:02:00 +0000

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so this is a lengthy post. :)

Here is a simple graph of new pre-foreclosure filings in the state of Wisconsin. Compare this with the same chart I created in January. This chart is of a moving average over the past 400 business days.

Last year there was a sharper peak in the spring with a more substantial drop in the summer, especially August and September. Maybe we will still see that drop this year, but I expect not.

April 2009 Wisconsin New Foreclosure Filings Maintain Rate

philipharry+food@gmail.com (Philip Crawford) — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:44:00 +0000

New foreclosure filings in Wisconsin continue to be filed at a rate of roughly 120 per day. April was no exception with roughly 118 new foreclosure filings per business day.

Almost 2,540 new foreclosure filings were filed in Wisconsin during the month of April.

20% increase over April 2008
5% decrease from March 2009

The decrease from March to April is mainly due to April having a half day less business days. The per day filings were off by only 2% from the March, 2009 rate.

With 21.5 business days in April (half day for Good Friday), this continues the trend of roughly 120 new foreclosure filings each business day - a trend that has continued for the entire year.

March 2009 Wisconsin Foreclosures near all time high

philipharry+food@gmail.com (Philip Crawford) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 19:34:00 +0000

Almost 2,680 new foreclosure filings were filed in Wisconsin during the month of March.

3rd all time high monthly total
28% increase over March 2008
14% increase over February 2009

For the 3 month period ending in March, there were over 7,700 new filings. This is a 9% increase over Q4 2008 and a 16% increase over Q1 2008.

With 22 business days in March, this continues the trend of roughly 120 new foreclosure filings each business day - a trend that has continued for more that 90 days.

January 2009 A Quick Review

philipharry+food@gmail.com (Philip Crawford) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:13:00 +0000

Second highest month ever for Wisconsin Foreclosure Filings
A jump of 19% from December 2008, one of the largest monthly jumps ever
Continues the trend of more than 100 filings (on average) each business day

Total Statewide Filings

January-09	2,688
December-08	2,242

January is Normally a Big Month
For the last several years, January has had more foreclosure filings than the preceding December. January 2009 is no exception. This chart shows monthly filings since the beginning of 2005.

(Click image to enlarge)

County by County Analysis

Some counties such as Iowa county, saw a decline in January from their 2008 monthly average
Waukesha and Ozaukee both increased over 50% from their 2008 monthly aveage
Door county had the largest percentage increase at 140%

All Counties

County	Avg. 2008	January 2009	Change
Adams	19	20	8%
Ashland	5	5	11%
Barron	18	23	31%
Bayfield	4	4	-4%
Brown	84	111	33%
Buffalo	4	4	14%
Burnett	11	11	1%
Calumet	11	11	-1%
Chippewa	19	24	24%
Clark	9	10	14%
Columbia	25	25	0%
Crawford	3	6	106%
Dane	109	154	41%
Dodge	35	38	10%
Door	8	20	140%
Douglas	17	17	-1%
Dunn	16	14	-10%
Eau Claire	24	28	19%
Florence	1	3	112%
Fond du Lac	28	32	15%
Forest	3	3	-3%
Grant	9	10	14%
Green	13	18	36%
Green Lake	8	10	28%
Iowa	9	3	-66%
Jackson	6	4	-31%
Jefferson	27	30	10%
Juneau	11	16	48%
Kenosha	87	131	51%
Kewaunee	7	6	-9%
La Crosse	25	23	-7%
Lafayette	4	7	58%
Langlade	8	8	7%
Lincoln	11	6	-46%
Manitowoc	19	26	39%
Marathon	38	53	39%
Marinette	18	29	57%
Marquette	10	8	-19%
Milwaukee	540	621	15%
Monroe	16	18	11%
Oconto	18	24	36%
Oneida	16	22	36%
Outagamie	50	62	24%
Ozaukee	17	29	67%
Pepin	2	20	728%
Pierce	21	18	-13%
Polk	31	33	7%
Price	4	7	87%
Racine	92	110	19%
Richland	7	4	-39%
Rock	82	122	49%
Rusk	7	9	24%
Sauk	27	43	61%
Sawyer	7	12	69%
Shawano	15	18	19%
Sheboygan	39	53	38%
St Croix	53	88	65%
Taylor	5	4	-13%
Trempealeau	7	9	26%
Vernon	6	5	-20%
Vilas	11	11	-4%
Walworth	49	58	18%
Washburn	8	15	84%
Washington	35	42	20%
Waukesha	88	140	59%
Waupaca	24	32	32%
Waushara	14	19	35%
Winnebago	56	60	7%
Wood	17	28	62%

The trend is still up, however I suspect the reasons for foreclosures are changing in Wisconsin. We are most likely past the sub-prime foreclosure bubble, consistent with trends around the US.

