bubbleinfo.com

The last sentence here should be a deterent, hopefully, but the standards are a bit vague:

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–Legislation to overhaul U.S. mortgage lending passed the House Thursday as lawmakers sought to rein in practices blamed for the foreclosure crisis.   The legislation is a tougher version of a bill that passed the House in 2007 but later stalled. The current bill would establish national minimum underwriting standards for home mortgages and require originators to retain a portion of the credit risk of mortgages they sell to third parties.   The legislation passed the House on a 300-114 vote.  

Under the measure, mortgage lenders would be required to offer home purchase mortgages that a borrower has a “reasonable ability to repay.” For refinancings, the lender has to believe the transaction provides a “net tangible benefit” to the borrower.   A lender violating these rules would be required within 90 days to modify or refinance the loan at no cost to make sure it meets the standards.
(Dow Jones Newswires 04:25 PM ET 05/07/2009)

This 4,985sf single level was on the market for $1,840,000 until October, 2008, but you’d have to include a truckload of Laker memorabilia to get that much now:

Bank of America foreclosed on Barratt American’s 12 projects in Southern California, and has now put them out for bid.

Carlsbad’s Magnolia Estates is being offered as a package of:

Five finished lots that average a half-acre, plus
Six almost-complete houses that range from 4,985sf to 6,219sf.

The HOA fee is currently $199/month, plus the Mello-Roos is $233.25/month through 2035.

There is also an outstanding balance of $280,000 for Grading and Erosion Control Bond, but the outstanding surety bond may pick up part of that amount.

Bids are due by May 15th, and must close by June 22, 2009.

Eight of the 13 previously-sold houses closed for $2,000,000 or more, and the last sale was that 5,293sf REO a year ago that closed at $1,355,000.

What’s the package worth??

Here’s the youtube tour:

The family has owned this property since the 1950s, yet the last few years have been turbulent.

We had offered her $1,000,000 two years ago, but she wanted to retain ownership, and eventually build out the property, like her dad envisioned.

Instead, the daughter borrowed a total of $140,000 in two different second mortgages to try and cure her default on the $649,000 first loan, but in both cases turned right around and threatened to sue the lenders for elder abuse – the property was in her mother’s name.

In both cases, the lenders succumbed, and walked away with nothing.

Recently she filed for bankruptcy, and has been able to keep postponing her foreclosure as a result. Not sure what else she has up her sleeve…..??

The last chart showed that the best stats for $-per-sf were in Vista zips 92083 and 92084, at $162/sf and $160/sf, respectively.  Also noteworthy was that their April, 2009 sales were both at or above 2005′s numbers.

Are there good deals in Vista?

We’ve seen a few of the dumps, here’s a decent REO on the north side of town:

Here are the number of detached sales from the MLS, and average dollars-per-square-foot for April, 2005, 2008, and 2009.

WHICH AREA IS THE BEST BUY TODAY, AND WHY?

The person with the best answer will receive four tickets to tomorrow night’s Padres game vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks – Jake Peavy is scheduled to pitch!

There’s no perfect answer – but extra credit for snark!

(Carlsbad’s 92008 and 92009 were split into four zip codes after 2005)

from sddt.com:

Notices of default fell 13.8 percent while trustee’s deeds increased 17.1 percent from March to April, according to statistics from the San Diego County Assessor.  Although trustee deeds increased from a two-year low of 844 to 988, the number is still well below the 2008 average.  Conversely, the 3,673 notices of default, or NODs, filed in April were the third highest total to date, coming off two months of consecutive highs.

Foreclosure moratoriums toward the end of 2008 are the likely cause of both trends. The moratoriums led to a slowdown in notices of default from September to November 2008. Many NODs filed during that time period have worked their way through the typically 90-day foreclosure process, resulting in them becoming trustee’s deeds.

Trustee’s deeds are the last step in the process before a home becomes bank owned.

