SACRAMENTO – The American housing market continues to see climbing foreclosure rates on single family homes with California, Florida, and Nevada showing the highest rates.  According to California-based www.RealtyTrac.com 223,651 homeowners in the United States were late on their mortgage payments in February of this year.  This figure represents an almost 60% increase from the same period last year when 139,922 homeowners were late on payments.

Other states that were hardest hit by foreclosures according to RealtyTrac were Texas, Ohio, and Michigan.  In many states across the US real estate investors are no longer buying houses at the auctions that are usually on the steps of the county courthouse at the end of  foreclosure proceedings.  This situation is caused because of falling home equity levels and as a result banks and mortgage lenders are being forced to take back houses themselves.  Lenders are then forced to try to sell these bank-owned properties, or REO (short for real estate owned), on an already crowded market.

“We buy houses and help homeowners by giving them an investor’s opinion as to the current market value of their house,” said Patrick McGilvray, president of www.TheHomeBuyingCenter.com.  He continued, “If [homeowners] have some equity left in the house then an investor in our nationwide network may be able to buy their home for a cash purchase.  If not, our team members counsel our customers as to their best available options which may include working with a real estate agent to get their house sold quickly via a traditional listing agreement or a short sale listing agreement,” said

McGilvray said that many properties are still being bought and sold, and the key to selling a home in this market is pricing it well below comparable homes in the same local market.  Other steps to help homeowners avoid foreclosure include well-publicized programs led by government agencies, lenders, and consumer groups that try to modify existing loan provisions and create new repayment plans.