Plans for property not known yet: A 2.8-acre tract that includes a 12,000-square-foot shopping center on Old Scenic Highway in Zachary has been sold for $1.5 million. Jett’s Enterprises, a Norwood company, bought the property from Old Scenic Highway in a deal filed Wednesday. Randy Herring of Sealy & Falgoust Real Estate, who brokered the deal, says the property includes 1.79 acres behind the shopping center. Jett’s, which operates convenience stores, bought the land for future development, he says.
But rate of home seizures may be outstripping national average: Louisiana ranked 39th among all states and the District of Columbia for the percentage of homes facing foreclosure in the first half of the year. According to RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosures nationally, one out of 360 homes in the state faced foreclosure during the first six months of the year, compared with the national average of one foreclosure filing per 84 U.S. homes. The state saw a 34% increase in the number of foreclosure filings over the first half of 2008, ahead of the national increase of nearly 15%. But RealtyTrac cautions that the Louisiana increase may not be as high as advertised due to changes and improvements in how the foreclosure information is collected locally.
Good news: Genworth Mortgage Insurance Corp. has dropped Baton Rouge and 135 other metro areas from its declining and distressed cities list, which could lead to looser down-payment standards locally. According to HousingWire.com, Genworth made the decision based on statistics such as borrower performance. The move means that as of Oct. 1, borrowers with credit scores of less than 700 who are seeking loans with loan-to-value (LTV) greater than 90% will be able to get insurance at Genworth’s nonstandard rates. Other cities removed from the list include Shreveport, Mobile, Ala., and Biloxi-Gulfport, Miss.
