Considering Various Efforts Aimed At Keeping California Foreclosures From Increasing Drastically

By Jerry Springstein

Examining California's effort to keep the rate of California foreclosures down invariably means that one needs to examine how foreclosures went up over the last two to three years, much of which can be chalked up to rampant speculation. Additionally, California has been suffering from a number of structural defects in terms of its real estate markets for quite a while as well.

To begin with, it's pretty much been an accepted fact that California real estate is always pricier than the real estate in most other parts of the country with several notable exceptions (Honolulu, Hawaii and certain parts of New York City and Boston, Massachusetts market to name a few). Whether this high prices were really sustainable forever, is now being shown to be a falsehood.

Many people, though, believed that real estate out in California was going to increase in value pretty much forever. Of course, this totally disregarded the fact that economic cycles (and real estate plays a part in those cycles) will always go through an expansion and contraction, though it's the case that this particular contraction was put off for longer than is usually the case.

California also had a few structural defects in its real estate market that made it attractive in one way but that same attractiveness also was thought to be a detriment to the state and its ability to generate revenues in several other ways. In 1978, the people of the state pushed through a change to the California Constitution that limited property tax increases to certain predefined levels.

For anybody who was out looking at property in California, it's certainly the case that Proposition 13 tended to make Golden State real estate look attractive because of its damper on property tax raises. With taxes relatively reasonable, at least for California, a large number of buyers jumped into the markets over the decades. When the recession hit, though, the markets were bound to be affected more intensely than might usually have been the case.

Because of all these issues, California is being forced to dig itself out of a partly self-created hole that has only been deepened by the rate of CA foreclosures. One way it's doing so is through the "California Foreclosure Prevention Act, " which is a law aimed at trying to slow down the speed and the rate of residential foreclosures in the Golden State.

This is mainly done through what the state calls a 90 day "holding" period, which is added on to the normal time line that most standard foreclosures must adhere to. It is requiring that lenders wait an extra 90 days after they've sent a notice of default to be recorded before they can move to record and publish a Notice of Trustee's Sale. There are certain criteria that must be met, by the way.

Even though California foreclosures have climbed steadily to heights not seen just several years ago, that rate actually shows some signs of decline and improvement though there are an equal number of economic experts who say that it is sure to climb further in the future. At present, what's more important is that California is trying to stop the bleeding and stabilize its rate and force it down. There are many people who are hoping it succeeds, and soon. - 31862

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