Year-to-date, the number of NODs filed in 2009 are outpacing 2008 by 10 percent. There have been 14,693 filed this year. 

There has been an 18 percent decline in trustee’s deeds year-to-date from 2009, however, with 4,522 filed since January. 

The lower number of trustee’s deeds resulted in one of the lowest inventory totals in months, said Alan Nevin, director of economic research with MarketPointe Realty Advisors. That, coupled with a recent surge of offers coming in for lower-priced homes, could cause an eventual spike in pricing.

“At some point, and I wish I could give you the date, but there is going to be a couple of major jumps in price,” he said. “It’s not going to be a matter of homes creeping up $5,000 or $10,000, there’s going to be a couple of $50,000 adjustments as soon as we officially run out of REOs (real-estate owned homes). And it doesn’t take long to do that.”

Nevin said he could not project when exactly the spike could occur, but said it is inevitable as the demand grows for a shrinking supply. 

However, the large number of NODs could lead to an increased number of foreclosures within a few months. But San Diego State University professor of Real Estate Leonard Baron said he hopes banks will be able to modify loans of distressed homeowners.

“The banks are going to try not to force people into foreclosure, which, again, completely wastes everyone’s money,” he said.

Kelly has a nice update on the Vantage Point condo complex downtown:

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2009/05/04/housing/840vp050309.txt

From the article, the big picture of the downtown SD condo market:

“It is unclear even yet what effect the building’s opening will have on the rest of the downtown real estate market, already weighed down by more than 850 finished unsold units, according to MarketPointe Realty Advisers.”

“The homes at Vantage Pointe and another 148 at another under-construction project downtown will double that number.”

Just 1,600+ new condos and 599 resales on the market? 

It should make for an attractive market for tenants who are looking to move….

Lately the Countrywide foreclosures that have been coming my way have been listed below my BPO (broker price opinion). It was reflected on my latest scorecard too, I got dinged 20% because I was selling them too high – my REO closed sales last quarter were 107% over BPOs. 

But Bank of America changed the name last week, did they change the pricing strategy too?  Or are prices going up in Oceanside? 

The sold comps I used on my BPO were $371,000, $390,000, and $390,000. 

But the active comps were $299,000, $360,000, and $367,777, and all six were the same or similar models in the same tract as the subject property.

My BPO was $369,900, figuring that they’d consider the active listings too, and keep with their aggressive pricing of late.

Instead, it listed for $394,800.  There is already an offer in too, very close.

Here’s the youtube tour:

A few days ago we saw the youtube video of the new homes being torn down in Victorville  – and they mentioned Temecula as the next stop for the wrecking ball.

We checked the tax rolls for properties owned by the same Guaranty Bank of Irvine, and found a tract outside of Temecula (in San Jacinto, near the JC).

In February they had foreclosed on 39 lots, and 14 had new houses on them!

Realtor and blog correspondent Richard Morgan went to check it out, and files this report:

There were 32 homes completed in the development, but only 18 had been sold. Five of those 18 are already in some stage of foreclosure.

Some residents told me that, up until 2 weeks ago, the remaining 14 homes sat vacant, and had weeds and broken windows – the place was a mess. The grass and landscaping were just installed two weeks ago.

The owner of 973 Eden Valley said that he paid $406,000 for the 2993 sf model with the intention to hold for a couple of years and then sell, but he is now in for the long haul. (in preforeclosure according to Realist record).
 
984 Eden Valley street was sold for $404,000 in 9/2006.  It was foreclosed in January, 2008, and resold for $222,500 in September, 2008. Original owner just walked away.

New-home listings found on the internet but looked like expired as of 10 days ago:

1,958 sf = $144,990

2,538 sf = $155,990

2,993 sf = $164,990

Considering that the roads were complete, they might as well sell them for whatever the market will bear, rather than tear down.

Hopefully at $55-$75/sf, there should be some takers, shouldn’t there?

Here’s Richard’s first video - under a minute!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP_GKGgZJNI