Daily Wisconsin Foreclosure Filings Rate

philipharry+food@gmail.com (Philip Crawford) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 18:12:00 +0000

Monthly Numbers are Problematic
Foreclosure numbers are typically reported by month, quarter, or year. The main problem with monthly reports is that they are dependent on the number of business days in that month. For months with few business days, such as November 2008, you can get a drop in the number of filings, even though the daily number of filings does not drop. For example, read about 23% fall in SE Wisconsin in the month of November.

November of 2008 had only 18 business days, while October 2008 had 23 business days. With an average of roughly 100 filings per day, you'd of course expect November to have significantly less filings. And it did.

Smoothing Functions
So, I've created a chart showing the daily foreclosure filing rate over the last 500+ days. The daily numbers have been smoothed out by using a simple moving average. As you can see from the chart, there is an overall trend line up over the past two years, along with a noticeable increase over the last few months. (click image to enlarge)

I'll try to update this graph every few months as this thing unfolds.

How to Buy a Short Sale

philipharry+food@gmail.com (Philip Crawford) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:32:00 +0000

ForeclosureAlarm email notifications are useful for investors interested in short sales. We feel these are the best presentations on the web related to short sales.

How to Buy a Short Sale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHpF4jDoKtg

Top 5 Reasons Why Short Sales Crash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1O1YRpAVXU

The Wisconsin Foreclosure Process

philipharry+food@gmail.com (Philip Crawford) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:07:00 +0000

Some Background
Wisconsin foreclosures are a judicial process through the circuit courts of the 72 counties.

creditor:
The mortgagee. The entity that has lent the money to the debtor. The creditor is listed as the plaintiff on the filing.

debtor:
The mortgagor. This is the property owner. Listed as the first defendant on the filing.

This judicial process typically begins 120-180 days after the the debtor has become delinquent on the mortgage. Up until that time, the creditor is attempting to resolve the issue without going to court.

The judicial process has the following steps.

Filing a Summons and Complaint

The creditor files the Summons and Complaint in the county in which the property is located. The complaint usually has multiple defendants listed and can includes tenants (even if unknown), any subordinate mortgage holders, and any subordinate judgment lien holders.

The Summons and Complaint is the first public notice of the foreclosure. At this point, it is commonly referred to as a pre-foreclosure.

The Answer Period

The creditor then has 20 days to file an answer with the courts. In most foreclosure proceedings in Wisconsin over the past year, the creditor has not responded to the Summons and Complaint. When this occurs, a Default Judgment is declared by the judge. This is one of ways a foreclosure judgment is reached - and is currently the most common.

Foreclosure Judgment

There are three ways a judgment can happen in a Wisconsin foreclosure case.

Default Judgment
The defendant has either not answered or fails to defend the foreclosure. This happens in over 65% of foreclosure cases in Wisconsin.
Summary Judgment
By trial

The foreclosure can also be dismissed if the creditor works something out with the debtor or if the judicial process ends up determining it is not a foreclosure (this is rare.)

Redemption Period

The creditor then has the benefit of a redemption period which can vary from 2 to 12 months and begins right after judgment. The length of time is determined by the following:

2 months if the creditor has abandoned the property
3 months if the property is not owner-occupied (1-4 unit family dwelling)
6 months if the property is owner-occupied (1-4 unit)

Before the redemption period expires, the creditor's attorney will schedule a sheriff's sale.

Sheriff's Sale

In Wisconsin, there are requirements for public posting of the sheriff sale. The creditor must publish the notice of sheriff's sale once per week for the six weeks leading up to the sale. These notices are in a newspaper within the county in which the property is located.

Also, the sheriff's department posts notices of the sale during the same period.

Sheriff sales are held at the county courthouse and are open to the public. The sale is an auction in which the creditor is a bidder and starts the bidding at a predetermined price. Often times, the creditor is the only bidder and becomes the purchaser.

Confirmation of Sale

The confirmation of sale is scheduled as soon as possible after the sheriff's sale. This process allows judicial review of the sale, the price, and that the process was conducted according to state law.

The creditor can also use this hearing to obtain the necessary assistance of occupant eviction if necessary.

With ForeclosureAlarm, each of the above events can be tracked. If you are a real estate professional, you can subscribe to initial pre-foreclosure filings as well as Default Judgements and Sheriff's Report of Sale. All delivered in a daily foreclosure spreadsheet.