Report: Foreclosure Timelines Lengthen with Higher Loan Amounts

Among California homeowners encountering foreclosure, those with higher loan amounts tended to hold on to their homes longer than those with lower loan amounts, according to this month's report from ""ForeclosureRadar."":http://www.foreclosureradar.com/

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The firm, which observes foreclosure trends in five Western states, determined a difference in foreclosure timelines of 270 days between loans of less than $417,000 and loans of more than $550,000.

This appears to be a relatively recent anomaly, according to ForeclosureRadar's findings. In January 2009, foreclosure timelines in California for all loan amounts were relatively equal.

""Perhaps the difference lies in the fact that more affluent homeowners have the means to tap into resources to help delay foreclosure, or that larger loans on expensive homes are more complex and take longer to disentangle,"" ForeclosureRadar stated in its report.

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Among the five states ForeclosureRadar tracks--Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington--California has the longest foreclosure timeline, lasting an average of 306 days. Washington has the shortest foreclosure timeline, 140 days.

Foreclosure starts increased 13.9 percent over the month in California and 108 percent since the start of the year.

However, ForeclosureRadar reasons this increase ""simply reflects a return to a longer-term trend that was interrupted by the implementation of the California Homeowner Bill of Rights, which went into effect January 1.""

Perhaps more telling is the fact that foreclosure filings, which include both notices of default and notices of trustee sale, declined 45.8 percent over the year in California, according to ForeclosureRadar.

Contributing to this decline is ""the potpourri of government debt-relief programs"" and a decrease in mortgage defaults.

Nevada, the only other state to experience an increase in foreclosure starts in April, posted a more modest 2.6 percent increase.

Meanwhile, Oregon posted the greatest decline in foreclosure starts and foreclosure sales over the month--decreases of 32.7 percent and 39.5 percent, respectively.

Foreclosure sales were up in Arizona (11.7 percent), Nevada (12.1 percent), and Washington (7.6 percent).