Foreclosure sales increased 92.3 percent in March 2010 compared with March 2009 and 24.2 percent compared with February according to ForeclosureRadar™s March foreclosure report.   Nearly 80 percent of foreclosure sales in February were for properties returning to lenders; the remaining properties were sold to third parties, primarily investors.

Notices of Default declined significantly in March compared with the prior year, when filings reached record levels as lenders caught up on a backlog of filings.   Third-party purchases of foreclosure sales set a new record in March, surpassing 4,000 properties for the first time.

Ventura County foreclsoure sales were a lot less than those of the Los Angeles County Foreclosures, but they were still high. When talking to a local realtor, Steve Gould  of Keller Williams  in Ventura County, he said that although we have seen a lot more foreclosure sales many of those have been at auctions and the ones that have not been at an auction are being picked up quite quickly by buyers. I also asked a local realtor in the Los Angeles County, Cathy Waters of Keller Williams, and she told me that, “although there have been more foreclosures there is still a lack of inventory and what’s keeping the market going is the home buyers tax credit.”

To look at the foreclosure report please visit my website at TristanHomes.com and click on the Foreclosure Report Tab, or you can just click here to look at it as well. If you need a realtor to help you look for foreclosed property or short sales in Ventura County or Los Angeles County feel free to contact me, Tristan Ahumada, 805-559-3364.

It no longer might be a flood, but there™s still a steady stream of foreclosures saturating the housing market.

Across the nation, foreclosure filings were reported on more than 900,000 properties in the first quarter of 2010, a 16 percent spike from a year ago, RealtyTrac Inc. said in a report to be released today.

In Ventura County, there were 3,932 foreclosure-related filings posted in the first quarter, including 1,574 default notices, 1,615 auction sales and 743 bank repossessions. That total edged up just slightly from the 3,921 filings over the same period in 2009. The majority of those foreclosure-related filing were in Oxnard, Ca. Conejo Valley Foreclosures were not as high.

One in every 70 county households received a foreclosure filing during the first quarter.

In March alone, there were 1,919 foreclosure filings in the county, a 71 percent spike from February and an almost 14 percent increase from a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac. Last month™s filings included 769 default notices, 871 auction sale notices and 279 bank repossessions.

Foreclosures are going to be a problem the rest of the year, said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

œWe™re climbing out of a basement of a very, very significant downturn, Kyser said. œWe are still losing jobs.

Experts are mixed on whether the foreclosure fiasco is coming to an end. Some predict another big wave during the summer, when a slew of adjustable rate mortgages are due to reset.

œI think we™re going to see more ARMs being reset, but the question is, Is it going to be worse than what we™ve seen? Because what we™ve seen is pretty unpleasant, Kyser said.

California™s foreclosure activity decreased 6 percent from the first quarter of 2009, but the state still had the nation™s fourth highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 62 households receiving a foreclosure filing, RealtyTrac reported.

The state accounted for 23 percent of the nation™s total foreclosure activity in the first quarter ” more than 216,000 homeowners received foreclosure notices.

Areas hardest hit by foreclosures include Riverside, San Bernardino, San Joaquin and Kern counties.

Among states, Nevada continued to post the nation™s highest foreclosure rate, followed by Arizona and Florida.

Across the nation, more than 367,000 households, or one in 352 homes, received foreclosure-related notices in March. That was up nearly 19 percent from February and nearly 8 percent from March 2009, according to the Irvine-based foreclosure listings company.

The increases were more tilted toward the final stage of foreclosure, said James J. Saccacio, chief executive of RealtyTrac. Bank repossessions hit a record high of 257,944 in the first quarter of 2010 ” an increase of 9 percent from the previous quarter and an increase of 35 percent from the first quarter of 2009.

That subtle shift may indicate that lenders are starting to make a dent in the backlog of distressed inventory built up over the past year as foreclosure-prevention programs and processing delays slowed down the normal foreclosure timeline, Saccacio said.

Steve Gould  of Keller Williams Westlake Village  said he doesn™t see the foreclosure situation changing anytime soon. For every loan that goes into foreclosure, there™s probably at least two or three times as many delinquencies,  Steve said.

If banks were not willing to work with distressed homeowners, we would be in a terrible situation. Because they are willing to do so we see a part of those dilinquent mortgages get modified and never become bank owned.  

œSome Banks are making a strong effort to help with short sales,  Steve said. œI™ve never seen anything like this. It™s crazy. Steve Gould is an appraiser and Realtor who works with Tristan Ahumada at Keller Williams Realty. If you need to contact us or want to search for foreclosed homes please visit us at www.TristanHomes.com.

Modified by Tristan Ahumada  

On the Net:

www.VenturaCountyStar.com

http://www.realtytrac.com

Ventura County and San Fernando Valley Realtor, Steve Gould with Keller Williams in Westlake Village, said to me this morning that first time hombuyers are stressing out over the expiration of the Fed’s Tax Credit.

