Yet another economically depressing article has made its way into the media and with an aptly named title, “And Now For This Morning’s Gloom…” The article, written by Henry Blodget and published in The Business Insider on May 5, 2009 offers more insight into foreclosures, job loss, and the economy.
However, there was one noticeable red flag where there was a reference to an unlikely source when discussing the implications of foreclosures on job loss. The following is a snippet from the article:
“According to RealtyTrac, job losses result in …

It looks like the foreclosure fishermen are at it again. There is no telling just how big… the foreclosure crisis is getting. The size and method of catch all depend on which statistical fisherman you ask.
RealtyTrac is just one purveyor of such foreclosure fish stories. Their figures have been up for debate for several years now. In the most recent press release the foreclosure rate per household left out one major piece of information. According to the release titled, “Foreclosure Activity Increases 9 Percent in First Quarter,” the company …

A couple of years ago RealtyTrac was in some hot water for over-inflating foreclosure statistics for the state of Colorado. According to one Foreclosure Article in The Seattle Times, published online on June 16, 2007, “RealtyTrac reported 54,747 foreclosures last year — one of the highest in the nation. The state’s Division of Housing, however, said the actual number was 28,453 and publicly chastised the firm for inflating numbers.”
The article titled, “Numbers from foreclosure statistics company questioned,” continued by stating the company doubled, even triple-counted foreclosures for a single property.
The …

Just two years ago, RealtyTrac was in some hot water over counting foreclosure filings multiple times for a single property and providing inflated foreclosure statistics to the media. Since then, the company has said to have changed its data collecting and reporting methods. However, as seen in last week’s articles, many of these duplicate listings are still appearing throughout the media.
On their statistics page, readers can see the different categories for filings; however, the actual numbers are not easy to come by. One would have to break out a calculator …

It looks like Foreclosure research isn’t the only website/researcher uncovering the discrepancies between foreclosure listings providers and the news publications that report their data.
According to a blog on The Washington Post, author Elizabeth Razzi voices her frustrations with foreclosure reporting. In an article posted on March 16, 2009, titled “How Many Foreclosed or Homeless?” Razzi writes, “One of the biggest frustrations in trying to report about this housing crisis and recession is the lack of reliable numbers on two of its most dire outcomes: foreclosures and homelessness.”
Razzi continues by stating, …

The latest slew of questionable foreclosure statistics and reporting has hit the press, this time out of Idaho. This particular headline was especially peculiar as Idaho rarely has ominous headlines about its respective foreclosure rates.
The Idaho Article comes from a local news station, LocalNews8, titled, “Idaho Foreclosure Rate Among Nation’s Highest.” The article written by Aman Chabra was troubling considering that if Idaho has one of the nation’s highest foreclosure rates, then the economy may truly be heading to shambles.
The article reads, “According to RealtyTrac.com, 1 out of every …

In many foreclosure news articles readers will see a whole slew of figures representing the data collected from various foreclosure listing companies. However, rarely will you see a cautionary note, or asterisks in this case, to forewarn readers that the number may require further information or that there is a considerable omission relating to the information.
There are however several asterisks in the latest report issued by Realty Trac. Their September and third quarter 2008 figures are filled with asterisks. Most are denoted next to the “% change” from that …

With the recent revelation coming from Realty Trac’s reporting process, Foreclosure Research has come across some interesting findings.
Referring back to the article, “How many foreclosures? ‘We know we’re underreporting West Virginia,’” Rick Sharga provided the following insight, “West Virginia is one of the states where we need to do a better job.”  He continued by stating, “We know we’re under reporting in West Virginia,” and that, “we concentrate on areas of 25,000 people or more.”
The article also touched upon the fact that Realty Trac stated West Virginia had a very …

Over the last year, a handful of articles have come out disputing certain foreclosure listing companies from releasing inaccurate foreclosure data into the media.  Unfortunately, due to the illusive nature of foreclosures in themselves, these articles do not come out as often as need be.  But when these reports are released, they come out with their gloves off. The latest of these reports comes out of West Virginia.
According to an article published by the Charleston Gazette, “five times more West Virginia homes and businesses were sold in foreclosure in 2007,” …

Foreclosure numbers begin to soar across all mediums as states and counties report their respective figures. One state, whose numbers have gained nationwide recognition is that of New Jersey, whose foreclosure filings seem to have more than doubled.
According to an article, published by The Star-Ledger on July 26, 2008, “foreclosure filings in New Jersey increased by 140 percent from April to June to more than 17,000.” Author Beth Fitzgerald continued by stating that Realty Trac had reported the increase and that foreclosures in New Jersey now represented the 12th-highest rate …