How Many Foreclosures Have You Sold This Year?

History will probably judge 2010 as the year of record foreclosures in the U.S. While the actual numbers are still coming in, experts expect numbers to cross the one million mark.  Some analysts think the actual numbers could reach as high as a whopping 2.5 million when the final numbers come in for 2010. In comparison, over 900,000 homes were repossessed in 2009. About 528,000 were foreclosed during the first six months of 2010, and during this period, about 1.7 million homeowners received a foreclosure warning – this translates to one in 78 homes. Historically, the average annual foreclosures have been in the range of 100,000.

Although the pace of foreclosures had slowed down during the last quarter of 2010 due to various factors including robo-signing accusations, which was followed by the massive investigation launched by the attorneys general of all 50 states, the fallout from these scandals may continue to cripple the housing market in 2011 and beyond.

According to Lender Processing Services, which tracks U.S. mortgages, for a home loan to go from being 30 days late to the property being foreclosed and sold takes an average of 15 months. As of July 2010, over 7.5 million homes were in some stage of delinquency. Foreclosures accounted for about 25% of the home sales in the second and third quarters of 2010.

Where there’s adversity, there’s also opportunity. 2010 presented unprecedented opportunities for buyers and investors of foreclosed properties, which meant opportunities for Realtors too. However, most Realtors were overwhelmed by the foreclosure deluge and many struggled to adapt to the rapid change. Agents that jumped in too quickly made mistakes and those that waited too long missed opportunities.

As the year progressed, a lot of agents learned the tricks of the trade. They figured they must be one step ahead of their customers in terms of knowing the exact foreclosure status of properties in their geographic service areas, and to price the listings right the first time, so that they could move buyers off the fence using foreclosure comps. Many agents and brokers positioned themselves as “foreclosure experts” and even some universities jumped on the bandwagon by offering fast-track foreclosure certification programs.

Many savvy and aggressive Realtors converted the foreclosure lemon into profitable lemonade for themselves and their customers.

So how many foreclosures did you sell in 2010?