Ventura County foreclosure rates are down this year by 56% over the same month last year (August 2012) and the Notices of Sale are also down almost 44% from a year ago. Strong signs that we’re moving in the right direction!
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But we’re not quite out of the woods yet as banks are moving forward with Trustee’s Sales – a slight increase month to month of almost 14%. This is a clear sign that the banks are foreclosing on some of the stagnant inventory that they’ve been holding onto for months or even years. They see an opportunity to move these homes since our pricing rebound began just over 2 years ago.
Another indication of flushing pre-REO inventory is that the number of cancelled foreclosure sales has dropped 63% – meaning that the banks are not waiting any longer to move these homes off of their books.
And although the number of pre-foreclosures is down almost 50% in Ventura County, the chart below shows an uptick in the filing of initial Notices of Default at a rate that has increased by just over 13% from July to August – the second upswing this year.
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What’s really interesting is how long it is taking for the banks to complete a foreclosure in Ventura County. As of August 2013 is took an average of 440 days to complete the foreclosure process – that’s almost 15 months!
On top of that it another 333 days for the bank to resell the property AFTER the auction. In contrast, investors work much quicker using up only about 151 days to flip a house after they purchased it at auction.
Just shows you how slow the banks move these days.
Nationally, foreclosure starts are less than half the level they were a year earlier, according to second quarter data recently released from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Across the nation in the second quarter of 2013 there were 150,592 foreclosures started—down 50.8 percent from the second quarter of 2012. It’s the fewest number of foreclosure starts in any quarter since early 2008, according to the OCC, whose report reflects performance on first-lien residential mortgages.
The OCC attributes the drop to a strengthening economy, aggressive foreclosure prevention efforts, loan modifications, and regulatory actions.
For Ventura County foreclosures – the numbers look better because the home values in Ventura County have increased substantially in the past 2 years. This has helped the many homeowners that were under water on their mortgages to be able to sell their homes themselves and get out from under the debt.
If you have questions about your housing value or in need of assistance to work with your lender contact Jeff Haring, real estate broker with 30 years experience.
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