Tagged: Foreclosure

Buyers are coming back into the housing market after losing their homes during the financial crisis — returning to homeownership more quickly than lenders have typically allowed.

With millions of families with recent foreclosures on their records, some report that they are having luck buying a house — in some cases within three years.

In New York, it takes an average of about three years for a bank to foreclose on a house.

In Texas, it takes about three months.

That's a huge, huge difference, and it's largely by design. About half the states in the country, including New York, require foreclosures to go through the courts. This slows down the process, and is intended to reduce the risk of someone being wrongly foreclosed on. In the other half of the country, including Texas, a third-party trustee can foreclose without going through the courts.

RealtyTrac, an online industry group that follows the foreclosure market, says the number of foreclosed properties nationally dropped dramatically in September, down by seven percent from August. And the firm says since September 2011, foreclosures are down 16 percent — that's the lowest total since July 2007.