Home Loan Write Downs
Wells Fargo inherited a $119.7 billion portfolio of option ARMs when it purchased Wachovia. The bank now is writing down an average of $46,000 per loan, and as much as $100,000 in some cases, and transferring these loans to interest-only loans, deferring balances to six to 10 years. According to the Wall Street journal, the nation’s fourth largest bank is betting that an increase in consumer income will cover the banks option arm portfolio.
Fresno California real estate lawyers
S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices in San Diego Increase
San Diego California home prices
In a report released this morning, home prices continued to show an annual rate of decline in the month of December, according to a report released by Standard and Poor’s , although the pace of the drop in home prices continued to slow. But, prices rose in four of 20 cities in December: Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego and Las Vegas. In San Diego home prices were up 2.7%. Read more 
Commercial Real estate Problems
Goldman Sachs recently raised its estimates for total losses on commercial mortgage loans to $287 billion, of which %180 billion, or 63 percent, will be absorbed by commercial banks.
But vacancies have been rising sharply, especially for apartments, retail and industrial space. Goldman Sachs now predicts that asset prices will fall in the range of 40 percent on average. Rents are dropping at a 9 percent annualized rate, the worst decline on record.
Houston real estate lawyers
San Diego Negative Home Equity
San Diego negative home equity
Last week, online real estate valuation researcher Zillow.com released its latest quarterly number on negative equity in major markets. The percentage of homeowners with negative equity appears to be on the decline.
For San Diego County, Zillow found the fourth quarter negative equity rate was 24.7 percent, which was down from the second quarter, when it was 31.6 percent, but higher than the third quarter, when it was 21.6 percent. In metropolitan Las Vegas, for example, 81.3 percent of all homeowners – 256,000 households – were underwater on their mortgages in the fourth quarter. In Phoenix, 61.5 percent of borrowers were in negative territory.
San Francisco real estate lawyers
San Diego Home Prices Drop
San Diego homes for sales
San Diego-based MDA DataQuick reported yesterday, that an estimated 27,858 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That’s compared to 41,837 in December and 29,458 statewide in January 2009. California home sales dipped 33.4 percent in January from December, and 5.4 percent compared to January 2009. Read more
Why Make Your Mortgage Payment When You Can Live For Free?
Home Foreclosure Moratoriums Impact Homeowner Associations
The number of foreclosures is huge and Federal and state foreclosure moratoriums abound. The Federal government continues to pressure lenders to work out foreclosure alternatives. With all of this, many troubled homeowners are riding the gravy train. Read more