The economy is getting better, home sales are rising – but we’re now being warned to brace for a new wave of foreclosures.

Foreclosure
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Following the so-called “robo-signing” scandal in 2011, the pace of foreclosures slowed, but many administrative and legal questions have now been resolved, and numerous foreclosed properties that had been “frozen” will soon come back onto the market.

Pat O’Keefe, the Director of Economic Research at JH Cohn, says the trend should be especially evident in the Garden state because “New Jersey actually has the second highest percentage of loans already in foreclosure – of any of the states nationwide- only Florida has more.”

He points out “as of the 4th quarter (at the end of last year) 8-point-2 percent of the mortgages in the state were in foreclosure – which is equivalent to about 100 thousand units of housing …and we also had another 50 thousand units that were in the potential pipeline – because the mortgage was in arrears.”

O’Keefe predicts a spike up in the number of distressed home sales this summer in Jersey, and then improving conditions in the housing market by the end of the year.

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