Record 4 million foreclosure filings in 2009

Alan Heavans of the Philadelphia Inquirer files this report on the latest foreclosure data that RealtyTrac provided earlier today for full-year 2009 activity.

Almost three million U.S. properties were involved in some form of foreclosure action in 2009, RealtyTrac of Irvine, Calif., reported today.

The number of foreclosure filings - default notices, foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions (in other words, multiple filings on some of the same properties) - totaled 3,957,643 in 2009 - 21 percent more than 2008 and 120 percent higher than 2007.

The annual report shows that 2.21 percent of all U.S. housing units, or one in 45, received at least one foreclosure filing during the year, up from 1.84 percent in 2008 and 1.03 percent in 2007.

Pennsylvania and New Jersey remained below the national average last year. Pennsylvania's rate was 0.82 percent, or one in 122. New Jersey's was 1.81 percent, or one in 55, owing primarily to clearing a backlog in the state court system from past years.

Since we'll be buying a home sometime in the next year or so, my Realtor.com searches are often times pointed to eastern Pennsylvania where I grew up. Things have changed there rather dramatically in recent months regarding what you can get for your money, at least for the type of property that we're interested in.