Is Relief around the corner? Foreclosures slow in Central Valley

April 12, 2008 - PRLog -- Some counties saw declines last month compared to February and where there were increases, they were generally small.

According to Default Research, the hardest hit areas currently are San Joaquin and Sacramento counties with over 5.5 percent of homes entering foreclosure, in terms of Notices of Default and Notices of Trustee Sales, which the company tracks.

There were 3,495 homes in the foreclosure process in March in Sacramento County, according to the report. That’s triple the number in March 2007 and 5.56 percent more than in February.

But San Joaquin County, with 1,552 homes entering foreclosure in March, actually saw improvement for the first time in 2008. There were 1,900 homes in foreclosure in February and 2,420 in January. In March 2007 there were 694 homes entering foreclosure, Default Research says.

Fresno County also saw a month-over-month drop. There were 1,136 homes entering foreclosure last month compared to 1,169 in February and 1,297 in January. In March 2007, however, there were just 377 homes in Fresno County entering foreclosure.

Kern County saw a 0.75 percent increase in foreclosures in March compared to February. That percentage increase works out to a difference of 12 homes – 1,610 last month and 1,598 in February.

Nine more homes went into foreclosure last month in Stanislaus County (1,146) than in February (1,137), according to the figures from Default Research, for an increase of 0.79 percent.

Tulare County showed one of the sharpest percentage declines. There were 416 homes entering foreclosure last month, compared to 450 in February, a 7.56 percent decrease. Last month’s total, however, was 195 percent higher than a year earlier.

“You really couldn’t ask for a better opportunity or better place like Northern California to be a real estate investor,” says Serdar Bankaci, founder of Default Research. “If you have the cash or credit, this is the time to buy. For all practical reasons, the foreclosures in Northern California have bottomed out and will begin to recover throughout this year. Also, Northern California has seen a drop in unemployment in February, and a higher rate of employment means fewer mortgage defaults.”

Website: www.jasonthoele.com