Modesto Bankruptcy Lawyer Blog

The Stockton Record is reporting that while foreclosure filings in California are down nearly 28 percent from a year ago in May, the Stockton metro area remains among the hardest hit by the mortgage meltdown.

Consulting with a bankruptcy attorney in Stockton or Modesto could stop foreclosure or prevent you from being subjected to a deficiency judgment or other consequences. Bankruptcy laws are designed to help people take control of their finances, and using those laws to one's advantage can provide many advantages.

The Stockton metropolitan area, which includes all of San Joaquin County, ranked second nationwide in the rate of default filings, followed closely by Vallejo-Fairfield ranking third and Modesto ranking fourth. Las Vegas led the way with the most defaults filed followed by the Reno-Sparks area in fifth.

"It's a reflection of how deeply buried the Stockton area was by the mortgage tsunami. We're up to 18 straight months of year-over-year decreases in foreclosure activity," Daren Blomquist, a RealtyTrac spokesman said of San Joaquin County legal filings, which include trustee sales, notices of default and lender repossessions. "The trend is in the right direction, but the numbers are still persistently high."

According to RealtyTrac there were 1,652 recorded foreclosure filings on San Joaquin County houses in May. Though this shows an almost 26 percent decrease from the 2,222 recorded in the same month in 2010 it still means 1 out of 139 households are filing for foreclosure.

Nationally, RealtyTrac reported nearly 215,000 foreclosure filings in May, a drop of 2 percent from April and a drop of 33 percent from May 2010. That means that last month, 1 out of every 605 housing units filed for foreclosure. Led by California, five states accounted for 51 percent of the national foreclosure activity in May, where almost 52,000 properties got a foreclosure filing. Florida had 19,192 foreclosure filings followed by Michigan with 14,614, Arizona with 13,122 and Nevada with 11,039.

"Foreclosure processing delays continue to mask the true face of the foreclosure situation, although there were some clues in the May numbers of what lies behind that mask," says James Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. "First, activity spiked in May for various stages of the foreclosure process in some states, a pattern that has occurred in several states over the past few months. This pattern provides evidence that lenders are somewhat unevenly pushing batches of bad loans through foreclosure as they overhaul their paperwork and documentation procedures and as they determine that some local markets are able to absorb more foreclosure inventory.

Filing for bankruptcy doesn't have to be painful; millions of Americans do it every year. Many bankruptcies are beyond the debtor's control, caused by circumstances like a devastating illness or injury or loss of a job. Filing for bankruptcy is an option to rid yourself from debt due to medical bills, credit cards or student loans. Let our attorneys assess your case and determine the best course of action for you.