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Top 10 Western Cities Where Homes Are Losing Most Value

22. December 2009

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Merced, Stockton and Modesto top Forbes Magazine’s list of cities where homes are losing the most value. Of the top ten cities, eight are in California. See the entire list here> Read the entire Forbes Magazine article here>

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Local Home Buyers Finding Themselves Outbid

14. December 2009

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Prospective home buyers might expect good prices for homes in the Sacramento area in the wake of the foreclosure crisis, but a new trend is emerging: Bay Area investors are sucking up Sacramento real estate and turning them into rentals. Read the rest of the article here>

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Mortgage Rates Fall to New Low

3. December 2009

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Long-term mortgage rates fell to a new low this week, with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 4.71 percent in the week ending Dec. 3, the lowest rate since at least 1971, when Freddie Mac started keeping track. A year ago, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.53 percent. For homeowners who can afford a higher monthly payment, 15-year fixed-rate [...]

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Schwarzenegger Signs Seven Mortgage Laws

13. October 2009

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In a flurry of end-of-session bill signings, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger approved seven new laws that provide a range of consumer protections to home-mortgage holders and may allow some to hold on to their houses. Read the rest of the LA Times article here>

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CA Posts Third Highest Foreclosure Rate in August

10. September 2009

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California had the nation’s third highest state foreclosure rate during August, with one in every 144 housing units receiving a filing, according to online foreclosure marketplace RealtyTrac. California REOs dropped 32 percent from the previous month, but the state continued to post the highest overall total of any state, with 92,326 properties receiving a foreclosure filing [...]

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Visionary Home Builders Offering Homebuyer Education Classes

26. August 2009

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(Stockton, CA)  Visionary Home Builders is offering Homebuyer Education Classes at their Homeownership Center every Saturday. The one-day class reviews all aspects of home purchase, including understanding credit scores and good faith estimates, budget analysis, housing payment affordability, and how to develop your home buying team. The Homebuyer Education Class satisfies the Housing and Urban Development [...]

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Sacramento-area Prosecutors Focus on Mortgage Fraud Crime

10. August 2009

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Prosecutors in the Sacramento area have taken varying approaches to the surge in real estate fraud. Some, such as El Dorado County, have devoted more resources, while others have used existing anti-fraud units. Nationwide, the number of suspected cases of mortgage loan fraud has increased from 52,868 in 2007 to 64,816 in 2008, the FBI [...]

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Why Are Mortgage Rescue Plans Slow to Materialize?

3. August 2009

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About a month after taking office, President Barack Obama launched an effort to keep as many as 9 million homeowners out of foreclosure in a major federal effort to stabilize the U.S. housing market. What kind of impact has this plan, backed by $50 billion from the financial industry bailout fund, had on the housing [...]

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City Ranks 5th in Foreclosures

31. July 2009

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Stockton has shed its title as the nation’s epicenter of foreclosures, and a steady decline in filings over the past 12 months could indicate the county is nearing the bottom of the housing market, experts said. Read the rest of The Record article.>

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Capital-area Cities Pursue Housing Rehab Funds

7. July 2009

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In Elk Grove, moderate-income buyers of foreclosed homes can get up to $30,000 in low-interest loans from the city to help make their purchases. In Roseville, city officials are crafting a down-payment assistance program aimed at buyers of bank-owned residential properties. Business as usual? Hardly. These are the efforts of cities working double-time to qualify for millions [...]

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