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
New Law Extendeds California Home Foreclosures (again)
Though not widely publicized, the California state legislature passed a new bill which was signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger on February 20. It's titled the “California foreclosure prevention act, assembly Bill 7” and is designed to address the foreclosure problems in California.
Once again, it seems our elected lawmakers are totally misguided. All this bill does is extend the normal California foreclosure by an additional 90 days. Let me clarify this a little. Back in July of 2008, the California legislature passed a bill that requires lenders, prior to filing a notice of default, to make diligent efforts to contact the homeowner to see if something can be worked out prior to the notice of actual filing of default. This provision has added at least 30 days to the typical foreclosure process in California. Normally, in California, the foreclosure process is 90 days, plus 21 days for advertising. Add the thirty days from the July 2008 provision and we now have a four month process for foreclosure, not counting the required advertising. The newest law will add an additional 90 days on top of that, so what we're talking about now is a seven month foreclosure process in California, not counting the required 21 day advertising period.
I believe this well-intentioned law will just exasperate and extend the California real estate malaise. Plus, it seems to me that our lawmakers didn't consider any of the negative aspects of extending the foreclosure process.
First of all, the last four months of sales in California have been picking up, and quite dramatically in some areas. Of course, the majority of the sales have been foreclosed properties or short sales, but the fact remains that the free market seems to be working quite well without intervention. Before extending the foreclosure process no one asked “who pays for the additional 90 days?” If the average monthly mortgage payment was $2000, who is paying for the additional $6000 in missed payments that this extension will possibly generate? Yes, it's the taxpayers who will be paying as the government buys these toxic loans.
Plus, many distressed properties in California are governed by community association groups, condos, planned unit developments and planned residential developments. All of these homeowner associations have monthly dues, which are assessed for maintenance, and in many cases, utilities. Most distressed homeowners who stop paying their mortgage stop paying their HOA at the same time as, or prior to, their nonpayment of their monthly mortgage. Typically, monthly HOA dues can range anywhere from about $80 per month to $1000 per month for a high rise condominium in downtown San Diego. With this new extension of the time to foreclose, homeowners associations are looking to be out a minimum of three months worth of dues. Because of this new bill many of these associations, already in poor financial shape due to the number of lost payments and normal foreclosures, are worse off. In many cases the only recourse these associations have is to raise the monthly dues for existing membership, to cover the loss of non-paying members.
Also, how many California mortgage lenders will want to keep issuing new loans in the state when the ability to cut their losses when things go south is now hindered by the state? At the very least, additional fees will need to be added to all California mortgage loans to compensate lenders for this un-called for interference in the free market process by the California State Legislature.
San Diego downtown condominiums
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October California Foreclosures Up – Home Prices Down
RealtyTrac of Irvine, California reported today that nationally, home foreclosure filings rose 25 percent in October from a year earlier. For all the states, California had the most total home foreclosure filings at 56,954. This figure was down from a peak of more than 100,000 in August, but, 13 percent higher from October 2007.
Many, may tout the fact that California home forclosure filings increased only 5 percent from September, as a sign of improvement. But, a big factor that directly affects this figure is the new (7-1-08) California law that requires lenders to contact borrowers to discuss loan changes prior to filing the notice of default. Many, estimate that this new law delays the foreclosure filings by 30 days.
Prior related posts:
San Diego Housing Market … Hitting the Lottery (or not)
San Diego Condo Sales Price Appreciation
One in Five Homeowners has Negative Equity
Real Estate Conditions … Housing Markets Are Local
California Home Foreclosure Filings fall 32%
San Diego Real Esate Sales Increase
San Diego Condominium Sales Price Appreciation
#1 Key To Purchasing Real Estate in the San Diego Market
San Diego California Home Sellers Lose Big
The San Diego California Real Estate Great Depression
1.2 Million Homes in Foreclosure
CALIFORNIA HOME FORECLOSURE SALES JUMP 22.5%
San Diego Home Mortgage Lenders … Hardball or Common Sense?
It's a shame, but in today's San Diego real estate environment, home lenders have taken on the personification of evil. It seems we are always hearing about San Diego banks or home mortgage lenders who do not want to work with homeowners in trouble.
Though this may have held some validity a year or two ago, it is just the opposite today. Effective July 1, 2008, a new California law mandates that the lenders try to contact and work with homeowners prior to filing a notice of default. This requirement adds about an additional 30 days before a notice of default can be filed. From the notice of default date, there is a 90 day period at the end of which is a twenty-one day advertising period. Only after this advertising of the pending foreclosure, can the actual sale or transfer of deed occur.
So with all this time, why do we still hear ‘evil lender' stories? Perhaps one reason is that many San Diego homeowners owe more than their homes are worth. They are under the misconception that they can give the deed back to the lender, avoid foreclosure and perhaps receive a less severe credit rating ding. The problem arises when there are junior liens on the property. These junior liens can be anything from an equity line to a personal loan secured by the home.
A lender may not want to take a deed in lieu of foreclosure because taking title in this manner does not extinguish any junior liens. However, a foreclosure by a senior lien holder essentially wipes out all junior liens.
Also, a borrower cannot simply transfer title to the lender without the lender's permission. Because some lenders have refused to negotiate and accept the deed in lieu of foreclosure, some creative homeowners have quitclaimed the property to the lender anyway, and have recorded the instrument without the lender's permission.
In 1993, the California legislature passed a statute to protect lenders from involuntary (and invalid) transfers of real property to the lender. The lender must record a "notice of nonacceptance of a recorded deed" in the county where the real property is located. Redelivering a grant of the real property back to the original homeowner (e.g., borrower) does not legally retransfer the title. (Cal. Civ. Code § 1058.5.)
California Home Foreclosure Filings fall 32%
San Diego Real Esate Sales Increase
San Diego Condominium Sales Price Appreciation
#1 Key To Purchasing Real Estate in the San Diego Market
San Diego California Home Sellers Lose Big
The San Diego California Real Estate Great Depression
1.2 Million Homes in Foreclosure
Survey Says Home Values Must Fall Another 14%
A Record Number of Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure in the Second Quarter
Jumbo Financing and the Impact on The San Diego Real Estate Market
san diego residential real estate
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California Home Foreclosure Filings fall 32%
California home foreclosures – In a report issued today by California-based research group RealtyTrac it was reported that California home foreclosure filings fell 32 percent on a monthly basis but were up 36 percent from a year ago. California remained the third hardest-hit state in the collapsed real estate sector, after Nevada and Florida.
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James Saccacio, RealtyTrac chief executive, said: "Much of the 12 percent decrease in September can be attributed to changes in state laws that have at least temporarily slowed down the pace at which lenders are moving forward with foreclosures."
Some prior posts on home foreclosures: