Foreclosures Jump as Banks Bet on Rising U.S. Home Prices

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-13/foreclosures-jump-as-banks-bet-on-rising-u-s-home-prices.html

Home repossessions in the U.S. jumped 11 percent in May after declining for the previous five months as rising prices and limited inventory for sale across the country spurred banks to complete foreclosures.

Lenders took back 38,946 homes, up from 34,997 in April, according to Irvine, California-based data firm RealtyTrac, which tracks notices of default, auction and seizures. Thirty-three states had increases in the number of homes repossessed, RealtyTrac said in a report today.

Banks are more willing to move to the final stage of foreclosure because there is sufficient demand and prices are improving, said Eric Workman of Tinley Park, Illinois-based Mack Cos., which aggregates single-family rental homes and resells them to individuals and institutional investors. U.S. home prices advanced almost 11 percent in the year through March, the biggest 12-month gain since April 2006, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index of values in 20 cities.

“For a very long period of time, the market in general and specifically banks were unsure of what these assets were valued at,” Workman, vice president of sales and marketing at Mack, said in a telephone interview. “With increasing stability of the economy and housing prices throughout the U.S., these banks and sellers are getting much more comfortable with the value of their properties.”

[KurtNYC]

1. pair this with "Hedge funds buying up foreclosure in bulk"

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Real-Estate/2013/03/19/Hedge-funds-are-fueling-foreclosure-inflation/7031363727121/

They are buying heavily in areas that had the worst bubbles in 2007/08 -- Las Vegas, etc. (why ?)

Also using tax liens to get properties:
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/05/01/tax-liens-hedge-funds/

We are transitioning to a society where most people own nothing -- not the music on your iPod, not the software on your computer, not the records of your phones calls, not a house or home. Nothing. Ownership is being replaced by EULAs.

[xchrom]

2. +1

[n2doc]

3. The transformation to a feudal society

With Corporations as the new Lords.

[Earth_First]

4. Right according to plan...

It's almost working out exactly the way they had intended.