According to local reports, the value of properties in the county has dropped since 2007 by around $1 billion. The decline in the values of real properties has been attributed to the huge number of homes under Saint Louis foreclosure listings. However, the local government still found a way to increase taxes without hitting tax ceilings to bring revenue to local entities.

So, despite the presence of thousands of Missouri foreclosed homes in the county, the local government will be able to collect real estate taxes worth $67 million. This amount is 4.6% higher than the taxes collected during 2007, one year before the economic recession started. Among all the county taxing entities, fire districts recorded the highest percentage increase for the current tax year.

Although lis pendens listings and foreclosure numbers continue to be a problem in the county, the local government was able to grow, thanks mainly to property taxes. The biggest beneficiary for the current year's taxes would be the fire districts which are about to take in an additional revenue worth $12.5 million. The amount represents an increase of 10% compared with previous tax periods.

Amid home foreclosures problems, residents can at least be thankful that school districts are set to gain from the taxation increase. School districts in the county are set to gain revenue of around $60 million or a 6.2% increase. Municipal revenues have risen by around 8.8% in the county within a period of four years, local reports reveal.

Local economists have stated that property taxes have become the most dependable method that local governments use to fund growth even during recessions. Income taxes are said to be volatile, and so is sales tax. Property taxes, however, have been found to be somewhat immune to recession. That is why, despite the rise in lis pendens listings and foreclosed properties, governments are able to secure revenues even while property values are declining.

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According to the report, Brooklyn foreclosure listings grew during the period in focus, with Brooklyn's Kings County accounting for 8.2% of total state pre-foreclosure filings during February-May. The county ranked fourth in terms of number of pre-foreclosure and foreclosure notices received; with 6.3% of the area's total mortgage holders affected by foreclosures.

Foreclosure listings in New York recorded growth during the period covered by the report; with Suffolk County getting hit the hardest, accounting for 14.8% of all notice of foreclosures issued in the state. Suffolk was followed by Queens, accounting for 11.3% of notices for a total of 15,184 households receiving notices.

Another local area where one can find foreclosure houses in increasing numbers is Nassau. The county came in third, representing 10.2% of overall number of state households getting a pre-foreclosure or foreclosure notice. The report also revealed that seven counties in the top 10 are from the downstate, which included all boroughs except New York County's Manhattan.

The report on notice of lis pendens has a starting coverage date of February 13, 2010, the time when new foreclosure filing requirements were implemented in the state. Under the revised requirements, all delinquent borrowers will receive pre-foreclosure notices three months or 90 days prior to the start of the foreclosure process.

The requirements also call for lenders to inform the Banking Department of the filings in three days after they have been executed. The purpose of this requirement is to allow the department to offer assistance to homeowners facing potential foreclosures.

Meanwhile, a few days after the publication of the report, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo issued a statement that he has sought information from several mortgage servicers in the state regarding the issue of robosigning or the practice of filing foreclosure affidavits and issuing notice of lis pendens without first verifying or reading pertinent documents. Cuomo has further stated that he will not let homeowners in the state lose their properties due to falsely filed affidavits.

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The total number of properties facing foreclosures and homes already under Memphis foreclosure auctions during January-June 2010 meant that 1.32% of all residential units in the city were in some phase of foreclosure or another. Memphis is 65th among the 206 metro U.S. areas in terms of foreclosure filings for the period in focus.

The number of filings and properties under foreclosure auctions in Tennessee is slightly lower than the local data derived from Memphis, although the city is considered to be doing quite well by ranking below the top 50. The number of households that received filings in Memphis during January-June 2010 represented a 14.62% decline compared with the same period of 2009 and a 16.71% decline compared with the last six months of 2009.

Memphis is one of a handful of metros that recorded declining number of lis pendens foreclosures in the first half of the current year. A total of 154 cities recorded increased foreclosure activities during the 2010 first half, while nine cities ranked within the top 10 recorded a decline in rates of foreclosures for the same period.

Investors who purchase real estate foreclosures will likely head off to California, Nevada, Florida and Arizona in the coming months as the top 20 ranked cities are within these four states. Meanwhile, a look at outstanding housing loans in Memphis, as highlighted in a separate data report, showed the city having a 1.94% foreclosure rate for June 2010. This represents a 0.26% rise compared with June 2009.

