What the August Report Shows
ATTOM’s August count of 40,277 properties with foreclosure filings was up 13% from August 2025, and the HousingWire headline on the report said the South was hit hardest. Foreclosure starts, the first public step in the process, came to 25,894 properties. Bank repossessions rose 42% from a year earlier, the steepest of the growth rates reported. For context, ATTOM’s mid-year report put the first half at 227,548 filings, up 21%, with Florida showing the highest state rate at 0.27% of housing units.
Keep the scale in view. In the first half, ATTOM found a filing on one in every 632 US housing units, so even a strong year-over-year gain is a change in a small share of homes. A single month is also noisy: ATTOM’s second-quarter total of 115,714 filings was up 15% from a year earlier but down 3% from the first quarter. The steady story across both reports is more activity than a year ago, uneven from month to month and from place to place.
Why a Regional Headline Is a Poor Call List
“The South” spans many states with different foreclosure processes. Some send lenders through a court, others let them proceed with recorded notices, and that difference changes the timeline, where the filing appears, and how much runway an owner has left. Equity levels, investor competition, and the legal rules for dealing with owners in default also vary by state and by county. A regional growth rate averages all of that into a figure that no single county actually experiences.
Even the state ranking is an average. Florida posted the highest state rate in the first half at 0.27% of housing units, but the counties inside Florida sit well above and below that figure, as they do in every state. A state at the top of the table tells you where to look first, and nothing more. The place you can convert a lead is a specific county where you have fresh filings, a callable list, and the capacity to follow up.
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Book a Real Estate Fit CallBuild a County Scoreboard
Give each candidate county a row and track the same few columns. How many new filings were recorded in the last month, and how does that compare with the same month last year? Which process applies, and where are the notices recorded? How much equity do owners probably hold, judging by typical values against typical loan balances? How crowded is the field, going by the mailers and investor signs you can see? And what do your own call outcomes look like there? The recorder or clerk site, a trustee-notice listing, or a data provider covers the first two columns, and the county GIS and parcel viewer guide helps with the equity picture.
Rank counties by expected qualified conversations per call hour, not by raw filings. A county with fewer filings, fresh records, and little competition can beat a bigger county where every list is weeks old and every owner has heard from many callers. Re-rank monthly, drop counties whose connect rates fall, and keep the pre-foreclosure leads guide open for the pulling and contacting steps.
Read the REO Jump as a Buy-Side Signal
A 42% rise in August repossessions does not create sellers for your phone list, since the lender holds title once a property is REO. It does change what your end buyers see. More bank-owned inventory in a county means more alternatives for cash buyers, who will compare your deal against the REO listings down the road. Ask your buyers where they are looking, and treat counties with heavy REO activity as places where your discount has to be real.
It affects comps too. Distressed sales feed the sold data that buyers and appraisers lean on, so underwrite with the latest closed sales, bank-owned ones included, rather than last season’s list prices. If repossessions in your county are climbing, the retail value you assume when you price an offer deserves a second look.
A Weekly Rhythm for a Fast-Moving List
County work pays off through cadence. Pull new filings weekly, call within days of recording, and log each owner’s status so you do not re-call someone who has already sold or reinstated. Check each state’s rules on foreclosure-related solicitations and on buying from owners in default before you dial there, because the South includes states with specific requirements. Then watch for the next ATTOM release, since a county that looked promising in August may look different in the next report.
VA Horizon can take the dialing for the counties you pick. Its managed cold calling puts trained callers on each list and qualifies the owners who engage, and you pay per qualified lead.
Sources
The external data in this article draws on the sources below. Figures described in the text as estimates or industry triangulations are directional and are not attributed to a single dataset.
- HousingWire, "Foreclosure filings rise 13% year over year, South hit hardest" (ATTOM August 2026)
- ATTOM, "2026 Mid-Year US Foreclosure Market Report" (July 16, 2026)