Turn On The Lights, Watch The Roaches Scatter, Part 38

The numbers are in and as predicted, last month's sharp decrease in foreclosures is completely thanks to various voluntary foreclosure proceeding suspensions by banks.

Foreclosure activity fell in October due to the so-called "robo-signing" scandal that caused large mortgage lenders to put a temporary freeze on foreclosures, according to a report released Thursday by RealtyTrac. 

Foreclosure activity was down 4.39 percent in October from the previous month, but was practically flat (down just 0.04 percent) from the previous year, according to the report. 

"The drop is probably artificial,” said Rick Sharga, senior vice president of foreclosure data web site RealtyTrac. "Unemployment is still high. None of things that would lead to a recovery have come to the forefront." 

"By the time we get to the first of the year we’ll probably see numbers escalate again," he added. 

I'm not so sure about that, Rick.  I think there's going to be a hell of a lot of litigation or a hell of a lot of putbacks, or both.   We're going to see huge dents in foreclosures until this mess gets straightened out.  And there's absolutely no reason to believe that things are going to get back to normal by the first of the year or anytime soon for that matter.

But that drop in foreclosure activity being only 4.4% is equally suspicious.  It means banks are continuing to grab homes while the grabbing is good...or surprise!  They're lying about the numbers again.  They truly believe they are going to be allowed to walk away from this scot-free.

More than likely it's a combination of both.