Foreclosure notices could climb in months to come

By Michelle E. Shaw

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The number of published foreclosure notices in the 13-county metro area rose in February and will likely rise again in March, according to according to data from Alpharetta-based Equity Depot.

This month there were 10,357 foreclosure notices in the 13-county metro area, 27 percent more than January’s 8,181 published notices and 34 percent more than the 7,701 advertised a year ago, the data says.

Equity Depot tracks notices published each month for public auctions scheduled for the following month. February’s numbers count the homes set for auction in March.

Just because a property receives a notice doesn't necessarily mean it will be auctioned. Many owners may make last-minute payment arrangements with lenders that keep the property from reaching the auction steps.

John McCosh, spokesman for the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta, said call volume at the center has spiked in the last month or two and requests for foreclosure prevention counseling is up approximately 12 percent year-over-year.

Barry Bramlett, chief executive at Equity Depot, who has compiled foreclosure data for 20 years, said it is hard to forecast foreclosure notice activity. He said figuring out when activity starts to slowdown will likely be in hindsight.

“It will be us looking back six months or so and saying, we’ve been down two quarters, or something like that,” he said. “But we won’t know until we’re in it.”

There are plenty Atlanta area residents trying to keep their homes out of the foreclosure notices, said Janice L. Mathis, southern region vice president of Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

“We have hired two people since November to help manage the call volume,” she said. “There are still so many people out there who need help.”