Untitled

California foreclosure sales increased on both a year-over-year and
month-to-month basis in March, according to the monthly California
Foreclosure Report recently released by ForeclosureRadar
, a Discovery Bay, California-based
company that tracks every foreclosure in The Golden State.

http://ping.fm/vfyZV

During March of last year most major lenders had voluntary foreclosure
moratoriums in place while awaiting the implementation of the
administration's Home Affordable Modification Program. One year later, those
moratoriums were long gone. As a result, California foreclosure sales in
March 2010 increased 92.3 percent from the same month in 2009.

Compared to February of this year, foreclosure sales increased 24.2 percent.
Of these, 79.2 percent went back to bank, and the remainder sold to third
parties, primarily investors.

"The increase in foreclosure sales will likely come as a surprise to many
given all the recent news about foreclosure alternatives like short sales,
and new loan modifications with principal balance reductions," said Sean
O'Toole, founder and CEO of ForeclosureRadar. "The simple reality is that
these programs won't help everyone and that foreclosures continue to be a
very effective way of eliminating negative equity, even if it is the choice
of last resort."

O'Toole said the increase in sales does not indicate an increase in the
speed of foreclosures. Rather, he said the time it takes to foreclose rose
slightly. O'Toole explained that there are signs that the foreclosure
timeframe will likely increase further in the coming months given the delay
seen in notice of trustee sale filings - up month-over-month from 142 days
to 188 days.

Although sales increased, notice of default filings dropped substantially in
March from the prior year. Last year, filings reached record levels when
lenders caught up on a

backlog of filings after delays caused by new notice requirements introduced
in the California Senate Bill 1137. However, notice of default filings
inched up 3.75 percent from February. In addition, notices of trustee sales
increased 17.5 percent from the previous month but fell 3.1 percent from the
same month last year.

As for foreclosure outcomes, third party purchases at foreclosure sales hit
a new record in March, crossing 4,000 properties for the first time with
combined purchases totaling more than $840 million. Third party sales jumped
11.04 percent from February and surged 266 percent from a year ago.

In addition, a total of 15,204 California foreclosures went back to bank in
March, up 28.14 percent from the month before and 66.33 percent higher than
March 2009. And 16,513 foreclosure cancellations were recorded, a 20.21
percent jump from February and a 159.97 percent increase from the same month
last year.

ForeclosureRadar said the increase in cancellations appeared to be primarily
driven by filing errors, as indicated by an early cancellation, or by
statutory requirement, as evidenced by the sale being postponed beyond the
maximum time allowed under law. Still, more than half of these cancellations
occurred mid-foreclosure, indicating a likely loan modification or short
sale.

The discount from market value that third parties received on foreclosure
sales increased slightly in March. At just 15.8 percent below market value,
ForeclosureRadar said it is likely that banks have hit the limits of what
they can extract from investors given the risks of purchasing at a trustee
sale. For those properties that banks take back at foreclosure sale, the
opening bid was an average of 31.3 percent higher than market value, clearly
removing any possibility of an investor purchase.

The data on foreclosure inventories was mixed. There were an estimated
157,768 pre-foreclosure filings in March, up 12.59 percent from February but
down 12.06 percent from a year ago.

Like February, properties exiting the foreclosure process nearly matched the
number of new notice of trustee sale filings, leaving the number of
properties scheduled for sale nearly flat on a month-to-month basis.
However, the number of properties scheduled for sale was up 71.95 percent
compared to March 2009.

While the number or properties going back to bank jumped in March, so did
the resale of bank-owned properties. This left real-estate owned (REO)
inventories almost unchanged from February to March. Compared to the same
month last year, REO inventories were down 26.52 percent.

Promote your business and
services online and offline, find out when our next mixer is.

Connect with other successful
women

Real Estate Investing Education,
take advantage of today's real estate market

Build Your Business-Drive Your Dream Promo
Code: legend

www.TotalSolutionsAlliance.com

Connect with me on Facebook
Twitter LinkedIn

via Ping.fm

Posted via web from Total Solutions Alliance LLC