8/22/14

The Business Journal posted an article summarizing the condition of the housing market for distressed properties; those sold at a short sale, foreclosure, and bank owned properties.  For June, in Fresno County 17% of all properties were sold as “distressed”  in June 2014. The state wide amount for California stood at 9.7%.

Historically, and I believe it holds true now, southern California and the Bay Area recover more quickly than the Central Valley.  Those large population centers have dynamic economies that rebound faster than we do.  Recently we visited San Francisco to find high rise offices and condominiums going up everywhere.  That’s good, there local economies begin to influence ours.

What does this mean for those people who visit this website looking for solutions to their housing problems?  Here’s a couple of thoughts.  If you want to keep your house and are behind on your payments, contact your lender and attempt a payment work out.  I know this can be cumbersome and take a long time, but it could be worth it.  If your loan is with “Fannie Mae” or “Freddie Mac” they already  have a program set up for you.  It’s called the HARP program.   Check with your lender to see if your loan is backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac  (You can read more on this in one of my blogs.)  These lenders know it’s better for them to work out a deal, to lower your payments and/or  principle balance, than to foreclose and resell.  There are conditions for the workout, check with your lender.

Another program call HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) has similar goals: help you afford to stay in your home.    Applications for the program have been very high and lenders are trying to keep up with volume. You’ll need to persist to get it pushed through. The lenders listed in the article were Ocwen Bank, Chase, Bank  of America, Nationstar, and Wells Fargo.  See the article

A lenders motivation for selling is different than a homeowner, thus it keeps sale prices lower.  They want to rid themselves of a non-performing investment.  Time is important, they’ll lower their price to get rid of it.  The average homeowner wants to sell at the best price to buy another house.  If they can’t get a good price, they wait.  Until we see the job market rise and reduce the distressed sales,  I believe values are going to continue to rise slowly or possibly decline some.

I hope this message brings hope to those who want to keep there home.  Get to work on saving your home.   The Valley doesn’t have the best economic news, but that’s our reality right now;  keep moving forward.

For those who would rather sell because of the above issues or simply need to get rid of their house, we’d like to make you and offer.  Please fill out the “Fast Response” form or call me at 559-250-6189.

Sincerely,

Jan Weston

Here’s the Article : Distressed sales unchanged in Fresno, Tulare counties