New York City, NY, United States (AHN) – Short sales out paced foreclosures in 12 states in January, market research form Realty Trac reported Friday.

The increase highlights that more homeowners are finding an easier way out of a distressed home loans with short sales, and that more lenders are embracing them.

Short sales occur when a lender agrees to a home sale for less than what is owed. In January, the number surged 33 percent year-over-year, and preliminary data suggests February numbers will also come in robust.

Lenders have become increasingly acceptable to short sales, which tend to hurt neighboring homeowners less than foreclosures. In addition, homeowners may regain eligibility for a new mortgage quicker than those who go through a foreclosure.

Foreclosure sales occur after a bank has repossessed a property, and they still outnumber short sales, but the gap is narrowing.

Data from mortgage tracker Lender Processing Services, as reported this week from Bloomberg News, revealed that short sales exceeded foreclosures in January for the very first time.

States which led in short sales include those beaten up most in the housing downturn, and include California, Arizona and Florida, and nine others.

New rules have slowed foreclosures in many states, spurring short sales, industry analysts note.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Homes in some stage of foreclosure accounted for nearly one in four home sales in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to a report released Thursday by RealtyTrac.

During the three month period that ended Dec. 31, homes that were either bank owned or in the foreclosure process accounted for 24 percent of all U.S. home sales, an increase from the 20 percent recorded in the previous quarter, and just slightly down from a year earlier when foreclosures accounting for 26 percent of sales, the report found.

Some 204,080 distressed properties were purchased during the fourth quarter. For all of 2011, foreclosure-related sales were down just 2 percent year-over-year to 907,138, accounting for 23 percent of all home sales.

Foreclosure sales are expected to increase this year, RealtyTrac said, as lenders get more aggressive in shedding distressed assets that have been held up by the mortgage gridlock over the last 18 months.

Short sales are growing as lenders recognize them as better options for many under-performing loans. Short sales have become the favored option since all parties agree to the terms, and there are fewer legal issues to deal with.

In addition, short sales provide better returns, During the quarter, the average short sale sold for $184,221. Meanwhile, the average foreclosure sold for $149,686.

Some lenders are also offering large incentives to entice short sellers, offering cash awards as much as $35,000 to delinquent borrowers for cooperating on such transactions.

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Since then, she has lost her car. She paid $9,000 for it and lost it with just $2,000 left to pay. The home where she lives with her husband and two boys, 14 and 6, is in foreclosure. Friday, she was sitting in the waiting room of the state unemployment office, waiting on some documents in an attempt to get a loan modification to save her house.

Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and the rest of the Republican presidential field say they want to put Ashford back to work. It is in their slogans, speeches and signs.

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