More people lost their homes to foreclosure last year than in 2011, the Westchester County clerk announced today.

The new data follows a national trend seen recently among states such as New York that require court-ordered conferences once a homeowners falls dangerously behind on their mortgages.  

Once the policy was implemented, the number of filings dropped drastically, but last year’s total amount of foreclosure filing – and subsequent judgements – shows a disturbing uptick.

A timeline of recent foreclosure activity is below:

• 2006 - 1,546 filings, 440 judgments


• 2007 - 2,166 filings, 708 judgments


• 2008 - 2,206 filings, 1,034  judgments


• 2009 – 3,123 filings, 735  judgments


• 2010 – 2,485 filings, 600 judgments


• 2011 – 1,654 filings, 177 judgments


• 2012 – 1,820 filings, 207 judgments

With this many vulnerable homeowners, officials cautioned that there are many scams out there looking to take advantage of them.

“As Westchester residents continue to struggle to retain their homes, foreclosure rescue schemes have become more sophisticated,” said Westchester County Clerk Timothy C. Idoni who serves as Clerk of the Westchester County Supreme Court where foreclosure actions are heard. ”If you are approached with an offer that sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

Westchester Residential Opportunities (WRO), a non-profit housing agency with offices in White Plains and Mount Vernon, conducts Mortgage Default Orientation sessions most Wednesdays at either 10 a.m. or 6 p.m. in their White Plains Office.  Trained counsellors are available to help at (914) 428-4507 or by visiting www.wroinc.org ^[1].  

For more information on the Office of the Westchester County Clerk, please visit WestchesterClerk.com or call (914)995-3081.