California Loans News

The 207 Goode Avenue Building owned by Maguire Properties may be an added factor to the company’s losses since last 2008. The asking rental rate in the said building is $4 per square foot a month. The 188,000-square foot building is still empty due to the high asking price amidst statewide situation of lowered demand and acquisition of office spaces. Maguire Properties has already reported losses amounting to $380 million during this year’s second quarter.

Local brokers and real estate information firms also calculated that the Goode Avenue Building may even raise its rental rate per square foot up to $4.35 inclusive of building service fees. Maguire’s most recent Glendale property is $1.63 higher than most Glendale office space rental rates.

The Maguire property rental rates are higher than most average asking prices in other areas, including the building service fees. Grubb & Ellis real estate firm has provided statistics for comparing the Goode Avenue Building rental rate per square foot a month with other locations. It is $1.02 higher than in downtown areas of Los Angles; $0.71 higher than in Hollywood and West Hollywood areas; $0.2 higher than in West Los Angeles.

Grub & Ellis further said that more than 1.2 million square feet of office spaces have been unoccupied. This vacancy rate in Glendale is at 20%.

Conversely, Maguire Properties’ spokesperson Peggy Moretti said that the $4 rental rate for their Goode Avenue Building may be opened to positive modifications. This is due to the recent selling of Guaranty Bank, Maguire’s lender, to Spain-based Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria. Moretti explained that Maguire may acquire allowances for their construction loan maturing next year on May. Hence, there might be discounts made available to prospective tenants.

Moretti added that Maguire Properties has no intention in selling the building to date.

Approximately two hundred school districts around the whole state of California have had unconstitutional bond sales amounting to a total of $1 billion. Attorney General Jerry Brown has disapproved of such deals.

The bond deals were made from 2002 to 2007. Brown further said that these deals should have not transpired as the constitution does not allow school districts to acquire supplementary debt in backing up taxpayer-approved bonds without considering votes from the public.

The reports of these bond deals reflected additional debts for the school districts involved. The bond records also presented data for higher property taxes payable until the next decade.

According to California public records, UBS AG and Piper Jaffray Companies have dominated the prohibited deals. The public records showed that these companies are four-fold higher than the national average for bond sales. San Mateo County treasurer Lee Buffington has expressed condemnation of the bankers’ “scheme”.

A particular case is what the Compton Unified School District experiences currently. The district refinanced $50.8 million in taxpayer-approved bonds in 2006. This was the district’s decision as they thought bankers could conserve the funds of the district. The bonds were to be used for fixing gyms and facilities of schools in the Compton district. However, Micah Ali, a school board member, said that there were no re-constructions made.

This move resulted to further problems. Vanguard Middle School Gym was closed due to unfixed roofing. Other schools in Vanguard also have unimproved school facilities like damaged backboards of basketball courts. Some parents have also expressed concern for their children playing outdoors due to the lack of school gyms.

Taxpayers now have the total debt to be paid until 2022. This is 15% higher than what would they have owed if the school districts have not gotten into the unconstitutional refinancing transactions.

Despite the long-running profusion of California’s real estate industry since year 2000, a market research firm has named ten California cities and communities as the majority of 2009’s twenty five declining housing markets across the nation.

Housing Predictor explained that the cities and communities included in their Market Forecast for 2009 were those having the highest probability of attaining the deflation forecast by the year’s end. Their probabilities were expected to be higher than 250 other local real estate markets included in the firm’s forecasts.

Housing Predictor has included the California territories of Fresno in the 8th position with -20.2% in housing deflation rates or home sales; Bakersfield is 9th, -19.3%; Riverside is 10th, -19.1%; San Jose is 12th, -18.5%; Anaheim is 13th, -18.3%; Los Angeles is 14th, -18.2%; Oakland is 15th, -18.2%; San Francisco is 17th, -17.6%; San Diego is 23, -16.1%; and Sacramento is 25th, -15.7%.

Detorit, Michigan was the first on the list of the Housing Predictor’s 2009 Forecast of Worst Housing Markets, having a -36.8% projected housing deflation rate. Manhattan, New York with -32.8% was second due to high increase in condominium and apartment sale prices. Grand Rapids, Michigan was third with -28.4%. And Phoenix, Arizona was fourth with 25.9%.

Third is now Grand Rapids, Michigan followed by Phoenix, Arizona where the fallout from the financial crisis is deflating home prices rapidly. Phoenix has been suffering through the housing depression in one of the worst crashes in the nation.

The Housing Predictor stated that without increased support from the government on housing assistance, the real estate statuses in the said states would not improve much rapidly.

However, Housing Predictor also recognized the increase in home sales, especially in the territories of California, Florida and Nevada; thus, chances of surviving the housing deflation could also be increased.

