Foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 322,920 properties in May, a 3 percent decrease from the previous month and an increase of less than 1 percent from May 2009, according to the RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. One in every 400 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the month. “The numbers in May continued and confirmed the trends we noticed in April: overall foreclosure activity leveling off while lenders work through the backlog of distressed properties that have built up over the past 20 months,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. Complete Story

“Buy low. Rent smart. Sell high.” It should be every real estate investor’s mantra in today’s market. It is for investor, author and educator Andy Heller. “ Today the investor should be buying property between 30 and 60 percent off.” Based on data from RealtyTrac, National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), all of the metro areas on the list below had an average discount of at least 35 percent on foreclosure purchases, positive year-over-year growth in median home prices and relatively low unemployment rates. Complete Story

If you look at what’s happening in the world of short sales, foreclosures and REOs you’ve probably noticed that not too many distressed homes are available through the FHA, a situation which may be on the verge of change. One big reason we don’t see a huge number of FHA foreclosures today is because there are relatively few FHA mortgages to go wrong from the toxic loan years. The FHA program was shoved aside by loan alternatives which seemed a lot more attractive.