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There are 650,000 houses in various stages of foreclosure nationwide. For a small state, New Hampshire foreclosures are both widespread and rising. New Hampshire experienced a housing boom in the early 2000s that caused home prices to skyrocket by 75 percent in some cases. Its proximity to Boston made it an even more enticing market. Just as Northern Virginia's proximity to Washington, D.C. made it an easy mark for sub-prime lending and overly creative financing schemes, New Hampshire fell prey to some of the same tactics due to its proximity to Boston. So what makes New Hampshire a good economy for real estate investors? A combination of lower housing prices, an up-tick in New Hampshire foreclosures, high personal income, and low taxation in most areas makes New Hampshire a great market for real estate investing. The sub-prime lending crash subsequently caused difficulties in many sectors of the New Hampshire economy. But overall, it has a large economy at nearly 50 billion dollars, and the statewide average personal income of $38,000 is ten percent over the national average. The economy has inherent stability in comparison to markets like Detroit, which is comprised of agribusiness (dairy, cattle, produce), industrial products, and tourism. Additional advantages of the New Hampshire economy include the bonus of no state income tax and no general sales tax. The city of Nashua is also close enough to Boston for many people who work there to live in New Hampshire. However, the houses were overbuilt. Factors including lending practices, overbuilding, and property taxes have all contributed to greater and lesser degrees to the declining housing market. Expectations for the values of properties are that they will continue to go down for the foreseeable future. As an example, houses in Nashua are expected to decline in price by nearly ten percent in the coming year. In Manchester they are expected to go down about nine percent. In Dover values are expected to decline by nearly seven percent. The three hardest-hit counties in New Hampshire are Rockingham, Hillsborough (where Nashua is located), and Merrimack, which is where you will be able to find foreclosures. Rockingham currently has 1,555 properties in foreclosure—that is one out of every 579 properties. Hillsborough has 2,171 properties in foreclosure, which equals one out of every 530 homes; and Merrimack has 645 foreclosures, which amounts to one out of every 600 homes. These three abutting counties have the most New Hampshire foreclosures, but the real estate investor on the prowl will find many more sprinkled throughout the state. New Hampshire foreclosures seem to represent a real estate investor's dream market—you won't want to miss out!
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