Riverside and San Bernardino counties experienced record high numbers of foreclosures in March. This rise in foreclosures was not due to increased homeowner default but the delayed result of defaults that took place a month or more in the past. State law which requires lenders to postpone issuing a notice of default (NOD) for 30 days while working to modify loans delayed many foreclosures, as did several federal programs. As the new foreclosure highs show, no mandated or voluntary loan modification plan has been successful in stopping Inland Empire foreclosures.
first tuesday take: Bad news for huge number of speculators/investors who jumped into the market last year with gleeful (and ignorant) abandon, driving sales volume up and inhibiting the drop in sales prices. Problem: this year may find only necessitous buyers of principal family residences getting in on the action. Too bad for the market. Fundamentals have returned to the single family residence (SFR) market, and the rent-to-price ratios are once again near normal (one percent monthly rent for the price paid) — and, interestingly, will get better for every buyer through 2011— but those ratios won’t hurt income property investors who pick up SFRs later this year.
Re: “Inland foreclosures surge in March after law’s delays expire”, from the Press-Enterprise
