Mapping Foreclosure Risk: Using ATTOM Data to Prioritize Collections Outreach

Mapping Foreclosure Risk: Use ATTOM 2025 Trends to Prioritize Collections Outreach in 2026

Hook: If your collections team struggles to decide which delinquent accounts to contact first, you’re wasting time and recovery dollars. ATTOM’s 2025 foreclosure filing trends reveal geographic and borrower-level signals that let creditors and collection teams build a high-converting outreach list and allocate field and enforcement resources where they matter most.

Executive summary — the one-minute playbook

ATTOM’s Year-End 2025 report shows U.S. foreclosure filings rose 14% in 2025 to 367,460 properties, with pronounced month-to-month and regional variation. Use ATTOM’s county-level filings, monthly momentum, and borrower-type signals (notably elevated risk among FHA loans in 2025) to:

• Construct a prioritized outreach list scored by filing rate, momentum, and borrower profile.
• Map a foreclosure heatmap to target ZIPs/counties with highest recovery ROI.
• Allocate telephony, skip-trace, and enforcement resources dynamically using portfolio triage thresholds.

Why ATTOM data matters now (2026 context)

Through late 2025 and into early 2026 the market shifted from historically low foreclosure activity toward a cautious normalization. ATTOM’s 2025 dataset captured a 14% national increase in filings and clear concentration by geography and loan type. For creditors this is a chance — not a crisis — to refine targeting and scale outreach with data-driven precision.

ATTOM Year-End 2025: "Foreclosure filings were reported on 367,460 U.S. properties in 2025, up 14% from 2024..." (ATTOM, 2025)

Key 2026 trends to incorporate into your collections strategy:

• Momentum matters: Monthly filing spikes (December 2025 saw a 57% YoY jump) signal accelerated default risk and should raise outreach urgency.
• Loan-type concentration: FHA borrower risk remained elevated in 2025 — treat FHA-heavy segments as higher priority for early intervention.
• Geo-clustering: Foreclosures cluster at the county and ZIP level. A small set of counties typically produces a disproportionate share of filings.
• Regulation and compliance: Late 2025/early 2026 saw renewed focus on borrower protections in several states — factor local legal timelines into enforcement planning.
• Tech enablement: 2026 tooling emphasizes near-real-time alerts, AI scoring, and geospatial visualization (foreclosure heatmaps) to automate portfolio triage.

Step-by-step: Build a prioritized outreach list using ATTOM

Below is a practical workflow your collections operations team can implement within days. It assumes you have access to ATTOM foreclosure filings at county/ZIP level and basic portfolio data (loan type, balance, last payment date).

1. Import and normalize datasets

• Pull ATTOM foreclosure filings for the last 24 months, including monthly counts by county and ZIP.
• Join with your servicing data: account ID, loan type (FHA/VA/conventional), outstanding balance, LTV proxy (origination value or AVM), last payment date, and current arrears.
• Normalize geography using FIPS codes to avoid ZIP-to-county mismatches.

2. Compute core risk indicators

Create a compact set of signals that are predictive and explainable. Use these as features in your prioritization score.

1. Local Filing Rate: (Foreclosure filings / total housing units) by county — ATTOM reports filings-per-housing-unit; use last 12 months.
2. Momentum (Delta): % change in filings over the last 3 months vs prior 3 months — flags fast-worsening markets.
3. Loan-Type Multiplier: Binary flags for FHA/VA loans — apply multipliers reflecting higher historical risk (e.g., 1.25x for FHA in your score).
4. Severity Proxy: Outstanding balance / estimated property value (AVM) — higher ratios suggest greater loss severity.
5. Vintage & Arrears: Months delinquent, time since last payment.
6. Previous Filing Activity: Prior foreclosure starts or trustee sale notices on the property.

3. Create a composite priority score

Combine the indicators into a simple weighted score. Example weights (calibrate on your portfolio):

• Local Filing Rate: 30%
• Momentum: 25%
• Loan-Type Multiplier: 15%
• Severity Proxy (LTV): 15%
• Arrears/Vintage: 10%
• Prior Filings: 5%

Sort accounts by score and set tier cutoffs: Tier 1 (top 5–10%) for immediate outreach, Tier 2 (next 15–25%) for accelerated outreach and skip-trace, Tier 3 for digital or automated touches.

Building a foreclosure heatmap for geographic allocation

A visual heatmap turns ATTOM county and ZIP-level filings into actionable geographic decisions for field agents, repossession teams, and outside counsel.

Heatmap layers to include

• Filing Density: filings per 10,000 housing units (ATTOM provides housing-unit denominators).
• Momentum Layer: 3-month % increase — map as hatched overlay to highlight emerging hotspots.
• Portfolio Exposure: your outstanding balance or count of active loans in each county/ZIP.
• Enforcement Cost Index: estimated field cost per recovery by geography (travel, vendor rates, legal fees).

How to use the heatmap

• Prioritize counties where high filing density intersects with large portfolio exposure and acceptable enforcement-cost economics.
• Assign field teams and legal vendors to contiguous clusters to minimize travel and vendor onboarding overhead.
• Use momentum overlays to launch time-limited campaigns in rising ZIPs — early outreach often recovers more and costs less.

Profiles and scripts: tailoring outreach by borrower and loan type

Data-driven lists must pair with tailored communications. Segment messaging by borrower profile and loan type for better engagement and compliance.

