According to a recent report on CNBC, Stockton’s luck may be changing. More properties that would have previously been lost to foreclosure are instead becoming short sales. According to the report, San Joaquin County foreclosures have fallen from 85 to 68 percent and defaults fell 43 percent in the second quarter of 2010.  However due to the tax breaks expiring, the number of perspective buyers has dwindled.  With an unemployment rate hovering around 25 percent, Stockton could take a long time to permanently recover

There are many homeowners who would like to sell but aren’t financially required to do so. Many of these people are waiting in the wings for the opportune moment to jump back into the housing market. In fact,  Zillow.com reported about 7% of homeowners surveyed said they were very likely to put their home on the market this year if they believed the housing market was improving. In addition to this already existing group, the number of homes with equity has grown this year, from 52% last year to 63% this May. This could pose a problem since many of these sellers will have unrealistic views about how much their homes are worth which in turn could influence the housing market.

Fannie Mae announced this week that it will pursue deficiencies in some cases of strategic defaults.  It’s getting nasty!  Make sure you discuss your potential short sale or foreclosure options with a real estate attorney.  Your Home Team can walk you through the short sale process.  We specialize in Central Valley Short Sales!

A recent AP story suggests that short sales and foreclosures are expected to increase as the number of loan medications fail.  To date 27% of loan modifications have succeeded. If you have any questions regarding the short sale process or any real estate related issue please contact Pat Holkesvig at (209) 471-6516 or complete our Contact Form.

Santa Clara County has seen an annual decline in foreclosure notices for the past consecutive six months.  Yet, Foreclosure Radar reports that these types of declines don’t make any sense. They speculate that lenders may be holding on to the foreclosure inventory longer to avoid flooding the market.  There is no evidence to support that these foreclosure numbers are being dramatically influenced by a strong increase in short sales or loan modifications. However, more at risk homeowners are pursuing these options up front and as a result may be delaying the foreclosure process by overwhelming loan servicers with work out requests which require lenders to document the borrower’s earnings and assets.