Compared with statewide foreclosure rates for June of the current year, Memphis recorded a slightly higher figure, as Tennessee had a 1.44% rate of foreclosure for the same month, while nationwide percentage was at 3.06. The decline in the number of lis pendens foreclosures in Memphis is expected to hold its course for the rest of the 2010 period.

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During the six-month period ended June, a total of 47,563 foreclosures were filed, marking a sharp jump of 35 percent from the total in the first half of last year, the time Greater Detroit posted the highest number of filings in the region since 2007 and released listings of record numbers of properties for sale.

Despite the six-month spike, however, foreclosure filings in Detroit in June marked a 15-percent slowdown compared to the previous month of May. According to the research firm that released the report for the first half, the pace of Detroit foreclosure auctions mirrored the foreclosure trend nationwide, which was a slowdown in new lis pendens filings and other preforeclosure postings, but a spike in lender repossessions.

Statewide, the number of homes repossessed by banks for posting in listings of Michigan foreclosed homes for sale in June dropped to 6,046 units, down by 24.51 percent from a little over 8,000 units in May. The state ranking improved as Michigan moved down from fifth in May to sixth in June.

Meanwhile, in the first half, a total of 78,509 Michigan homes entered foreclosure, representing one filing for every 58 residential properties in the state and putting Michigan seventh in a ranking of state by foreclosure rates. These filings marked an 8-percent jump over the quarter and 29-percent over the year.

Out of this six-month total, 45,451 foreclosure postings occurred in the April to June quarter, marking a jump of 34.42 percent compared to the second quarter in 2009 but a slight drop compared to the previous quarter.

More than 20,000 units were repossessed by mortgage lenders in Michigan in the second quarter, accounting for 44.36 percent of total filings, while the rest are lis pendens filings, default postings and foreclosure sale filings.

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The enacted legislation, titled Distressed Condominium Relief Act, aimed to assure bulk buyers of condo units they are not liable for defects in condo buildings they did not build. It will take effect on the first day of July this year.

Currently, any person who sells more than 7 units in a condo building within a 12-month period or leases for 5 years more than 7 units in the same building is considered a property developer, and hence, responsible for any flaw in the condo building.

This has discouraged plenty of bulk buyers from pursuing planned purchases as they face risks of costly repairs. Those that continue to close deals make up for the risks by demanding substantial discounts from condo owners, pushing down further property values in the state.

Local analysts said the law will do a lot in preventing more lis pendens and foreclosures because it will create a positive ripple. With bulk buyers purchasing vacant condo units, owners of distressed units will have more leverage in saving them from becoming foreclosed houses for sale. Likewise, HOAs will be able to collect dues and eliminate their budget shortfalls.

In addition, more buyers using Fannie Mae-backed loans can buy the condo units in the buildings. Fannie does not approve loans for the purchase of condo units in buildings with more than 15 percent of their units in default or not paying HOA dues.

Over the past years, condo units have been entering Miami foreclosure auctions because of the record numbers of units that were constructed during the boom and that were sold to buyers that did not have the finances to sustain monthly payments.

In April, over 9,200 units were purchased back by lenders through public home auctions in Florida. Of the 48,384 homes that entered foreclosure during the month, nearly 23,000 units were hit with lis pendens notices.

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Based on the latest figures, people involved in Austin foreclosure investing will have more properties to choose from, as more than one thousand dwellings were included in foreclosure listings or foreclosure filings. The current figure is more than ten percent higher than numbers recorded in February of this year.

The 1,114 homes listed in foreclosure or are involved in foreclosure filings do not yet include the 8,000 homes available as house foreclosures for sale. The for-sale dwellings are available as short sales, advertised resale homes or scheduled for foreclosure auctions.

The big number of properties for sale has created a considerable market of cheap houses in Texas. However, market analysts believe that not a lot of investors will likely buy into them as most potential buyers will not be attracted by the condition of the city’s housing market.

The high foreclosure numbers in March is expected to continue for the rest of 2010 as the number of Lis Pendens is also at an all time high. Also, a big number of homeowners are already facing foreclosures and will likely lose their houses within the year, analysts have speculated. Houses in pre foreclosure status reportedly numbered more than 1,400 during March.

