Home Foreclosures Still High, Oregon Highest

Home foreclosures topped 300,000 nationwide in May for the third consecutive month. Some 321,500 properties received default notices or were repossessed in May. Despite a number of efforts by local, state, and federal governments home foreclosures continue at record rates across the country.

Efforts to stop foreclosures in Oregon are underway as the northwest state saw an increase in property losses of 90% in May. More than 3,000 properties statewide were issued default or auction notices or were repossessed. That number is down slightly from April but nearly 20% higher than the same time last year.

Bill 628 in the state's Senate aims to stop foreclosures in Oregon. A skyrocketing unemployment rate in the state, the second highest in the nation, has increased the number of Oregon residents losing their homes. Bill 628 would require banks to sit down with homeowners in a meeting with a trained mediator and work out a payment plan. If banks refuse to come to any agreement with homeowners, banks will be forced to pay a fee when reselling the home.

The Oregon state government isn't the only body trying to stem foreclosures. Introduced earlier this year, the Making Home Affordable initiative was an attempt by President Obama and Congress to lower the numbers of Americans losing their homes. The Treasury Department reports more than 120,000 homeowners have been able to renegotiate payment plans with loan-holders since the plan was put in place. Despite that, nearly 1 million properties have been lost since the beginning of March.

As if homeowners didn't have enough to worry about, foreclosures are now coming from unforeseen places. In some communities homes are being lost due to failure to pay homeowner association dues. Rules on such repossessions vary state-to-state. For example, in California a homeowners association can only force a homeowner out if 12 months of payments, or $1,800 in fees are owed.

With the continued pace of foreclosures hopes of seeing an economic upturn in the near future are fading. Despite efforts from the federal government and others, millions of Americans are still set to lose their homes in the coming months. It is an unfortunate fact, but it appears a vast number of Americans were simply living beyond their means. That's not to say every American who has lost their home made poor decisions. Foreclosures are an unfortunate part of the economic resetting the U.S. economy is currently undergoing.