WASHINGTON – After enjoying months of shrinking foreclosures, it looks like the trend is over in the Washington, D.C. area. More homeowners are getting an unwanted notice that a foreclosure is looming.
According to Realty Trac, Maryland saw the number of foreclosures spike in February, 2012, 28 percent from the month before and 22 percent from a year ago.
Daren Blomquist with Realty Trac says on top of that, initial foreclosure notices exploded 157 percent.
“That is a leading indicator that more foreclosures are coming,” he says.
The mega billion-dollar mortgage settlement is just about ironed out and that’s a leading factor of why foreclosures are starting to thaw. The settlement clarifies the rules of foreclosures and it’s opening up the flood gates.
Foreclosures are kept out of the court system in Virginia but it also saw a small increase in the number of foreclosures from a year ago.
Blomquist says after 15 straight months of seeing fewer foreclosures, Virginia saw two months of an increase in January and again in February when comparing one year ago. Month to month foreclosure numbers are steady.
Blomquist isn’t sure why Virginia is getting a “mini wave” of foreclosures but says perhaps it isn’t out of the woods yet.
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