Real Living Real Estate Professionals in Redding Announce Lowest Number of Foreclosures in 5 Years

Redding, CA, December 23, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Real Living Real Estate Professionals in Redding, California are pleased to announce that the third quarter of 2012 had the lowest number of foreclosures in over five years. Only three and a half years after peaking, the number of foreclosures in the state of California has dropped to it’s lowest point since the first quarter of 2007. After a long season of doubt and worry in the real estate markets, and the prediction of numerous additional mini-crashes within the housing market, it seems that the industry may truly be headed uphill.

Some of the primary factors influencing these positive numbers include the rise in the overall economy, a stronger housing market, and the increasing popularity of short sales among banks and homeowners as an alternative method of handling foreclosures. While speaking about our economy as “rising” is akin to calling your five year old son a “rising” football star after his first game with three tackles, the economy is in an undeniably better place today than it was three years. Massive layoffs are not a an everyday occurrence, at least until January 2013. Many companies all over the country are expanding and hiring. This holiday season, consumers came out in droves for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, both of which ended up beating last year’s sales by around 17-18%. On the micro level, the economy appears to be back on it’s feet, despite the terrifying numbers seen at the macro level. The U.S. national debt currently stands at over 16 trillion dollars. If an individual were to have spent one million dollars every single day since the birth of Christ, he or she would still have not spent a total of even one trillion dollars. There’s an interesting fact and a different perspective to ponder on Christmas day this year.

A stronger housing market is also to thank for the incredibly low foreclosure numbers this year. While this market has seen a somewhat uneven recovery, with the majority of new development coming in the form of condos and apartments rather than single family homes, increase is increase and at this point, is better than nothing. Additionally, many of the houses being bought are previously foreclosed upon homes rather than newly built houses. This is to be expected with the buildup of foreclosed homes sitting on bank ledgers, with no buyers in sight. With lower numbers of foreclosures each quarter, and employment ever so slightly on the rise, this trend can be expected to reverse down the road as foreclosed inventory is depleted to normal levels.

One of the last, yet major, influences on the drop in foreclosures has been the increasing popularity of short sales among banks and homeowners as an alternative to foreclosures in Redding. Rather than simply evicting a homeowner and reasserting ownership of a house, banks are allowing homeowners a chance to quickly (hopefully) sell their homes at an agreed upon price significantly lower than the amount still owed on the mortgage. This system allows the banks to make back a decent amount of their investment and more importantly, erases the number costs to the bank associated with foreclosure and resale. And for the homeowner, a successful short sale generally results in them no longer owing anything to the bank and leaving with a higher credit score than they would have gotten off a foreclosure.