The month of May will provide some good news on the foreclosure front.

The number of properties posted for foreclosure next month in McLennan County is 41 percent lower than the number posted in April and 29 percent lower than May of last year.

“This decline is welcomed news, but I must warn that one month’s activity does not change a long-established trend,” said George Roddy Sr., president of Foreclosure Listing Service. “Foreclosure postings have been on the high end for some time now. In fact, for the past 23 consecutive months, posting activity has topped 80 each month in McLennan County.”

Specifically, 82 properties have been posted for May in McLennan County. That’s down from 139 postings in April and 116 postings in May of last year, according to FLS.

Those numbers are available because the deadline has passed to have properties posted that will be sold on the steps of the McLennan County Courthouse on May 4.

Despite the good news, “I would hesitate to celebrate too much based on the overall statistics from the last year. Foreclosure is still very much on our radar,” said Chad Klawetter, ownership center manager for NeighborWorks Waco, which counsels people having trouble making house payments.

Klawetter warned there are still predatory companies out there trying to prey on people who show up on foreclosure lists. They send these people letters promising to solve their foreclosure problems for $1,500 to $2,000.

“It’s like throwing a drowning person a brick,” Klawetter said, adding that NeighborWorks Waco provides counseling free of charge and several of its clients have received these letters.

Roddy said typically 90 percent of the properties posted for foreclosure each month are residential. Most often, he said, 35 to 40 percent of postings will result in actual foreclosure and the property being sold.

In the balance of the cases, the lender and the property owner reach a settlement before foreclosure becomes final.

Ken Cooper, president of the Heart of Texas Builders Association, said he was pleasantly surprised to hear about improving local foreclosure figures in light of what he’s hearing about national trends.

He, too, said homes being foreclosed upon have a mixed impact.

“In neighborhoods with foreclosures, the vast majority of people who have paid their loans, followed all the rules and have not turned their homes back in can’t get as much for them,” Cooper said. “On the flip side, these homes are good buys for people who might not otherwise could have gotten into a home.”

So far this calendar year, 531 properties have been posted for foreclosure in McLennan County. That’s down 7 percent from the 574 postings between January and May of last year.

In Bell County next door, 1,003 properties have been posted for foreclosure this year, which is a 2 percent increase over the 983 posted during the first four months of last year.

mcopeland@wacotrib.com

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