Steve Gould, who lives in Simi Valley Ca, said to me, “Tristan, its getting pretty hectic out there with only 2 weeks left on this tax credit to expire. With the low inventory and the high demand we are seeing a multiple offer situation on many homes on for sale,  mostly with the lower priced properties,  under $400,000.”

Nationwide, nearly 1.8 million American taxpayers have filed returns to collect $12.6 billion in tax credits for homes purchased in 2008 and 2009, according to the Internal Revenue Service. In California, 203,000 filers have claimed $1.47 billion of those credits.

“People in the San Fernando Valley are anxious to get into something fast. Some of the buyers just getting into the market don’t seem to understand the high demand and are starting off offering low on properties they like. Their attitudes and offers change quickly once they figure out that most offers coming in are coming in over asking price,” said Cathy Waters, a Realtor in Chatsworth for Keller Williams Realty.

While the federal tax credit is getting most of the attention now, California is preparing to relaunch its own homebuying program on May 1. Californians who are first-time homebuyers or purchasing a new home could qualify for a tax credit up to $10,000. (Click here to get the info on CA tax credit)

Both Steve Gould and Cathy Waters work for Keller Williams in Westlake Village and with me (Tristan Ahumada).  We are out in the field everyday working with buyers  and sellers  in Ventura County: Conejo Valley, Simi Valley and the San Fernando Valley. It’s clear to see that these tax credits are helping out the real estate market in Ventura County and in the Los Angeles County. If you bought a home or are going to buy a home and you also want to take (or took)  advantage of the Fed’s tax credit please remember that you cannot e-file. for more info on the Fed’s tax credit please visit them by clicking FED’s Tax Credit.

If you are looking to see what homes are available or just want to snoop aroundto see what is availble please visit our website TristanHomes and search for free.

After  working with  Real Estate in the Ventura County and Los Angeles County  for a  few years now,  I have seen the best and the worst credit scores. Many people, including lenders, don’t understand how their actions affect their scores, which in turn can than affect what interest rate you get or if you can even qualify for a loan. Let me explain:

When you have a high credit score (also known as FICO score) you can obtain a home loan at the best possible rate. A low score will get you a very nasty interest rate if you get a loan at all. The difference between a 720 score and a 580 score could be as much as 3 percentage points, according to the Consumer Federation of America.

Here are a few tips to help your credit score increase:

1. Maintain your balances under half of what your available credit is, once your balance goes over half of your available credit the credit companies start taking points away from your credit score, preferably less than 30% of its limit.

2. Dont close a credit card account. Closing a credit card could lower your score because the amount of revolving credit available to you will decrease. Rather than close an account, keep your balance below 30% of its limit. Credit-scoring models weigh debt utilization, or the amounts owed on your accounts, almost as heavily as payment history.

3. With the amount of fraud and identity theft taking place, everyone should check their credit report at least once a year, and Credit Plus recommends twice. By law, you are entitled to one free copy annually. Go to www.annualcreditreport.com.

 4. Different industries use different scoring models, so scores will change, depending on whether you are buying a house, a car or insurance. Make sure that your lender uses a score developed solely for the mortgage business.

5. Always use the same, full legal name. Being consistent will help avoid confusion with other borrowers with the same name as yours. Not all credit bureaus use Social Security numbers as the primary means of identification.

6. One reason for a low score is there is not enough “positive” revolving credit in your report. In many cases, when “positive” credit is added, a score will increase. This doesn’t mean to continually apply for a new credit card every time you get a chance, if you do this it will lower your credit score pretty quickly. Only apply for a credit card every 2-3 months.

You can do that by obtaining a secured credit card, which requires you to put up the money first and then lets you borrow against the balance. Another option is to ask someone with an established credit history to act as a cosigner on an account with you.

Also, consider asking someone to add you as an authorized user so that his or her history on the account will be added to your credit file. However, because this practice has been abused, Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus, no longer reports “authorized user trade” on its consumer credit reports.

Please contact me if you have any questions and please feel free to comment or add to what I have to say.

If you are thinking of renting a property be careful. An increasingly common scam involves crooks posing as landlords for property they don™t own, taking a deposit from hopeful would-be tenants and then disappearing with the money.

“What you have is primarily young, unsuspecting victims who truly believe they’re entering into a legitimate rental agreement,” said Adam Christianson, sheriff of Stanislaus County. “Before you know it, the real [property manager] shows up and says `Why are you here?’ Then they’re out on the street, and also out the money for first and last month’s rent and deposit.”

Legislators in the California Assembly have introduced a bill that would make impersonating a landlord in order to collect money a charge of felony grand theft. I can’t believe that its not already a felony grand theft, but I don’t think that would stop any of the people involved in this scam. The best and safest way to find property for rent, specially houses is to use a Realtor. To search for Rentals visit my site at TristanHomes.

