Pima County home foreclosures fall for third consecutive month

By Joe Pangburn

Despite the doom-and-gloom reports about the economy in general, Pima County residential home foreclosures fell again in January - the third consecutive month they've dropped. Default Research, headquartered in Mt. Pleasant, Pa., reports there were 206 foreclosures in Pima County in January, down 8% from December, which was down 20% from November, which was down 5.6% from October.

Since October, when there were 306 foreclosures in Pima County, they've dropped more than 48 percent, according to Default Research. Compared to January 2007, the foreclosure rate is up 10%. That's not the case in the Phoenix area where the foreclosure rate is up 170%. Default Research says Maricopa County foreclosures totaled 3,134 in January.

"I think part of the reason is that housing is so much more affordable here than it is in Phoenix," said Rick Hodges, CEO of the Tucson Association of Realtors. "The average homeowner up there spends 35% of their gross income on their mortgage where the average homeowner here spends 23% on it. And our housing prices are holding steady."

Hodges also credits his industry for helping to hold down Tucson foreclosures.

"Our Realtors have been very aggressive in going out there and helping people with short sales or trying to work things out with the lender," he said, adding "Tucson is a big town with a small-town feel and there is a closer relationship between Realtors and clients."

Serdar Bankaci, founder of Default Research, sees opportunities in foreclosures.

"There continues to be great investment opportunities available in the Phoenix area," he said. "Through our Phoenix foreclosure studies, we have found that approximately 15% of foreclosed properties are vacant. These homes are an excellent opportunity for investors because they can be bought below market value and either turned into rental properties or improved and sold. In addition, many of these homes do have equity left in them."

Bankaci said the three hardest hit Arizona cities are Phoenix, Mesa and Glendale where home inventories are up nearly 5% over the past six months and median home values have declined nearly 7%.