Silver State Still 1 in Foreclosures

Nevada remains No. 1 in foreclosures

While the nation saw a decrease in foreclosure activity in April, Nevada’s distressed home filings increased, according to a report released by national real estate and foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac.

Nevada retains the nation’s highest foreclosure rate for a second month, according to the report. Despite a 12-month decrease of overall activity from March, a 40 percent annual jump in foreclosure starts elevated the state.

“We are seeing that the lenders are being more confident in their paperwork in meeting the requirements of Assembly Bill 284 to record the affidavit along with the notice of default,” said Steve Schiller, president of Ticor Title of Nevada Inc. “They are more comfortable with that, so they are beginning to foreclosure on a more rapid basis.”

Assembly Bill 284, which went into effect in October 2011, and the National Mortgage Settlement restricted the flow of foreclosures for the past year because loan servicers were required to provide stricter documentation during the process.

The filings still are well below the amount before the enactment of AB 284, Schiller said.

“We are still a long ways from getting back to where we were,” he said. “I don’t know if we will ever get back to the point because there are other factors.”

Notices of defaults are the first step in the foreclosure process. It might be more than a year before any of the properties will reach the market because the foreclosure process has stretched to more than 400 days in Nevada.

One in every 360 homes in Nevada had at least one foreclosure filing last month, which includes defaults notes, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. It was a 17 percent decrease from April 2012.

In Washoe County, one in 596 homes had at least one foreclosure filing in April. It was a 16 percent decrease from the same time period last year. Two-thirds of the filings were foreclosure starts.

Clark County made up the bulk of distressed properties in Nevada, with more than 2,700 filings.

“Foreclosure starts are bouncing higher in a handful of nonjudicial states where servicers are adjusting to legislation designed to prevent improper foreclosures,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, in a news release. “This includes Nevada, Washington and Arkansas, where foreclosure starts have been increasing on an annual basis since late 2012.”

Nationally, foreclosure activity reached its lowest level since February 2007.