Find Foreclosure Properties Articles

An increase of 85% in home sales for August, followed by a 65% increase the following month brought vitality back to California’s real estate market. However, with millions of foreclosure properties still on the inventory list of banking and lending institutions, with hundreds of thousand new cases coming in each month, the state’s market stability may only be achieved until the middle of 2010.

Most of these new sales came from Real Estate Owned (REO) foreclosure properties, which resulted to a drop of home prices. California home prices dropped dramatically in some areas, reaching a staggering 60%, which experts say may remain at 35% by the next year. However, more established areas and counties were able to maintain good prices amidst this financial mess.

In a bid to stem the flow of foreclosures, a new California state law took effect last September. In this new state law, lenders are required to make discussions with delinquent borrowers 30 days before a notice of default is filed. This new law, coupled with state-driven or bank-initiated loan modifications, led to a decrease in default notifications. However, the move is still not enough the put a plug to the foreclosures rush.

This temporary decrease in default notifications does not mean that the number of delinquent payments has already declined. With the prices of home sales in the low side, compounded by the nationwide recession and an increasing unemployment rate, the number of foreclosure homes is still expected to rise. Investors, in a bid to regain cash flows back into the system, have started to rent out these REOs at competitive prices. They would continue to do so until the housing market turns around and the values of these homes return back to normal levels.

Unless the government steps in with effective remedial programs, California, being the nation’s largest housing market, may continue to lose more homes and properties to foreclosures.

Search Foreclosure Properties by California Top Cities:

• Los Angeles Foreclosure Properties
• San Diego Foreclosure Properties
• San Jose Foreclosure Properties

Related Posts:

• Home Sales Increase but Resellers Not Happy Due to Foreclosures
• Home Prices Plummet; Sales Up for Southern California Homes
• Unstable Sales Activities for Foreclosed Homes Resulted To Drop in PHSI
• Home Buyer Tip: Taking Advantage of Favorable Market Conditions
• Oakland Bids for Housing Recovery Fund for use on Foreclosures

Funds close to $4 billion dollars were distributed to state and local officials, including California, as part of the Federal Housing and Economic Recovery Act. This would be a great help for this state in its bid to stem the tide of increasing California foreclosures.

The city of Oakland, ranked as 10th with the highest foreclosure rates in the state, was allocated $8.2 million dollars. However, the amount may not be enough to buy a considerable number of foreclosed homes for rehabilitation. This is mind, Oakland officials are bidding to get a share of the additional $145 million that the California State Department of Housing and Community Development have reserved for much needy areas.

Oakland is competing for this money against Stockton, Bakersfield, Sacramento, Fresno and other cities included in the top 10 with the most number of foreclosures. In Oakland, one out of four single-family homes has filed for foreclosure, reaching 16,000 properties to date within the last 3 years.

The city must submit by December 1 a presentation on why the city needs additional help, as well as a proposal for a recovery program for residents with problems on subprime loans.

The federal funds have certain regulations that local officials must abide with. It can only be used for completed foreclosure properties, and should not have been inhabited for at least three months. The funds can also be used to help households with combined incomes not exceeding 50 percent of the area’s median level.

It cannot be used, however, to shoulder delinquent payments in a bid to save homes from foreclosures. Families with this problem may still end up losing their homes.

Oakland’s city officials for housing and community development are currently finalizing the outline detailing specific programs that will utilize the funds based on federal requirements. The City Council is giving this top priority in order to meet the December 1 deadline. Their goal is to use these funds to help hard-hit areas as well as already blighted neighborhoods with an increasing number of empty homes.

Search for Foreclosure Properties by California Top Cities:

• Los Angeles Foreclosure Properties
• Sacramento Foreclosure Properties
• San Diego Foreclosure Properties
• San Jose Foreclosure Properties

Related Posts:

• Fort Wayne Eyes Abandoned and Foreclosed Homes
• Areas Prone to Foreclosures will Receive Help
• Home Prices Plummet; Sales Up for Southern California Homes
• Advances in California’s Home Sales Spoiled by Remaining Foreclosures
• Programs on Foreclosures Help Homeowners

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he will call a special assembly of the state legislature to facilitate the approval of measures that would stem the tide of foreclosure properties.