Source: Associated Press (04/11/2010)

Well, this looks like the news we™ve been waiting on¦..all indications are that there is an agreement on extending and expanding the Homebuyer Tax Credit until the end of April, 2010. The compromise also allows for the credit to be available to any home- buyer that is in contract by the April 30, 2010 deadline as long as they close escrow by June 30th, 2010. The expansion of the credit includes increasing the income limits to $125,000 for single tax payer and $225,000 to couples filing joint tax re- turns. A reduced credit of $6,500 is going to be available if they have lived in their homes for the last 5 years and are œbuying up to a larger principle residence. Does this mean that it™s a done deal? No, not exactly, but I would call it a 99.987% sure thing at this point! Search For Homes for free: www.TristanHomes.com

 Tristan Ahumada

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) says Senate Democrats have agreed to extend the first-time home buyer tax credit. The latest version extends the program to home sales signed ” not closed ” by April 30. Purchasers would have another 60 days to close the sale. The credit will also be expanded to include so-called step-up buyers who have lived in their current home for at least five years.

The credit would be cut nearly 10 percent to a $7,290 cap. Income eligibility for first-time home buyers would stay the same, but it would rise for step-up buyers to $125,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples.

Source: Bloomberg News, Dawn Kopecki and Ryan Donmoyer (10/27/2009)

I have been hearing for months now that banks have a backlog of homes that they are holding on to and that soon the banks are going to release them. The whole real estate market has been waiting for the “load” of homes to come on the market, but we have yet to see anything. As a realtor in the Ventura County and in Los Angeles County I have witnessed the shortage of homes for all the buyers out there. With the $8000 tax credit for first time homebuyers, low prices and low interest rates there has definitely been  a strong demand for homes. I know the banks have homes that they are holding from the real estate market, and it seems that at one point in the future they will be released, but who knows when. After speaking to some people in the mortgage department of Bank Of America I was told that the banks were waiting to see what type of tax credit will be available after the current tax credit runs out. The banks hope is that the government not only extends the tax credit, but come up with a better tax credit where it includes a lot of buyers not just first time home buyers. This will allow banks to release a lot of their overhead and not run so much of a risk of making the real estate market tank with a surplus of homes.

The fact is that in the conejo valley (Ventura County) there is a shortage of homes for the amount of buyers ready to buy. The amount of REO’s in Conejo Valley are very small and when an REO goes up for sale, in the lower price range, there are often multiple offers. In order for more buyers to take advantage of this great market there needs to be more homes available for sale, until then it will be a tough market to buy in in all of Southern Ca. Feel free to search for homes on www.TristanHomes.com

Tristan Ahumada

If you are one of the many people downsizing this year or the next year in the Conejo Valley; Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills, Oak Park, Westlake Village or Moorpark, then its important to take into consideration the following points.

• Start Early:   Once you have decided to sell (or lease out your property) make sure to start clearing out the clutter in the home. This way your home shows better to possible buyers (or tenants) and it makes the final days of moving easier because you started packing early. For help with moving go to MeatHeadMovers.com. Its a local moving company.
• Have a garage sale or donate items to the goodwill or the salvation army to get rid of the clutter in your home. The chances are if your not using it now you will probably never use it.
• Make sure you visit TristanHomes to look for property in the areas you want to live: Anywhere in Ventura County and The San Fernando Valley:   including The Conejo Valley; Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village and SimiValley and Moorpark.
• Make sure you will be netting enough to purchase your desired property, it would be wise to have a range of properties.
• Finally before looking for property take time to talk to a direct lender (large bank) to understand the different types of programs available for purchasing property. Mortgage Info.

-Tristan Ahumada

The real estate market is very interesting, at one point there can be multiple offers on many properties and then nothing for a while. At one point in the early fall of 08, it seemed that the market was bottoming out or had reached the bottom, but that was a mistake. The market continued to drop a little bit more up to now. From what is visible in the real estate market it is more likely than not that we will continue to see the prices of homes come down about 5% more before we see any bottom. Of course this is only an assumption based on our local economy. Newbury Park will possibly see some more growth for businesses, like Trader Joe’s and Costco coming in possibly this year, this will create more jobs and help our local economy.

Although sales were up in California for real estate (article “December Sales and Price Report“) I still see prices coming down. Rates will continue to stay around the low 5% and high 4% for the majority of the first half of the year, but I see homes maybe stablizing in the conejo and ventura county around the summer of 2009. We could see another small drop in percentage of sales for the winter of 09, but that’s only after a lift in sales for the summer of 09. Overall it is a good time to buy because prices are down about 50% from the highs of a few years ago. Buying for the long run is always a good investment, to look at foreclosed properties in Ventura, Oxnard, Conejo Valley, Camarillo, Port Hueneme, Simi Valley, or Moorpark click here.