800-The percent increase of homes in California whose deeds reverted to bank ownership

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/25/BU44R6ES42.DTL

Foreclosures go through the roof
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 25, 2007

The number of Bay Area homes lost to foreclosure during the second quarter hit the highest level in almost two decades, and the region's homeowners also received a record-high number of mortgage default notices, according to a report to be released today.

California also set a record in the April-to-June quarter for the number of foreclosures, according to DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla. The foreclosure records date to 1988, when DataQuick began collecting such statistics.

Statewide, homeowners received the most mortgage-default notices since the fourth quarter of 1996.

...

"A combination of little or no appreciation, and, in some markets, depreciation, and some pretty funky financing that has come back to haunt some borrowers," said Andrew LePage, an analyst with DataQuick. "People used risky financing to stretch beyond their means. Now, in all likelihood, they're either experiencing payment shock because of a reset from a teaser rate, or they see (higher payments) coming and are throwing in the towel early, if they think (home) prices might go down more.

...snip



"pretty funky financing"??? is that a nice way of saying predatory lenders that laughed all the way to the bank as they wrote the "no doc/liar loans"

Through all of this mess, I hope the mortgage industry tightens up a few regulations here and there.

bad sales bad financing due to lenders giving loans to people that did not qualify... sure you can only afford a $ 400,000. home but what the hell buy a home that is 7-8 and then flip...that is what a lot of people were planning on ..

Jeb's Florida, Retard's Texas...

Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana....

California....

The correction cometh...and the correction taketh away...

Predatory lenders...manufacturing sector...hedge fund groups...

It has all added up...and it will get worse before it gets better.

...is that banks were allowed to loan exorbitant amounts of money to people who paid
little/no money down--and whose incomes weren't substantial enough to justify the loan
amounts. With those interest-only loans, consumers could afford just about any house--
with an average income.

When my husband and I were looking for a house, we were aghast at how banks would encourage
us to borrow a boatload. The banks weren't responsible or conservative. It was like a
free-for-all. We could have borrowed a half a million dollars and with that "funky financing"
the article sites--our first 24 payments would have been $600 per month!

Reputable, longstanding banks not only offered these ridiculous, irresponsible loans--they
encouraged people to take these loans, and people were enticed by the lure of living in
a McMansion.

The banks who loaned people this money provided the rope, and the people who took these
loans hung themselves with it. It's really a sad situation.

I live in the Bay Area and recently my next-door neighbor, who has a 70's tract-house and was offering it at, get ready, $850k, sold her house in less than two weeks. Even if a person could afford the mortgage, how on earth would you afford property taxes on top of that? I live in a very wealthy town and I rent. Sometimes it seems like I'm trying to keep up with the Jones' just living here. My only hope would be to find a foreclosure I could afford. I can't imagine over-extending myself to own a home, even if someone told me I could afford it.