Alhambra Real Estate
Alhambra Homes For Sale - Investing in Real Estates of Alhambra, CA

The Foreclosure Storm

by Lee Lieberg

October 15, 2007

The news is constantly reporting about the increased volume of foreclosures and how they drive values down. I thought it called for an analysis of Alhambra to see what type of activity we have had. The foreclosures that started in the outer lying areas with the first time buyers using sub prime mortgages are now beginning to spill over to the more established higher value communities closer to Los Angeles.

In the 90’s, the real estate cycle was triggered by a recession. Starting at the top end of the market and trickling down. The current downturn, sparked by sub prime loans, is unusual in that it started at the bottom of the market and is working its way up.

The simplified foreclosure process is as follows - 1. There is a Notice of Default period. 2. The lender must post a Notice of Sale. 3. A Trustee’s Sale is then held. 4. If no one buys the property at the Trustee’s Sale, then title is transferred to the lender. At this point the Lender sells the property, as what most people think of, as a foreclosure.

The Trustee’s Sale is the measure that I will use for my comparison. It is important to note that not every Trustee’s Sale that is posted ends up in foreclosure. So far, most borrowers have been able to borrow from another source to repay the debt, restructure the loan, or do a short sale to keep from going to foreclosure. But there is a correlation between Trustee’s Sales and Foreclosures that I will use to show the activity.

In Alhambra, according to data from MRMLS Realist, there were no Trustee’s Sales posted for 2006. In 2007, for April there was one, July there were two, August there were three, September there were five, and for October there are ten scheduled. This is a newsworthy trend and a total of 21 year to date. To put that in perspective however, those cities in what I call the middle of the storm, like Palmdale has had 437 and Lancaster has had 404. A little closer to home, West Covina has had 74, even San Marino has had four Trustee’s Sales posted this year.

Most don’t expect the West San Gabriel Valley to have anywhere near the number of foreclosures as those areas, but if it continues to worsen in the middle of the storm, look for it to worsen here on the edge as well.

Here are the recent numbers for Alhambra
 

*Data was obtained from California MLS Alliance and deemed to be reliable. Lee Lieberg can be contacted at lee.lieberg@dilbeck.com.