Archive for the 'California Repo Homes' Category

Sales of Los Angeles repo homes soared in September because of the high number of first time homebuyers who rushed to buy homes to beat the expiration of the federal $8,000 tax credit, according to the National Association of Realtors.

NAR also said that the rush to beat the expiration date occurred not only in Los Angeles, but also in other parts of California and the country. The association said that sales of existing homes nationwide in September soared by almost 24 percent from the lowest level of sales in January.

Home sales nationwide increased to an annualized 5.57 million rate, a substantial increase from the annualized rate of 5.1 million the previous month. Based on data from Thomson Reuters analysts, the annualized rate for September surpassed the 5.35 million predicted by economists.

Because of the rush to buy, the number of unsold residential units fell nationwide to 3.6 million, a drop of nearly 8 percent. The inventory was equivalent to a supply of eight months and marked the lowest supply since March 2007.

Analysts said that the competition for lower-priced foreclosure homes became fierce in foreclosure-hit cities such as Las Vegas and in regions like Southern California.

Broker Marty Rodriguez said that half of her sales transactions in September were low-priced Los Angeles repo homes and short sales. She said that her agents were oftentimes writing several offers for different properties to be able to purchase for just one buyer. She added that competition in the low price range was extremely fierce.

According to NAR, home sales grew in the West by 13 percent from the previous month. The association said that sales of foreclosure homes were high in the cities of Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Diego.

NAR said that because of the still high number of foreclosure sales and short sales, the median home sales price in September dropped by nearly 9 percent compared to the median last year and to the median in the previous month. The median price dropped to $174,900, a substantially lower price compared to $191,200 in September last year and $177,300 in August.

However, housing analysts said that home price declines have slowed over the past several months and that home prices could bottom out in the last months of the year. They added that prices will not increase significantly until the employment situation recovers.

In July, a total of 2,591 notices of foreclosed home auctions were filed by lenders in Orange County, California. The total figures represented a 4 percent increase in the number of notices default from June and 17 percent compared with the same month the previous year.

Market data also showed that banks and mortgage loan providers filed notices of trustee’s sales totaling 2,166. Trustee’s sale notices served as warnings to homeowners that their properties are at risk of foreclosure auctions.

Last month’s figures were the highest total for 11 months. The numbers represented an increase of 35 percent from the previous month and 2 percent from July 2008. Industry analysts observed that the number of foreclosure auction notices was similar to last summer’s peak.

However, despite the surge in the number of notices for foreclosure auctions, figures for actual foreclosures remained marginal compared with figures last summer. In July, banks and mortgage loan servicers foreclosed on 782 homes and condominiums, a drop of 14 percent compared with June and 46 percent below compared with July the previous year.

Industry analysts cited several factors that pull down actual foreclosure numbers last month. Foremost of them are the federal government’s loan modification program and lenders’ reluctance to foreclose on properties because they do not want to overwhelm their portfolio with more bank foreclosure properties.

Some analysts said that lenders’ reluctance to start foreclosure action on distressed properties is part of their strategy to create an artificial lack of supply on the market. With many first-time homebuyers taking advantage of the $8,000 federal tax credit and the low property prices, the real estate market is now ripe for picking.

Lenders are aware of these and to drive up property prices, they have to limit the supply of foreclosure homes on the market. Low supply in a market with high demand boosts property prices.

Additionally, some borrowers are also delaying foreclosures by filing bankruptcies, filing lawsuits against banks or servicers or taking loan modifications and then re-defaulting.

Statewide, banks and mortgage loan servicers filed a total of 39,294 foreclosure auction notices in July, representing a 31.6 percent rise from the previous month and 0.7 percent higher compared with July of the previous year.

To top it all, the total number of outstanding foreclosure auction notices, not including those that have been sold or cancelled, increased to a record high of 124,874 in July.

San Joaquin County and its county seat, the city of Stockton, will team up to apply for another $21 million in funding from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program of the Housing and Urban Development Department to buy, repair and resell repossessed houses for sale.

In the first round of NSP funding, Stockton, San Joaquin and the San Joaquin Housing Authority received a total of $21 million. The money was given to a group of four nonprofit housing developers which were tasked to buy foreclosed houses, rehabilitate them and then resell them as affordable homes to eligible families.

But the nonprofit-run NSP program has not been progressing as expected by San Joaquin and Stockton. As of date, only five repossessed houses for sale have been purchased and they are still being repaired by Service First of Northern California, the contractor hired by the nonprofits to fix the five properties.

The nonprofits explained that there had been impediments to the progress of the program. These include the implementation of several foreclosure moratoriums across the state, overpricing of repossessed houses for sale and constant changes in the resale policies of lenders.

One major reason for the difficulty of the nonprofits in buying repossessed houses for sale is the program requirement that the properties should be purchased at prices 15 percent lower than their listing prices. This was an impossible requirement as home prices have already dropped to very low levels and the lenders refused to reduce their home prices further.

According to San Joaquin County, program officials have reduced the discount requirement to 1 percent.

John Moore, head of San Joaquin Community Development Department, said the NSP put several restrictions on how the first round of funding should be spent. For instance, the funding should only be used to acquire repossessed houses for sale in neighborhoods that have been struggling with the biggest concentration of foreclosures in the area receiving the funding.

The second-round NSP funding, according to Moore, would have fewer restrictions. This second-round funding was authorized by Congress under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which it passed this year.

In the second-round NSP funding, the San Joaquin Housing Authority applied alone, without collaborating with another entity. Housing Authority chief Barbara Kauss said her organization plans to buy and fix repossessed houses for sale around the aging Sierra Vista government housing project, which it also plans to rebuild.

Foreclosed home auction sales and other foreclosure sales in the Sacramento region in June jumped by 17 percent, based on real estate records in the counties of Sacramento, Yuba, El Dorado, Placer, Sutter and Yolo.

The city council of Scotts Valley in California has voted to start REO property proceedings to collect over $250,000 unpaid property taxes owed by the real estate development firm, Title II.

Prices of repo houses in the Northern California city of Vallejo have been falling because of the continued effects of the recession, according to a study by the Business Forecasting Center and another study by a group of real estate analysts.

Distressed homeowners in California are being helped by 275 public and nonprofit organizations which have been working to reduce repossession property numbers under their umbrella association called California Reinvestment Coalition.

In California’s Southland, a region comprised by the counties of Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, Ventura, Orange and San Bernardino, the median home price for newly-built residences, repossessed houses for sale and non-foreclosed previously-owned houses has not increased on a year over year comparison since July 2007, based on a study in California on foreclosures and foreclosure prices.

Real estate industry experts observed a new trend in auctions of properties in California’s foreclosure home list. Usually, when foreclosed properties are put on the auction block, majority of them go back to lenders. But now, investors are pushing their way into the forefront of foreclosure auctions in California.

A small town in California is fighting the country’s largest banks which allow their to deteriorate and contribute to neighborhood blight.