Week of foreclosure notices sets record

One dreary week in September set a new record for foreclosure notices in Maricopa County, with 2,210 notices outpacing sales in a three-county region, according to a Mesa data company.

"It was a record buster," said analyst Zach Bowers of Ion Data in Mesa, which tracks the notices.

"We've been averaging 1,700 to 1,800, and that (week) just kind of caught us off guard," he said.

The record, which includes residential and commercial foreclosure notices, came Sept. 15-19, for an average 442 notices a day.

Unless the people receiving the notices are able to work out their finances, the notices likely will become foreclosed properties by January.

That indicates the number of foreclosed properties in January could be double the 3,295 tracked by Arizona State University across the county in August.

A comparable week in mid-September last year saw just 758 notices total, about one-third the number during the record week.

The previous weekly record came June 9-13, Bowers said, when 1,915 notices were filed.

Making the foreclosure figure even uglier, it outpaced total affidavits of sale in the county for the same week (1,551) and even the total combined sales in Pima, Pinal and Maricopa counties (2,063), according to Ion.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Arizona would get $121 million to help areas blighted by foreclosures, but officials are doubtful even that large sum will mitigate the growing problem.

"Is it enough? No, it's not nearly enough compared to the magnitude of the problem," Arizona Department of Housing Director Fred Karnas said.

"We need to look at this (funding) as one more tool to address foreclosures, along with the things we are doing with housing counseling, and getting people to talk to their lenders."

The department will use the funds to buy foreclosed homes and preserve the value of neighboring properties that might otherwise be dragged down as the foreclosed properties languish.

"We'll see if we can improve the quality of life for people that have been able to hold onto their mortgages and are still living in their home, but are now seeing more crime and such in their neighborhoods because of foreclosures," Karnas said.

Struggling homeowners hoping to avoid foreclosure can call the state's foreclosure-prevention hotline at 877-448-1211.

Reporter J. Craig Anderson contributed to this report.