California foreclosure "surge": Up 327% from '07 levels

[ckramer]

Source: lat

The number of California homes lost to foreclosure in the first quarter surged 327% from year-ago levels -- reaching an average of more than 500 foreclosures per day -- DataQuick said in a report, warning that the widening foreclosure problem could "spread beyond the current categories of dicey mortgages, and into mainstream home loans."

DataQuick president Marshall Prentice: "The main factor behind this foreclosure surge remains the decline in home values. Additionally, a lot of the 'loans-gone-wild' activity happened in late 2005 and 2006 and that's working its way through the system. The big 'if' right now is whether or not the economy is in recession. If it is, the foreclosure problem could spread beyond the current categories of dicey mortgages, and into mainstream home loans."

"Sinking home values and the collapse of flimsy mortgages sent a record number of California homes into the foreclosure process in the first three months of this year, a real estate information service reported today."

Default notices -- which mark the beginning of the foreclosure process -- increased sharply, but not as rapidly as outright foreclosures. From Bloomberg News: "California mortgage defaults more than doubled in the first quarter to the highest in 15 years as a drop in sales and prices prevented some homeowners from selling their properties to pay debt, DataQuick Information Systems said.

More: "Homeowners received 113,676 default notices in the first quarter, up 143 percent from a year ago, La Jolla, California- based DataQuick said today in a statement. The level was the highest since at least 1992, when DataQuick's statistics begin."

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2008/04/california-fo-1.html

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[msongs]

1. sales of houses are increasing in our part of so cal. new people coming in to buy

as in people who have sat out waiting for the price to drop are now out looking. and this means people are responsible in how they live their financial lives, not scammers, flippers, etc

increased sales will level off the price decline, which has been modest around this part of So Cal

Msongs

[JDPriestly]

3. Provided the new buyers can qualify for loans.

That's the problem. People sell their houses several times, but the sales fall through escrow over and over. This happened to the neighbor behind us.

[Wcross]

7. Yup.

People have to actually show the banks they can afford the loan these days & produce a down payment. It is a real shame......:sarcasm:

[Robb]

4. Not just the responsible, the wealthy, too

...People with a nest egg or six, looking for bargains to turn into rental property. Ultimately, real estate over time is a good inflation hedge, and boy, that's what they're calling.

[girl gone mad]

6. California has years of declines ahead..

no way are prices leveling off yet.

[PSPS]

8. HA! Only if they're stupid!

Southern California is the most bubble-ified market in the country! They've got years of declining sales prices ahead. Anyone buying now is insane.

Check this out:
http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/real-homes-of-genius-special-edition-take-6-6-southern-california-counties-6-real-homes-of-genius-going-back-to-1984-prices/

[Trajan]

2. As more and more homes fall out of owners hands and into the marketplace ...

The higher the supply, the faster the loss of value, and the steeper the precipice that home values will further tail downward ....

And to think: Offering higher wages to families would have offset many of these mortgage resets ...

The Silly ASS republicans always drive the Ship Of State into the shoals, while their good friends are always standing by, ready to pick up the broken pieces at pennies to the dollar ....

Using Tax Dollars to boot .... Sweet deal for them ....

[JDPriestly]

5. You are on to their game.

This is only one of the steps being taken to establish an aristocracy based on money in our country. Other steps, of course, are the lowering of the capital gains taxes, which only benefit those who have enough income to invest beyond their retirement sheltered tax deferred earnings and the abolition of federal inheritance taxes which will only benefit heirs to very, very large estates. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson are beyond doubt turning over in their graves. I posted some excerpts of letters that Adams and Jefferson exchanged in 1813 on the issue of aristocracy. They did away with primogeniture and other institutions and traditions that had sustained the aristocracy of their time in England and the U.S., but they could not foresee the lengths that today's would-be aristocrats are going to to establish an inherited aristocracy in our time.

[natrat]

9. exactly- wreck the economy,concentrate wealth further, swoop in on bargains

[bemildred]

11. Corporations are the new feudal fiefdoms.

You too can be a serf.

[femrap]

12. LOL...I

was typing up my resume today and under 'Objective' I typed 'serf.' And laughed hysterically until a little tear appeared.

I'm kidding....but it's true about Corporations being the new feudal fiefdoms. When/If I got a job, I will address my boss as 'me Lord.'

Shit...now that I'm out of a job that makes me a PEASANT! EEEEEEEEEEEEKK!

You too can be a serf....and with a smart ass mouth, you can be a peasant sooner than later.

When do we get to organize and revolt? How did these fiefdoms end anyway? Was it the Industrial Age? Or am I missing a piece of history?

[David__77]

13. Falling values aren't a problem for those who planned on remaining in their homes.

For those who saw their home purchase as a speculative investment - a chance to get rich - there are problems.

For those of us who saw the economic irrationality of the credit bubble and waited it out to purchase a home, declining values are wonderful.

[Demeter]

10. Heck of a Job, Bernanke and Bush!

You guys will live in infamy.

As worthy heirs to Greenspan and Reagan.