The California Association of Realtors (CAR) has released their latest report about home sales across the state. The monthly report stated that California home sales had increased 12%. The sales increase occurred in July this year and was compared with the home sales statistics of July in 2008. This also meant the 8.1% change in sales since June this year.

CAR president James Liptak explained that the sales increase may have been brought about by the federal tax credit. He also said almost 40% of first-time home buyers would have not purchased if no tax credit was offered.

CAR’s Unsold Inventory Index has indicated that even the timeframe for selling homes has improved. Last year, the time needed to sell homes in the market was 6.9 months. This year, the houses only stood unsold for 3.9 months. This index meant that the median time for the realtors to sell an existing home was only 39.9 days. It was 7.9 days earlier than last year’s median time for the same timeframe.

The existing home sales increase this year was the consecutive 11th month surpassing the sales of September 2008. In addition, the 19.6% decline in existing homes’ median price was still this year’s consecutive 5th month increase. The median price for California single-family detached homes was $285,480 in July, equal to a 3.9% price change since June this year. CAR localized statistics report also showed that 23 California locations have showed increased median home prices respective to their prices last year.

CAR further said that one case in point is the Sacramento region. Sacramento’s median home price has decreased 16.1%, accounting for the home sales decrease of 6.7% in July compared last year. But despite the down percentage, it was still 6% higher than the sales made in June this year.

Mercy Loan Fund, one of the Mercy Housing, Inc. services, has loaned Ventura County-based Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation (CEDC) an amount of $1.9 million. This loan would be for the establishment affordable rental housing at Valle Naranjal in Piru, Ventura County.

CEDC is one of the 410 loan grantees in 33 states across America approved by Mercy Loan Fund. Project manager Nicole Norori said that CEDC was allowed to pay the loan in “a timely manner” appropriate to the project’s development.

The housing project is estimated to provide 66 units for farm worker families with an income 45% lower than the whole area’s median income. It is also estimated that the farm worker families who could benefit from this CEDC-Mercy Loan Fund partnership is around 290 residents.

Moreover, aside from the house units, the Valle Naranjal housing project would have a neighborhood commons, to be comprised of a community center and garden, play fields for recreational sports and two tot lots. The development project site is at Santa Clara Valley’s rural area. This Ventura County location has a great concentration of farm worker families, who have very low incomes.

This project was initiated to address the scarcity of affordable housing available to low-income residents. Ventura County Ag Futures Alliance had a report that the ratio of available housing units to the number of Ventura County farm workers is not sufficient. There are at least 19,000, at most 36,000 farm workers in Ventura County alone, and the housing units available in the area are only about one thousand.

Furthermore, Ag Futures Alliance said that the limited housing units are even in overcrowded areas or are structures that are not well-maintained and inappropriate for living.

Meanwhile, details about the rental rates in the Valle Naranjal housing project have not been disclosed yet.

Chicago-based credit data analyzer TransUnion has released an anticipated report on California’s home loans payment trend. TransUnion said that the increase on the whole state’s delinquent mortgage trend would increase more than 14% until the end of the year. This percentage is way higher than what transpired last June, which is only 9.7%.

The delinquency is measured for unpaid home loans at least 60 days old or those in the foreclosure market.

Included in the delinquent mortgage trends are Los Angeles, and counties of Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino, and Riverside. Here are some mortgage delinquencies as acquired at the end of June: San Bernardino County accounts for 14.9% of late residential mortgages; and Riverside County accounts for 16.5% of late home building mortgages.

The rates for the two counties are respectively 12.6% and 13.9% higher than the first quarter’s end of 2007. And these were also higher than the national delinquency rates of the same timeframe – only 1.6 to 2%.

With reference to current normal national rates for delinquent mortgages, the whole state of California still has the higher rates. By the end of June this year, California’s delinquent mortgages are 3.9% higher than the national rates. Even with the projected year end rates, California would have more than 7.1% difference from the national rates.

On the other hand, TransUnion also predicted that California’s delinquent mortgage trend would improve by mid-2010. This optimistic outlook could be brought about by the lowering national status of delinquency rates. Ohio, for one, has already decreased delinquent mortgages by .22% during this year’s second quarter. North Dakota is projected to only have 1.4% delinquent rate by the year’s end. Moreover, TransUnion’s banking vice president F.J. Guarrera said that the initial step to making such positive predictions realized is through troubleshooting problems prior mortgage delinquencies.

With the constant influx of immigrants from across the United States of America and the world, California had enjoyed a constantly expanding real estate market.  There were some not-so-good years, but the outlook was generally positive for many years.  In the years since the Great Depression, property values increased year after year in the Golden State.  Seventy-six years, to be precise.

This year is different, and the change is for the worse.  For the first time in almost eight decades, California has posted a statewide low in property values.  While the statewide rate of loss is 2.4%, 14 of the 58 counties in California experienced losses of 5% or in excess thereof.

