Santa Barbara County Foreclosure Trends

In reviewing the June numbers for Santa Barbara County you can see that the number of Notices of Defaults that have been recorded have not slowed down in recent months. On the other hand they haven't increased significantly either.

This number could be impacted in future months by new legislation that has been signed by the Governor. The new bill makes the lenders who are wanting to record Notice of Default go through a more stringent effort to contact and help out the borrower. If you would like to read more detailed information on this new legislation please check out the California Land Title Association website.

Staying with, the it hasn't changed much in the last few months theme, neither has the number of loans that are scheduled to adjust. It was 171 in April, 180 in May, and 182 in June. I do know that the number jumps to 228 in September and then is back down to 160 in November. This may cause a small spike in Notice of Defaults sometime after September.

The number of trustees deeds that recorded in June dropped a tiny bit from the 180that recorded in May. The 175 that recorded in June certainly isn't representative of a slow down, but the good news is that number didn't increase. I would hope the lenders are working out loan issues with the borrowers and aren't having to take back as many properties. This is probably wishful thinking, but it also sounds like the right thing to do.

The number that did rise significantly was the number of REO properties that sold. This is terrific news because the faster the REO product is sold the quicker the real estate market will get back on it's feet. The June number rose to 50, where the May number was 36 and the previous high was in April at 37. This is a 35% increase over April.

My final thoughts about the foreclosure market are mostly anecdotal. I have been hearing that the lenders are as aggressive as they have to be in pricing their properties. This may not help the median prices of the areas with foreclosures, but it will help move this property more quickly which in the end shortens the amount of time these properties will affect the surrounding neighborhoods. We have been handling many more short sale escrows recently and I have to believe that is also good news for the market. My last thought is that the foreclosures will be around for a while longer, but everyone involved is getting better at processing them which should lesson the influence they have on the real estate market.

See You In Escrow!