High-priority profiles

• FHA borrowers in high-momentum counties: emphasize loss mitigation options and quick-casework assistance; often more responsive to counseling partnerships.
• High-LTV, late-vintage loans: consider short-sale or deed-in-lieu options before incurring large enforcement costs.
• Commercial or investor-owned properties: escalate to specialized asset-recovery teams and asset managers.

Script and channel mix

• Start with phone outreach for Tier 1 — trained agents using soft-touch scripts that surface hardship and offer concrete options.
• Use SMS and email for appointment confirmations and digital intake; comply with TCPA and consent records.
• Automate lower-tier outreach with predictive dialer queues and two-way SMS for quick triage.

Operationalize portfolio triage — from analytics to execution

Analytics are only valuable if they connect to operations. Below are practical steps to turn ATTOM insights into measurable recovery outcomes.

Integrations and workflow automation

• Push priority scores into your CRM or servicing platform via APIs or batch files.
• Automate dialer queue generation for Tier 1, with wrap codes that capture next steps (payment plan, loss mitigation referral, legal escalation).
• Trigger vendor orders (skip-trace, property inspections, local counsel) when an account crosses a triage threshold.

KPI framework

Track these KPIs weekly and tie them to score calibration:

• Contact rate by tier
• Resolution rate (payment plan, reinstatement, modification)
• Recovery per outreach hour
• Time-to-resolution after first contact
• Legal cost per recovered dollar

Compliance and ethical considerations

Collections and enforcement in 2026 face heightened scrutiny. ATTOM data can inform outreach, but execution must respect borrower protections and state rules.

• Document consent and calls to comply with TCPA; preserve timestamps and call recordings.
• Account for local foreclosure timelines and moratoria — some counties changed processes in late 2025.
• Use data responsibly — avoid discriminatory treatment by ensuring score inputs do not proxy for protected classes.

Example playbook: A hypothetical 90-day recovery sprint

Here’s a condensed example showing how a mid-sized creditor used ATTOM trends to improve recovery yield in a 60–90 day period.

Situation

Portfolio: 40,000 mortgages; 6,500 accounts 60+ days delinquent. Geographic concentration: 20% in five counties with rising foreclosure momentum per ATTOM (December 2025 spike).

Actions

1. Imported ATTOM 24-month filings and created county momentum layer.
2. Scored accounts and identified 780 Tier 1 accounts (top 12%).
3. Deployed a dedicated dialer squad, routed to agents trained on FHA hardship options and local counsel referrals.
4. Opened 120 skip-trace orders and 65 property inspections in contiguous ZIP clusters.

Results (90 days)

• Contact rate for Tier 1: 42% (vs baseline 18%).
• Resolution rate: 27% (payment plans, reinstatements, or short sales) — 2.4x baseline.
• Recovery per outreach hour improved by 78% after routing highest-priority accounts to specialized agents.

Key takeaway: Geographic prioritization plus loan-type aware scripts moved dollars faster and reduced legal escalations.

Advanced strategies and future predictions (2026+)

To stay ahead, incorporate these advanced tactics that combine ATTOM’s public-record signals with alternative data and predictive modeling.

1. Real-time alerting and microcampaigns

Shift from monthly batch updates to near-real-time triggers. In 2026 vendors offer streaming county filings so you can launch microcampaigns within days of a local filing uptick.

2. Machine-learning models with ATTOM features

Use ATTOM features (filing rate, momentum, county-level economic indicators) as inputs to ML models that predict cure probability and expected recovery. Regularly recalibrate models with outcomes to avoid drift.

3. Cross-referencing eviction and tax lien records

Combine foreclosure filings with eviction and tax-lien datasets to surface accounts where enforcement may be imminent or where vendor coordination yields higher ROI.

4. Geo-fenced vendor dispatch

Use heatmaps to dispatch local counsel and process servers within tightly defined geo-fences, lowering vendor onboarding time and travel costs.

Practical checklist to start this week

• Download ATTOM county and ZIP-level foreclosure filings for the last 24 months.
• Calculate filing rate per 10,000 housing units and 3-month momentum.
• Score your delinquent accounts using the composite formula above; identify Tier 1 accounts.
• Build a heatmap overlaying filing rate, momentum, and portfolio exposure.
• Route Tier 1 to specialized dialer queues and order skip-trace and inspections for clusters.
• Track contact, resolution, and recovery-per-hour KPIs weekly and adjust weights.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

• Pitfall: Overfitting to short-term spikes. Fix: Use momentum plus a longer 12-month baseline before changing resource allocation.
• Pitfall: Ignoring legal timelines. Fix: Embed state/county foreclosure timelines into escalation logic.
• Pitfall: One-size-fits-all scripts. Fix: Tailor scripts by loan type and local market conditions.

Conclusion — why this matters for recovery in 2026

ATTOM’s 2025 foreclosure data shows a measurable uptick and a clear geographic pattern. In 2026, creditors who integrate ATTOM’s granular filing trends with automated scoring, heatmaps, and execution workflows will recover more with lower cost and risk. Data-driven collections isn’t theoretical — it’s a competitive advantage.

Ready to map your risk? Start with ATTOM’s county and monthly filing feeds, build a composite priority score, and route your top-tier accounts to specialist teams. Small changes in targeting deliver outsized returns.

Call to action

Want a ready-made template and scorecard? Contact judgments.pro for a customizable ATTOM integration playbook, a foreclosure heatmap starter kit, and a 30-day pilot plan to prove uplift on your portfolio.

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