CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Despite the economic downturn and sky-high inflation, the number of home foreclosures in our area is level, or even slightly lower than past years.
Corpus Christi realtor Christ Montalvo said that the Coastal Bend is in a unique position.
"The cost of living in Houston for example compared to Corpus. And the dollar gets stretched so much farther in Corpus Christi because the cost of living is very low here," he said.
Montalvo told 3NEWS that foreclosure rates have stayed relatively low for the past decade. There was a period of time where Montalvo would have between 400-500 foreclosures on his desk - now that number has dropped between 60-70.
Montalvo credits that number to families making sure that their housing costs are covered to prevent a foreclosure.
"They'll take care of their finances prior to and it usually doesn't get to that point of actual foreclosure," he said.
Foreclosures nationwide increased 45 percent last year from the year before, said a report from ATTOM. Even in Texas, the number increased 87 percent. But by comparison, foreclosures in New York were up 286 percent, Georgia, 237 percent and California went up by 132 percent.
Local mortgage banker Claudia Mostaghas said at the start of the pandemic, the federal government stepped in.
"They were not allowing the banks to foreclose due to COVID. So that slowed down there and then plus, you had the very low interest rates, so people that actually bought houses, refinanced houses in those years, so they're on comfortable payments," he said.
Mostaghas said people in the Coastal Bend are not trying to cash in like the rest of Texas.
"We didn't see what happened in other cities like people actually overbuying and overpricing like 100-150,000 dollars in Austin, Dallas, Houston. Like here it was very minimized. And I think that we're more like level off with that," she said.
According to Norada Estate Investments, the housing market is still relatively stable, and there are relief programs available to help struggling homeowners.
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