San Marcos — The number of real properties affected by post-bankruptcy court filings in the Austin district, which includes Hays County, rose only three percent from 2008 to 2009. However, the dollar value of those properties jumped by 47 percent.

Those were among the recently-released findings of a special study by the Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service (FLS).

The study reviewed filings for dismissal and relief, both of which are indications that bankruptcy proceedings have "not gone smoothly," according to FLS President George Roddy. Most commonly, he said, the problems arise when the petitioner has not made timely payments, either to the lender or to a bankruptcy court.

"With the 'dismissal,' both the debtor and the creditors have the same rights that they had prior to the bankruptcy case commencing. Dismissal is oftentimes the penalty for infractions of new federal bankruptcy procedures implemented in 2005," Roddy said.

"A 'relief from stay' is when a creditor asks the bankruptcy judge to lift the automatic stay and permit some action against the debtor or the property of the bankruptcy estate. If the judge grants the motion, then the moving party is free to take whatever action the court allows, such as foreclosing on the property," he continued.

The FLS tracks 60 Texas counties in the Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and Sherman areas. Included in the Austin district are  Hays, Travis, Bastrop, Blanco, Burleson, Burnet, Caldwell, Gillespie, Kimble, Lampasas, Lee, Llano. Mason, McCullough, San Saba, Washington and Williamson counties.

Taken together, Roddy said the dollar value of properties in the counties rose 26 percent from 2008-2009. "In 2009, more than $2.2 billion worth of real estate was impacted by troubled post-bankruptcy alerts filed for dismissal or relief, compared to just $1.9 billion worth of properties in the previous year. Generally, when these properties lose the protection of the bankruptcy court, they enter the foreclosure pipeline."

He said the Sherman district, which includes Grayson, Collin, Denton, Cooke, Hopkins, Fannin and Lamar counties, had the "highest gain in terms of dollar volume of properties impacted by post-bankruptcy filings over the past year."

"Surging 67 percent, more than $450 million worth of real estate was impacted by post-bankruptcy filing in the Sherman district in 2009 compared to just $269 million one year earlier."

In the Dallas district  (Dallas, Ellis, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Navarro and Rockwall counties) "more than $757 million worth of real estate felt the sting from troubled bankruptcy filings," Roddy said. "This was a 38 percent jump over the previous year when approximately $548 million worth of properties were influenced by post-bankruptcy filings."

Only the San Antonio district showed a decline. "In the San Antonio district, around $228 million worth of properties were influenced in 2009 by post-bankruptcy filings compared to $289 million in 2008, he said.

The San Antonio district encompasses Bexar, Atascosa, Bandera, Comal, Dimmit, Edwards, Frio, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Karnes, Kendall, Kinney, Kerr, Maverick, Medina, Real, Terrell, Uvalde, Val Verde, Wilson and Zavala counties.

Excluding the Houston district, Roddy said "more than 12,000 properties bore the wave of post-bankruptcy filings in 2009. This was a nine percent increase over the previous year when around 11,000 pieces of real estate were impacted by filings of bankruptcy.”

Regarding Houston, Roddy said that district "has more properties impacted by post-bankruptcy filings than any of the other districts." He said "thirty-five percent of the properties effected in the study area by fourth quarter post-bankruptcy filings were found to be in the Houston area, which had 1,581 pieces of real estate influenced by bankruptcy petitions gone bad. This means that almost $244 million worth of Houston's real estate is expected to be added to the foreclosure pipeline in the coming months."

The Houston district includes Harris, Fort Bend, Wharton, Colorado, Fayette, Austin, Waller, Montgomery, San Jacinto, Walker, Madison, Brazos and Grimes counties.