The northern part of the San Joaquin Valley for one felt a 9.9% stab to its real estate market, while greater Sacramento and the southern San Joaquin Valley were hit for 4.8% and 4.2% respectively.  These comprise the Central Valley, which is the worst damaged by the crisis.

These losses are caused largely by the many foreclosures happening across the state.  The situation is also aggravated by speculators moving in and buying up properties not for habitation but for resale later on.  Combined, these have had the effect of lowering expectations and stability in the Californian real estate market, hence the losses in property values.

It’s not all bad news though.  San Francisco posted a meaty 7.1% increase in property values, and is the only highly urbanized county in California to do so.  Still, that does not help the prices across the rest of the state.  Some foreclosed properties are even being sold for one-third of their value, a dismal state of affairs for the banks as well as the government coffers.

Like a sunny day in the Golden State, the rain providing relief is as yet nowhere in sight.

For decades, the state of California has been a favorite in the United States of America.  The culture of expression and freedom fostered in this state, along with its image of great weather and beautiful people, has made California one of the places to be.  This meant that real estate values were high and continued to rise year after year; until this year, that is.

For the first time in nearly eight decades of high times for the Californian real estate scene, property values have dropped.  Statewide, the total property values fell by about 2.4%, the first time since the gloom and doom of the Great Depression.  In some counties, the drop was even sharper.  Riverside County for example, experienced a shattering 10.5% loss in property values.  The only highly urbanized county that saw a significant rise in property values was San Francisco, with a moderate 7.1% increase.

The assessed value as of the 30th of June this year of taxable properties across the state was pegged at 4.448 trillion US dollars, a massive 107.2 billion US dollars less than last year.

Long story short, this means that the state of California will have less money to go around.  This will affect the various health, safety, and education programs.  Even more budget cuts loom in the future.  The health and safety sectors may expect some layoffs and tightened budgets.

Children may come back to school more densely-packed in classrooms, due to a lack of funds for new construction.
Are the heady days of excellent real estate over for California?  Those in the know say that this contraction may continue for months or years to come, and its effects will ripple across the fabric of the state.  There is no relief in sight, and so until then, Californians have to sit tight and weather the storm.

The California real estate scene has undoubtedly seen better days.  Amidst the current economic crisis, thousands of homeowners have felt threatened by the risk of foreclosure.  Many have already lost their homes and these cases are often public information, feeding the rising panic for those in immediate risk.

In their desperation, homeowners at risk of foreclosure have sought the services of firms and professionals claiming quick loan modifications with high success rates.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  In the past weeks, the Attorney General’s office under the initiative of Attorney General Jerry Brown have enforced measures to stop the propagation of scammers seeking to leech off of the widespread panic.

More than two dozen entities have been told to back up their claims of high and quick success for saving homes.  Over 400 companies and individuals are under suspicion of ripping off clients who pay up readily due to desperation.  These companies and individuals have been required to register and post bonds worth 100,000 US dollars at the Attorney General’s office, or face prosecution.

These actions are part of the program Operation Loan Lies.  A website has also been launched to assist those who feel that they may be being scammed.  The website is named “Stop Loan Modification Fraud” . On this site are the names of businesses who have registered with the Attorney General’s office to prove their intentions.

Since October of the last year, over a thousand complaints had been filed regarding loan modification scams.  As a result of these, legal actions numbering in excess of three hundred have been leveled against fraudulent businesses.  Sadly, the problem is much larger than that, due to the unprecedented boom in the formation of such companies.  The public should take note and take extra precautions in these times.

With the recent string of financial problems plaguing the economy of the United States of America, personal finances for many have been grim.  In California, one of the largest and most densely-populated states, many mortgagees have found themselves in the red and unable to pay their monthly installments.  As such, many of them have turned to loan modification as a way out.

Loan modification is the process by which the terms of a loan are changed.  Often, it is meant to lower the interest rate to give the mortgagee an easier time.  It is not a simple process and professional help is often sought.

In connection with this, a sudden rise in the founding of companies dealing with this type of business has been seen in California.  Many of these new companies have less than stellar reputations and were rather shady to begin with.  There have been stories of those who have been victims of scams by people under the guise of foreclosure consultants.

In that light, Attorney General Jerry Brown has ordered about 400 of these companies to post bonds amounting to a hundred thousand US dollars and to register at his office. Failure to comply will result in prosecution.

Additionally, over two dozen firms have also been asked to provide evidence or in some way defend the claims they make on their advertisements.  Over half of these companies under the watchful eye of the Attorney General’s office are found in the Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

Homeowners are often lured in with promises of excellent loan modification success rates, and readily pay money.  It is this desperation that scammers feed on, so everyone must be wary and vigilant.  Homeowners who seriously feel the need for loan modification and other such services should take care and make informed decisions before committing any money.