California in a Freefall

[moh malekpour]

http://www.lendingsanity.com/index.php?option=com_mojo&Itemid=89&p=14

Last Friday, information service ForeclosureRadar reported that foreclosures in California soared 454% in January compared to foreclosure volume just one year earlier. A total of 19,821 properties sold at foreclosure auction, with a combined loan value of $8.06 billion.

While this figure alone would give any homeowner in California cause for concern, the bigger worry comes from looking at the details behind the data.

The fact that 98% of auction sales went back to the lender in January is not the surprising part. What should be sending off alarm bells are the deep discounts being offered by lenders at auction. Of the 19,821 homes that went to auction, 13,950 were discounted, roughly 70%. The opening bid for this group saw an average discount of 16%. Of that total, 4,624 had discounts of 30% or more, according to ForeclosureRadar.

 

[Lloyd Bonafide]

Foreclosures exceed sales

http://www.mercurynews.com/realestatenews/ci_8344134

For what one expert thought was the first time, the number of monthly foreclosures exceeded the number of monthly home sales in California in January, according to data compiled by two research companies.

The data is a grim reflection of the worsening housing market, as the number of homeowners who can't or won't make their payments rises and the number of home buyers dwindles.

ForeclosureRadar, a Discovery Bay real estate research firm, said 19,821 California homes went into foreclosure in January, representing about $8 billion in home loans.

Meanwhile, DataQuick reported 19,145 home and condo sales in January.

 

[Stone]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=726Zf-zin-s