L.A. County foreclosures

L.A. County foreclosures: Up, up and away

What people feel about this:

Julia says: I moved away from Los Angeles in April 2007 but returned for a few days this week. As I was driving around with my sweetie in the Valley, I was stunned by the number of homes for sale and foreclosures. What a difference 18 months makes.

The third-quarter foreclosure report released by PropertyShark.com last week paints another bleak picture. Los Angeles County foreclosures, totaling 15,749 by their methodology, were up nearly 196% from the same quarter in 2007 when there were 5,322. From the second quarter of ‘08, which had 14,505 foreclosures, they were up 9% in the third quarter.

Countrywideblog If that’s not dramatic enough for you, way back in the third quarter of 2006 the county recorded just 1,539 foreclosures. That’s a more than 923% increase to last quarter.

Burnyhill says: Remember the silly days of 2005-2006 when we were breezily informed that all of the toxic mortgage-backed securities had been sold to dupes in China and Arabia? Guess not

The ZIP Codes with the most foreclosures were, in descending order: Palmdale 93550, Lancaster 93535, Sylmar 91342, Pacoima 91331, Palmdale 93552, Norwalk 90650, Palmdale 93551, Long Beach 90805, Lancaster 93534 and Quartz Hill 93536. For Palmdale 93550 that translates into one in every 45 homes, and for Lancaster 93535, one in every 46.

Who was left holding the most bad loans in L.A. County? Countrywide Homes Loans, followed by Washington Mutual.

Sean says: Comes as no surprise that Wamu and Countrywide were the ones with the most bad loans. They were very aggressive with their creative financing and very lax when it came to income verification.

Serves them right.

We need to get back to the simple policy of “who ever makes the loan, owns the risk.” Then, maybe banks wont give out hundreds of thousands of dollars in liar loans and cry for a bailout.

News article reference: LA Times Blog

For more news and updates: US Real Estate

Real Estate Agent Arrested for Stealing Food

I found this article on a Foreclosures Site, here is the link of the original Article: Real Estate Agent arrested

MONROE, Conn. – Monroe police have arrested a real estate agent accused of stealing change from a home she’s trying to sell.

Police say there are complaints that she stole food and change from other homes.

Police have charged 29-year-old Holli Tapley of Derby with one count of sixth-degree larceny. Police say a 14-year-old girl allegedly spotted Tapley stealing money from a coin jar in a closet and then going through drawers in a bathroom.

Police contacted Tapley’s supervisor and were told there had been other complaints about her. Other homeowners had reported finding drawers open in their homes after Tapley had been there, as well as food having been taken from kitchen cabinets.

Tapley denies taking any change, saying she makes “six figures” from her job and does not need to take someone else’s change.

It can’t be worst than this, a situation like this make us feel sad and irritated… is the situation ever going to be better than what it is….

Yes, the situation will be better, as they say that “Nothing is forever, everything have to change because only change is permanent”.

What happens in Foreclosure?

While the individual steps involved in each of the steps in the foreclosure process are different in each state of US, the general process itself is only the same.

We are going to covers the foreclosure part of the foreclosure process that is after the bank has accelerated your mortgage and demand that the credit should be fully paid and while this is the point of no return with your present lender, all may not be lost – contact a foreclosure attorney or professional as speedily as possible.

Steps of Foreclosures in bank Foreclosure Process:

1. The bank sends a notice of objective to foreclose to you by qualified mail
2. The bank files the required papers in court to start the foreclosure process
3. Required notice is published in local correspondents. This is not meant to be retaliatory, this is mandatory by the law
4. At this point, there are still things, which you can do to avoid going to the court, such as selling the house to somebody else, but assuming these things don’t happen and the waiting periods for all the legal papers and notices expire, the process will enter a courtroom.
5. The court holds an investigation regarding the claim.
6. The court issues an order to foreclose.
7. Required notices of a foreclosure auction and any advertisement are available in local newspapers.
8. Now if again nothing is reached, the house is sold to the highest bidder at open public sale.

After all this process is said I want to add on as this process can take as little as 30 days (Alabama) to as long as a year (New York) and that length is one of the reasons why banks don’t desire to go throughout this process.

You may also notice that at no point are you ejected from your home, that’s because the foreclosure process doesn’t wrap that at all. So in any case, you cannot be thrown out of your house.

After the foreclosure, you are considered as a tenant in the house and could possibly arrange to rent it from the new owner who will purchase the house, etc. If not, then the new owners have to chase the eviction process of your state which can also take some time as well.

Now my other question can be: How will I know that a mortgage foreclosure case filed is filed against my landlord?

You will get court papers.

There are 3 different types of court papers you can get:

• Complaint for Mortgage Foreclosure
• Supplementary Petition for Possession
• Summons and Complaint for Forcible Entry and Detainer

The judgment that the bank is typically granted against the homeowners is simply the judge’s decision that recognizes that the lender is owed a certain amount of money and that the owners have not paid it.

Even this does not create a second debt that must be paid back; it is simply a local judge agreeing with the bank and ordering that the house will be auctioned at a sheriff sale to pay off the defaulted loan.

The judgment amount is always based on the total payoff amount that the homeowners would need to come up with in order to own their home free and clear.

One thing that is very likely to happen is that there will be a court hearing that you need to attend. If for whatever reason you do not turn up at this hearing then it is very unlikely that the judge will rule in your favor and give you a chance of still being able to save your home.

But overall you need to understand this very clearly that you can only be put out of your apartment by the sheriff after a judge signs an order of possession.

Also you have to understand that you need to monitor your credit report and score regularly, to ensure there are no inaccuracies or unauthorized activity.

Your credit report and score are the two major methods that creditors and lenders use to make a credit decision about you.

Higher scores usually mean lower interest rates, which will save you money.