According to a report released today, foreclosures for 2008 spiked to a whopping 81%. Not to mention being up 225% compared with 2006. The 2008 total foreclosure filings totaled more than 3.1 million. Yes, that’s million. Which means that one out of every 54 households received a notice last year. Think of all the for sale and foreclosure signs in your neighborhood alone. 

This has to make you wonder, what happened with the government intervening in an effort to quell these foreclosures? Foreclosures were actually up 17% in December of 2008 versus November. These scary numbers are not likely to improve anytime soon. 

Good news?

There is a lot of supply out there if you are ready to own a home or are looking to purchase a home. Few things to note. Lenders are extremely cautious today and will not lend to folks with low credit scores. So if you want to take advantage of all of the inventory on the market today, then the first step is to pull your credit report and review the report for accuracy. If it’s not and you have unverifiable negative items on your reports, then work quickly to remove them. It is your legal right to dispute negative items on your credit reports that are unverifiable. 

To learn more about the foreclosure rate in 2008, read this special foreclosure report.