The governor reiterated that helping Californians keep their homes is of utmost importance to the state and that the only way to achieve that is to revitalize the economy. He explained that preventing foreclosures will hold back the rapid decline of house prices, provide the needed funds to assist troubled homeowners, save jobs and help stimulate the economy.

Among the central elements of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s package of proposals are:

• A loan restructuring framework that would reduce the mortgage loan to 38 percent of the total income of the household, giving homeowners the ability to pay with less difficulty.
• A 90-day suspension of foreclosure procedures for homes that have been served with notices of default.
• An option for lenders to opt out of the 90-day foreclosure suspension if they can show government authorities that they have better loan revision alternatives. Better alternatives would mean that the borrowers are not forced out of their homes, that property investors are rewarded with better returns and that homes do not simply become repo homes and sold at bargain prices.

Mortgage lenders will be advised to achieve the 38% loan-income ratio by lowering the interest rates for at least five years, by increasing the number of amortization years to 40 years and by deferring a percentage of the remaining principal to the last years of the loan period to provide the borrower with some flexibility for further refinancing or property sale.

Schwarzenegger also readied proposals to prevent the occurrence of another mortgage disaster. Among them are the following:

• Lending procedures and strategies will be modified so that borrowers will only be provided with loan levels that they can afford to repay and so that mortgage lenders and brokers will be deterred from making deceptive statements.
• Licensing prerequisites for loan processors will be standardized.
• Federal financial regulations will be enforced by state financial regulatory agencies.

Related Posts:

• Growing Number of Foreclosures Spoil Holiday Season
• Mortgage Giants Gives Holiday Gift by Freezing Foreclosure Sales
• Wisconsin Sheriffs Struggle as Foreclosures Continue Upswing
• Unemployment & Foreclosures Continue to Depress Housing Market
• Atlanta Homeowners Get Help on Foreclosures

According to a report released by MDA DataQuick, Southern California home sales volume, particularly in San Diego County, has rebounded while homes prices in almost all counties plunged at a six year-record low.

Based on the firm’s data, median home prices in San Diego County plummeted by $22,000 to $328,000 for the month of August. Comparing it to the $517,000 peak last November 2005, the present figure clearly shows a 34.6 percentage decline.

As for home sale activity, there was a 56.4 percent rise in the number of sales transactions closed for September. Compared to 2,152 transactions last year, record showed 3,366 for the said month. This jump in sales activity was observed in the entire Southern California and only emphasized the really low home sales activity last year, when the foreclosure crisis was holding the market.

One of the things quite noticeable in the report is the increase in foreclosure sales, which basically showed that home buyers are favoring these repossessed properties over other homes. Of course, this is not surprising considering that these foreclosed properties are much more affordable and offer greater return potential.

The report also showed that about 47.3 percent of the sales transaction last September involved homes that were repossessed in the past 12 months. This is a significant rise to August’s 43.2 percent and September 2007’s 45.3 percent.

In a couple more days, the firm is expected to release new reports regarding the number of foreclosures in the state. If the current trend continues, the number of homes entering foreclosure will surely outpace the sales of these repo homes. In addition, DataQuick also expects more foreclosures after the financial market meltdown.

Home prices in Riverside and San Bernardino counties dropped by 36.8 and 36.9 percent respectively. Orange County’s declined by just 25.4 percent while Los Angeles County home prices was down by 31.4 percent.

Start your search for California Foreclosure Properties by CA Top Cities:

• Los Angeles Foreclosure Properties
• Riverside Foreclosure Properties
• Sacramento Foreclosure Properties
• San Diego Foreclosure Properties
• San Francisco Foreclosure Properties
• San Jose Foreclosure Properties

Related Posts:

• Advances in California’s Home Sales Spoiled by Remaining Foreclosures
• Home Sales Increase but Resellers Not Happy Due to Foreclosures
• Illinois Foreclosures Soared
• Rates in Foreclosures Fell last October
• Survey Reveals Fewer Adults Consider Buying Foreclosed Homes