Great News for Buyers on a Budget: More Foreclosures on the Way!
Enough gloom and doom. We’ve got good news today! Now is definitely the time to buy! Or maybe sell.
Silicon Valley real estate: Foreclosure lull ends in Santa Clara County
By Pete Carey, SJ Mercury News
Posted: 02/15/2011 02:54:55 PM PST, Updated: 02/16/2011 12:45:57 PM PST
After a two-month lull because of a national paperwork scandal, foreclosures in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties in January returned to levels that have prevailed since 2008, indicating the crisis will continue this year but also putting more low-priced homes on the market.
Last month’s increase in foreclosures may be followed by bigger increases in the next few months, according to some real estate professionals.
In Santa Clara County in January, 398 home were either repossessed or sold by lenders to third-party buyers, a nearly 70 percent jump from the month before, according to real estate information service ForeclosureRadar. San Mateo County had 160 foreclosures in January, a 75 percent jump from December.
Paperwork scandal? You know what the scandal is? The banks have all those borrowers by their balls liens, and won’t just get on with it. Seize the property, auction it, and get the prices down to where they need to be, so the overbidding can start again. Nobody is going to overbid if they’re just sitting around waiting for the banks to dispose of their ginormous shadow inventory.
Well, I don’t know if we have a Silicon Valley version of a groundhog, but it was sunny on February 2nd, so there must have been plenty of shadows. So keep watching for that shadow inventory to cast itself on a real estate site near you!
We’re hoping some of those places were painted interesting colors, or replaced the front lawn with crushed automobiles, or maybe even set up a commercial-grade pharmaceuticals lab right in the kitchen! And we’re really hoping they’re priced for lucky amounts, like $888,000.
Meanwhile if you find a great place like that, please pass it on to us so we can share it. After all, we have to make sure those Open Houses have lots of people passing through, because nothing says Real Estate is Back like running out of flyers!
February 20th, 2011 at 11:05 am
Since RBA homes never go into foreclosure, this makes it easy to know which homes are definitely outside of the RBA–and such homes should be avoided, no matter how seemingly cheap.
February 20th, 2011 at 11:59 am
You know how houses with busy streets, power lines, or railroad tracks aren’t in the RBA no matter how prestigious the zip code? The more foreclosures in the neighborhood, the less RBA it is as well.
Same thing for rentals, too. Nothing makes a neighborhood a Real Gray Area like renters next door. I can’t tell you how worried I’d be if my kids started socializing with them. I would have to explain that I expect them to only marry other homeowners.
Believe me, renters are a lot happier with their own kind, so it’s best for everyone this way.
February 20th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
I know what will fix things (radio commercial on “home ownership” on the radio right now as I write!) and get houses selling again.
Change the Burbed front page wallpaper to what it was in 2005.
Unless I’m really mistaken, Burbed had houses morphing into stacks of money, not just stacks of money, on the front page. It was really cool, like something Maurits Cornelius Escher would have done with his first exposure to PhotoShop, if he was into real estate. Or like some 13-year-old kid probably did, with PhotoShop etc.
Maybe it was copyrighted and that’s why it was taken down. If I had PhotoShop I’d do a houses-morphing-into-stacks-of-money thing for you guys, but I don’t.
I miss surfer ecchs too.
February 20th, 2011 at 1:37 pm
Morning news from the homefront: a friend of my brother-in-law is buying a house (short sale) for $20k. And it’s in a safe neighborhood, not Detroit. Kind of boggles the mind, no?
February 20th, 2011 at 8:37 pm
> a friend of my brother-in-law is buying a house (short sale) for $20k.
Way to get respect from coworkers!
February 20th, 2011 at 10:51 pm
Petsmarts groomer, how do you know if it is respect worthy without knowing the zip code?
February 20th, 2011 at 10:59 pm
’cause it’s cheaper than renting? Even cheaper than your car?
Or does the fact he’s gotta borrow money for it negate the respect?
February 21st, 2011 at 12:16 am
Great news if you’re looking to buy East San Jose. If you’re thinking this applies to RBA, you’re in for some reality check.
There are tons of reasons RBA prices are going to jump again in the next few years. To name a few:
1. It’s almost a certainty Facebook will go public in the next 2 years
2. Stanford and VA are both undertaking billion dollar hospital expansion projects, that will bring a large number of new jobs
3. The next World Expo could be in the Bay Area
4. High Speed Rail project will stimulate the economy
If you think prices are high now, wait til all of the above start happening.
February 21st, 2011 at 1:24 am
Excretor you door-kiss, you actually had me going until you mentioned high speed rail.
February 21st, 2011 at 8:11 am
If prices really were going up, as described above, why would anyone sell today? Surely there’s a fool somewhere in the mix.
February 21st, 2011 at 8:18 am
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February 21st, 2011 at 8:35 am
Craig here. RE is right. A lot of houses have a hard time finding buyers, that’s cuz all the buyers are looking in RBA.