Home Foreclosures 51% of California Home Sales
home foreclosures
Home Foreclosures
The foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said in a report today that home foreclosures accounted for 31 percent of the market in the second quarter of 2011. The good news was that this was a smaller share of sales when compared to the previous quarter. Unfortunately this percentage of home foreclosure sales is approximately six times the amount that would be seen in a normal housing market! Read more 
Home Foreclosure Reality
home foreclosures
ForeclosureRadar says it now takes an average of 229 days for a bank to foreclose on a home in California after sending a notice of default, up from 146 days in August 2008.
RealtyTrac notes that the number of loans in which the borrower hasn’t made a payment in 90 days or more but is not in foreclosure is at 5.1% nationally, a record high. Read more
Home Foreclosure Rates Drop In California
California home foreclosures
RealtyTrac said today that California foreclosures declined on a monthly and yearly basis in the hard-hit states of Nevada, Arizona and California, but still grew rapidly in Florida.
Still, fears remain about the hundreds of thousands of homeowners who are still being evaluated for help under loan modification programs. Many analysts say most of those borrowers will eventually lose their homes, sparking a new round of foreclosures later this year. Read more
California Home Foreclosure Notices Drop 24%
California home foreclosures
MDA DataQuick reported today that nearly 85,000 mortgage default notices were filed from October through December 2009. That’s down 24 percent from nearly 112,000 during the previous three-month period. However, it’s still up 12 percent from about 75,000 during the same period of 2008.
Default notices are climbing in mid- and high-end neighborhoods, as homeowners who were able to make payments longer than those in entry-level markets, feel the results of the recession and job losses, said MDA DataQuick president John Walsh.
San Diego real estate attorneys
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New California Law Offers Free Living for Many Homeowners
Sacramento California
On 2/20/09, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a 90-day moratorium on California home foreclosures. The bill was introduced by Sen. Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro) as an add-on to the California ‘budget’ package. It covers owner-occupied homes and first-mortgages made from 2003 to 2007. My first post about this was ‘New Law Extendeds California Home Foreclosures (again)‘ published on March 12, 2009.
However, state regulators can grant loan servicers and lenders exemptions, if they have a mortgage modification program in place that meets certain criteria. These include programs that defer a portion of the principal, lower interest rates for at least five years, or extend loan terms.
In 2008 the state of California extended the foreclosure process by apprx. 30 days by adding a requirement that lenders document their efforts to contact the delinquent homeowner.
So, now for 2009, the state of California has more than doubled (extending the normal California foreclosure by an additional 90 days. this is in addition to the 2008 30 day extension) the normal foreclosure time periods. Instead of helping (the state should stay out of the mortgage business) these actions are only prolonging the pain.
The market can’t recover until all these foreclosures get flushed through the system. Delaying the inevitable will not change the end result, it will probably only make it worse. In a declining market, the lenders will recover even less when the property eventually sells.
Personally, I’m not aware of one mortgage lender that starts the foreclosure process as soon as the homeowner is late one month. In the vast majority of cases, the lender does not start the process for four months or more.
So, now we have a number of California homeowners living (mortgage/tax/home insurance/HOA fee) cost free for easily a year or longer!
Who is really paying for this ‘free California living?’ With a lot of these toxic loans being purchased by the federal government, it’s the U.S. taxpayer who is paying.
Also, homeowner associations are in trouble because of the state’s legislated additional four month moratorium on foreclosures. With most San Diego monthly homeowner fees running over $250, who pays for the additional state mandated $1,000 in delinquent dues? It’s the existing association homeowners. HOAs now have to increase the dues, or require special assessments from the owners who are left. Once a property has been foreclosed, the lenders are responsible to pay the dues on those properties, but all outstanding balances prior to the foreclosure date gets wiped out! This HOA moratorium penalty is can be especially devastating for the many small (six to twelve units) condo developments like those which dominate the North Park/Normal Heights neighborhoods
So, let’s all give our California legislature shout out for another stupid idea put into law.
California Home Foreclosures at Record Highs
California home foreclosures
California foreclosure activity stayed at record highs in April, according to a report released today by RealtyTrac. The report showed California had the highest total for home foreclosures (96,560).
“Total foreclosure activity in April ended up slightly above the previous month, once again hitting a record-high level,” James Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, said in a statement.
One should keep in mind that California has enacted two laws extending the foreclosure process. The standard foreclosure process in California was 90 days plus a 21 day advertising period. California’s first new law added approx. 30 days to this process. Then, just a few months ago, California passed a second law extending the home foreclosure by an additional 90 days. These two California laws combined, add four months to the standard foreclosure process.
It’s my personal opinion that these California laws extending the foreclosure process are in reality, also extending the length of the real estate malaise. The basic foreclosure process is a proven method of moving real estate from non-payment into strong hands.
No lender starts the foreclosure process after the first missed mortgage payment. Yes, the process usually starts after three/six months of missed payments. So, combine these facts with the new extended California foreclosure process and I would say the vast majority of homeowners in foreclosure are getting to live mortgage payment free, for over a year, in California.
Plus, and it’s a big plus, the California mortgage extensions are hurting home owners associations. Most homeowners in trouble with their mortgage payments are also not paying their homeowner monthly dues. In California many HOA monthly dues are $200 or more per month. Now with the additional four months added to the forclosure process, who is picking up the additional $800+ in lost monthly dues? The answer here is quite clear. These lost dues are being paid by the other homeowners in the association. If associations are currently depleating their reserves to cover these lost dues, at some point, the association will have to pass a special assesment or hike the dues for all homeowners. San Diego Real estate agents