Well, we knew it was bad, but I don’t know if anyone expected it to be THIS bad.  According to Realty Trac as reported by Reuters, one in every 54 households got a notice regarding some type of foreclosure activity.  Ouch.

James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said, “Clearly the foreclosure prevention programs implemented to date have not had any real success in slowing down this foreclosure tsunami.”

I guess one silver lining on this very dark cloud is the fact that the fourth quarter activity declined 4% when compared to third quarter activity, but when you consider the fourth quarter activity jumped 40% from 2007′s fourth quarter activity, it’s difficult to be too cheerful.

As far as our area, Rock Hill SC and Fort Mill SC, there was certainly a considerable amount of foreclosure activity.  Most definitely a silver lining though, our rates of foreclosure aren’t anywhere near what they are in other parts of the country.  Yes, we’re getting hit by this real estate meltdown, but it’s not nearly as ‘ugly’ as it is in other areas.

According to the latest Home Trends Report from Zillow.com, home values in Rock Hill, SC increased 4.95% in the third quarter of 2008 over 2007′s numbers.  If you compare this to a nationwide decline of -9.7%, I’d say we’re setting pretty!

Sure, the financial markets are a bit of a mess right now, but fortunately for us, our real estate values are still holding strong and I do expect that trend to continue!

If you’d like to see the full detailed report, you can grab it from Zillow right here:

Zillow Real Estate Trends Report