Foreclosures: A Real Boom for Investors

The climate is ripe for an increase in the number of American homes going into foreclosure. Interest rates are on the rise, mortgage payments are continuing to increase and home values are staying stagnant in some places and falling in others.Now, instead of refinancing to get their hands on quick cash, many homeowners are finding themselves in financial trouble with little or no equity in their homes, and are walking away and letting the lenders foreclose. According to RealtyTrac, the nation's leading online marketplace for foreclosed properties, 318,355 properties entered some stage of foreclosure nationwide during the third quarter of 2006, a 17 percent increase from the previous quarter and a 43 percent yearly increase from the third quarter of 2005.But the news is not all bad. Foreclosed properties have turned into a windfall for savvy investors like Michael Johnson of Chicago, Ill., who have learned the tricks of the trade