JULY 21
Crownsville, MD – Maryland foreclosures continued to fall during the first six months of 2011, reaching the lowest level since the crisis began in late 2007, RealtyTrac reports. Overall, Maryland recorded a total of 8,905 property foreclosures during the first half of 2011, 54 percent below the second half of 2010 and more than 68 percent below the first half of 2010. Maryland’s foreclosure rate, consistently one of the nation’s highest during the height of the crisis, ranked 36th during the first half of 2011. Read the full report.
The downward trend, which started in the third quarter of 2010, is due primarily to the state’s new foreclosure mediation law and other reforms that slowed down the machinery so that beleaguered homeowners have additional time to find sustainable alternatives to losing their home.
However, the crisis is far from over. More than 2,800 families lost their home during the first three months of the year. Prince George’s County continues to be the epicenter of the crisis, with one out of every three filings.
Learn more about resources available to help families fight foreclosure, including the MDHOPE Counseling Network, foreclosure mediation and the Emergency Mortgage Assistance program. Since 2007, counselors in the network have helped nearly 61,000 families, achieving positive results in more than 90 percent of the cases completed.
