861,664 families have lost their homes to foreclosure in 2008, and 3.1 million foreclosure filings were issed also. So one out of 54 households have received a notice. Quite overwhelming.

The foreclosure prevention programs implemented so far have been a band-aid on a large, open gash… Decembers foreclosure filings were 17% above the number in November, and 41% above the year before.

A big problem with the number of foreclosures that are available is that the banks have not gotten to putting them up on the MLS’s yet, and if it’s not on the MLS, agents don’t know about it. Banks have to put a move on with uploading their properties onto the MLS so that investors and homebuyers can take advantage of the opportunities. It’s unknown the reason why the listings are not on the MLS. Banks might be overwhelmed with their own problems, but it also could be that they’re hesitant of putting them up because they’ll take huge losses when it comes to the actual home values.

And foreclosures are closely tied with home values. Foreclosures rise as prices fall, and nationally, home values have fallen more than 21% since their peak. In many areas around the nation, the decline has been much worse than 21%. As long as home prices fall, foreclosures will likely continue.

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