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The Coming Real Estate Crash? Foreclosures Up 79%.

Posted by david | March 30, 2007

In California, that is. I am sure it not as high other places, but a 79% jump in foreclosures is a pretty big jump, wouldn’t you say? According to Inside Bay Area, California had 16,273 foreclosure filings in February, up 79 percent from a year ago which does not bode well for the future of real estate here in California, at least not in the short term. Not surprisingly, most of these loans are subprime loans that are now coming due…uh oh. Between the people that had no idea what they were getting into and the real estate sharks, this is not going to be pretty.

“Based on our numbers for the first two months of 2007, foreclosure activity is running at a rate that would project
a 33 percent increase (nationally) over 2006,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive of RealtyTrac.

You know, I was talking with a friend the other day and both of us said that we missed the boat, meaning that when housing was “affordable” or “reasonable” we were not making the kind of money we are making now. And now that we are making a comfortable living, buying a home out here in California is out of reach again. So unless we have a huge crash, a major earthquake or we move, buying a house will probably not happen while living out here.

That being said…a few more foreclosures and there might be a few crappy places to pick up for cheap. Oh, and one more interesting tidbit from the article? In California, there was one foreclosure filing for every 751 households, which was 1.2 times the national average. Wow.

“Another loan provider is Zopa. A short term loan can be found at Wonga - who offer an alternative to a payday loan. Don’t borrow what you can’t afford and get debt help before it’s too late.”