Toy or tool?

Here's a (potentially) powerful search tool you might otherwise expect to have to shell out some bucks to access, but it's free because the Federal Reserve system is making available to help community groups and policy makers target assistance to areas hard hit by defaults and foreclosures in subprime and alt-A loans.

These searchable, dynamic maps promise to allow you to analyze data from the FirstAmerican CoreLogic LoanPerformance Loan Level Data Set. There's a long list of characteristics you can look at by region, including:

• Loans per 1,000 housing units • Loans in foreclosure per 1,000 housing units • Loans real estate owned (REO) per 1,000 housing units • Share of loans that are adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) • Share of loans for which payments are current • Share of loans that are 90-plus days delinquent • Share of loans in foreclosure • Median combined loan-to-value ratio (LTV) at origination • Share of loans with low credit score (FICO) and high LTV at origination • Share of loans with low- or no documentation • Share of ARMs with initial reset in the next 12 months • Share of loans with a late payment in the past 12 months

I say they promise to let you analyze the data, because the interface is a little clunky, and I could only generate data reports (numbers in tables) at the state level. At the county and ZIP code level, the site would generate maps, but not every county I looked at had data and the color gradiations on the maps didn't seem to be working for some attributes (such as loans in foreclosure per 1,000 housing units). The maps and reports sometimes took a VERY long time to generate. My guess is they are swamped with traffic (the Fed just announced the site today).

I found it easiest to navigate using the map (select a state and then a county). When I tried to enter a ZIP code it seemed to crash the map. Note you have to choose whether to look at subprime or alt-A loans (choose in the upper righthand corner) and then you have select one of the attributes listed above to generate a map for the area you are looking at (nation, state or county). The finest level of "granularity" appears to be the ZIP code (you can see variations by county according to ZIP code, but not variations within a ZIP code).

The data up right now is from December, but the Fed promises it will be updated monthly. (You can access more recent data by state in Excel files here).

Once the bugs are worked out, these maps could be a valuable tool for bargain-hunting investors -- or would-be homebuyers looking for housing bubble hot spots to avoid. (If you're in the scrap metal recycling business, it sounds like you don't need any help finding foreclosed properties to strip).

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