Although a local article on real estate, it has some stats for CA and comments of interest.
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Boost in mortgage defaults hits area
Shasta's situation in 2006 still better than rest of state
David Benda, Record Searchlight
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
The number of homes in some stage of foreclosure in Shasta County jumped 22 percent in 2006.
But the increase, from 344 in 2005 to 421, was dwarfed by the rest of the state, which saw a 131 percent spike for the same period, numbers from a national firm that tracks foreclosure show.
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"I think it's fairly safe to suggest that the real estate market in Shasta is certainly less volatile than some other areas," said Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing for RealtyTrac Inc., the Irvine company that publishes a national database of more than 600,000 properties in more than 2,500 counties.
RealtyTrac's numbers show 142,429 homes in California were in the foreclosure process in 2006, up from 61,563 in 2005
Nationwide, the number of homes in foreclosure was up 42 percent in 2006 to 1,259,118 from 885,468 in 2005.
The properties monitored by RealtyTrac are in all three phases of foreclosure, from notice of default to bank sale.
Mike Van Bockern, co-owner of Foreclosure Specialists in Redding, said his firm saw between a 30 percent and 40 percent jump in business last year. Van Bockern gets involved in the final stage of foreclosure -- the notice of sale.
The cooling housing market, which slowed appreciation rates, contributed to the rise in foreclosures in 2006, Van Bockern said. When homes were rising at a 20 percent annual clip, homeowners could refinance, get a second mortgage, or sell to bail themselves out of trouble.
"There wasn't the money out there to help people in default," Van Bockern said. "Before, they could sell, still put money in their pocket and walk away before they lose it."
But Sharga, of RealtyTrac, said statewide there appears to be a higher incidence of early-stage defaults and not a significant increase in properties making it through the foreclosure process.
"A lot of people have overextended themselves and were not able to keep up with their mortgage payments but are able to sell the properties off," Sharga said.
One way to stop a foreclosure is a short sale, which is when a lender agrees to allow the sale of a home for less than the balance of the loan.
Redding Realtor Josh Barker thinks that short sales -- which he says were prevalent in the 1990s -- will increase this year.
"Short sales and foreclosures will have to be absorbed by the market place and can temporarily affect values downward," Barker, of Town & Country Realty, wrote in his 2006 year-end report to his clients.
When home values are stagnant it is difficult to recoup the costs it takes to get a home ready for sale, Van Bockern said.
"I've read everything from $20,000 to $50,000 per house a bank incurs in cost each time they foreclose," Sharga said.
Reporter David Benda can be reached at 225-8219 or at dbenda@redding.com.
