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Foreclosure activity up for May in Reno-Sparks

http://kunr-assets.trinityannex.com/audios/1036_ws_foreclosures_may__130613.mp3

The number of Nevada homes entering foreclosure is up 18 percent from April 2013. Numbers released by RealtyTrac this week shows that 305 homes saw some sort of foreclosure filing in May. With those new numbers, Nevada's foreclosure rate slides down from number one in the country to number two. Craig King, who's the Chief Operating Officer for Chase International Real Estate, says there's been a jump in notices of default for May. "We were actually up to 400 in the Reno Sparks area, which is an activity level of about a 20 month high." King says that's most likely because of a recent change in state law that now makes it easier for banks to enter the foreclosure process. Because of that, there's now more than an 80 percent increase in foreclosure starts for May as compared to last year. King says that's actually a good thing for many folks: "We see a much more condusive environment now once a notice of default is filed that the banks really do not want to foreclose, but the notice of default at least helps the homeowner start a process heading for a short sale, or ramping up to work with a bank on a loan mod. or something like that." He says the actual number of properties that are in the foreclosure process is much less than what it was at the peak of the foreclosure crisis. At the moment, King says there's a real shortage of properties for sale and as a result home prices are rising, even while foreclosure activity also goes up. He says the sale of more distressed properties will bring more inventory to the local market.

Will Stone is a former reporter at KUNR Public Radio.