Based on a 10-month period study, the city has had a total of four months wherein foreclosure notices went over the 1,400 mark. Real estate experts have stated that Austin is one of the U.S. cities where loan modifications and foreclosure mitigation programs have failed to work.

Austin is not the only city in the state of Texas that recorded higher foreclosure numbers in March. State-wide statistics showed that Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Dallas and Crystal City are facing the same foreclosure problems as Austin.

The high number of pre foreclosures, Lis Pendens and homeowners who have defaulted on scheduled mortgage payments in Austin had convinced market analysts that the foreclosure trouble of the city will continue on for the rest of 2010.

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Filing the notice of default is the first step in the foreclosure process. The notice includes the troubled property and a legal description of the case. Lis pendens is referred in some publications as pre-foreclosure because it occurs before the foreclosure. In the event that the defendant failed to avoid foreclosure, the troubled property will be sold in a foreclosure sale.

Results from a recent market study showed that the number of notices of default filed in seven of the eight counties declined by 15 percent in August compared with July. The biggest drop in filings was registered in Cook County, Illinois and Riverside, California. In Riverside, pre-foreclosure numbers declined by almost 41 percent and 31 percent in Cook County.

Miami-Dade County in Florida registered the smallest pre-foreclosure drop rate of .27 percent in August. According to industry experts, Miami-Dade helped push up Florida's rank in the foreclosure rate list in the country.

Out of the eight counties studied, only Maricopa posted an increase in foreclosure filings by 2.44 percent in August. Counties that posted a drop in the number of foreclosure filings are Los Angeles by 17.83 percent, San Diego by 15.58 percent, Orange by 16 percent and San Bernardino by 9.86 percent.

On the other hand, in Stamford, Connecticut, foreclosure filings continued to rise despite hope for a housing market rebound. In the first half of this year, foreclosure filings in the city rose to 2,380, which is more than 68 percent from the 1,414 filed for the same period the previous year. The six-month figure also represented a 70 percent increase compared with the last six months of 2008.

According to industry experts, the number of foreclosure filings does not reflect the true state of the foreclosure problem as not all postings resulted to actual foreclosures. Additionally, experts said that despite the slowing of lis pendens in some areas, there is still a great possibility that the numbers will pick up speed again due to the growing unemployment rate.

Lis pendens is a written document notifying the property owner and the court that the property owner has failed to make payments within a certain period. It is the first stage of the foreclosure process in judicial foreclosure states. It is called notice of default in non-judicial foreclosure states.

The lis pendens document includes a legal description of the targeted property and also involves the property in the lawsuit.

In some publications, lis pendens is also called pre-foreclosure because it precedes foreclosure. If the defendant is unable to resolve the pending lawsuit, the property described in the lis pendens is sold by the trustee in a foreclosure auction.

In the study conducted by Default Research, the number of lis pendens filed in the eight counties dropped in August by an average of 15 percent compared to July. The counties which had the biggest drop rates were Riverside, California and Cook County, which encompasses Chicago. Pre-foreclosures fell by nearly 41 percent in Riverside while pre-foreclosures dropped by more than 31 percent in Cook County.

The county which had the smallest drop rate in lis pendens compared to July was Miami-Dade County, which experienced only 0.27-percent drop. Based on foreclosure results from other research firms, Miami-Dade is a big contributor to the high ranking of Florida in foreclosure rate charts in the U.S.

Among the eight counties, the only one which experienced an increase in lis pendens compared to July is Maricopa. Its pre-foreclosure filings climbed up by 2.44 percent.

Los Angeles County experienced a decrease of 17.83 percent; Orange, 16 percent; San Diego, 15.58 percent; and San Bernardino, 9.86 percent.

In addition, Default Research noted that the number of trustee sale notices in California decreased in August, but its default notices comprised almost 85 percent of all pre-foreclosure listings of the firm throughout the state.

The research firm also said that inventories are declining in many major metropolitan markets and that confidence in the residential market is returning. It added that median sales prices have not started their upward direction in most markets, but it expects home prices to increase significantly before the year ends.

Nonetheless, many housing analysts that the number of lis pendens will continue to increase in many areas of the country because of unemployment and reduced household income.

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