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This looks like a story about a house that burned to the ground, but it's really about what it's like selling REOs. I have three full-time people deployed on our project, but when the sheriff calls, the official listing agent better show up. Listen for the frustrations boiling over in the video below:

I called the fire chief guy a big shot in the film, but I meant no disrespect. In the moment I felt like I was getting run off, but the fireman was just trying to do his job. The guy he is talking to is Jerry, my long-time pool guy, and the one who took the picture at the top - he happened to be at my listing tending to the pool when the fire broke out.

The frustration has been building because of snail-pace of our REO-selling project. I was assigned 20 listings during the third week of April, and nine of them haven't hit the open market yet. Most are just sitting vacant too, just waiting. I've also spent over $9,000 in repairs and utilities with the promise of a 30-day reimbursement, but no checks in the mail yet. I've closed one transaction, and made about $1,500 after taxes. I wouldn't mind if there was light at the end of the tunnel - do I hang in there for the resetting neg-am era?

Another cause of foreclosure - people take their house apart, and then don't put the pieces back together!

We know there are thousands of foreclosures in the tougher parts of town - how are the better areas doing?  The action is subtle and slow-moving, but it sure seems like there are more homes having trouble in better areas.

Here are some examples of homes at or near their Trustee Sale date:

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7771 Pendon

3 br/2 ba,  2,195 sf

$21,000  SP  3/76

$692,243  Min Bid

$479,000  LP guess

YB: 1976  HOA = 0  MR = 0

Trustee Sale date:  5/1/08

This is probably one of the houses that CA renter has mentioned to be an eye sore in a great area of Old La Costa.  There are a number of examples throughout the older parts of Carlsbad where you see houses in complete disrepair right along side others that are very well-maintained.  I have seen many where the kids move back in with their parents and milk it until the end.  Not sure what happened here, but the original roof and trailer in the driveway suggest that pride of ownership passed this one by.

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3500 Levee,  Carlsbad

4 br/2.5 ba, 2,462 sf

$633,000  SP 12/03

$527,047  Min Bid

$599,000  LP guess

YB: 1999   HOA = 81, MR = 68

Trustee Sale date:  6/23/08

A standard tract house with a pool in Calaveras Hills in NE Carlsbad, the leading area in town for "pricing correction".  They had been trying to sell in the high-$700,000s for the last 14 months, but no luck.  I just closed a bigger one nearby today for $599,000 - hence my guess at the list price.  But Countrywide has a second loan of $168,706 on top of the $527,047, so they may end up trying higher?

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3456 Corte Selva, Carlsbad

4 br/3.5 ba, 3,263 sf

$823,000  SP 8/05 (new)

$774,297  Min Bid

$799,000  LP guess

YB: 2005,  HOA = 232 MR = 67

Trustee Sale date: 4/17/08

A common occurance here - regular folks buying a home leveraged to the hilt, then refinanced a couple of times to keep afloat, enjoy the free rent, and lose it eventually.  They did try to sell it, listing for $1.125 million, and coming down to $870,000 before cancelling three weeks ago.

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4344 Corte Al Fresco, Carmel Valley

4 br/2.5 ba,  2,555 sf

$980,000  SP 8/05

$828,873  Min Bid

$849,000  LP guess

YB: 1992,  HOA = 0, MR = $85

Trustee Sale date: 4/21/08

This will be an interesting test - Navy Federal has a second loan of $100,000.  Do they come in and cure the first to see if they can recoup some or all of their balance?  They are probably seeing the potential value at $850,000 to $900,000 - do they take a chance to make a couple of bucks, risking more loss if it doesn't work?

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2575 Arundel, Carlsbad

5 br/4.5 ba,  4,608 sf

$1,151,000  SP 12/05

$1,073,432  Min Bid

$995,000  LP guess

YB: 2006,  HOA = $193  MR = $200

Trustee sale date: 4/23/08

This will probably be the beginning of the end for Bressi Ranch - once a big bomber slides under $1 million, it'll be hard for anyone else to get above that.

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17165 San Antonio Rose (in the Crosby)

4 br/4.5 ba,  3,704 sf

$1,331,500  SP 3/07

$1,128,063  Min Bid

$1,095,000  LP guess

YB: 2005, HOA = $492  MR = $623

Trustee Sale date: 5/19/08

Not sure if payments were ever made on this one, if so, not more than one.  The house next door, also a foreclosure, just sold for $1,062,500 last week. 

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3953 Stonebridge, Rancho Santa Fe

5 br/4.5 ba, 5,336 sf

$1,825,000  SP 8/03

$1,254,854  Min Bid

$1,995,000  LP guess

YB: 1991,   HOA = $143  MR = 0

Trustee sale date: 5/12/08

Hard to believe that these owners haven't tried to sell this Meditteranean villa on 2.86 acres - if it goes to sale they will have left over a half million on the table.

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6108 Rancho Diegueno, RSF

5 br/6.5 ba,  10,475 sf

$3,500,000  SP 11/02

$717,771  Min Bid (2nd loan)

$3,995,000  LP guess

YB: 2001,  HOA = $200 MR = 0

Trustee Sale date: 5/22/08

There is a first mortgage of $2,275,000 that hasn't filed a NOD, so maybe the owners are just trying to re-negotiate their second mortgage - they have until Thursday to figure it out.  The value on this one isn't that obvious.  It should look like a steal for $4 million considering that there are three active listings on the street ranging from $7,875,000 to $15,988,000.  But the competing listings do have the obligatory tennis courts and ocean views, but I think if you could get this for less than $4 million, you might be able to find a way to live without a tennis court - or just use your neighbor's?

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Interested in a foreclosure?  Let me know!  jim@jimklinge.com

Some folks were looking for more info on the houses featured below - we take requests here at the Klinge Disco!

The house in Rancho Santa Fe listed today for $1,921,800 - lower than expected. 

Here are more pics:

The old-Spanish-style in Kensington is a classic:

The 2 br/2 ba house on Arden, west of I-5 in Encinitas: