Bellingham, WA foreclosure freeze?

In Bellingham, WA we are starting to see a decline in the number of short sale listings. Statistically we are down over 40% which hopefully is good news. Now it might not be because banks recently started being a lot more firm on their forgiveness guidelines. A few months ago banks and asset managers were forgiving this debt.

Now they are back to making struggling homeowners sign promissory notes or giving them 1099's on the forgave debt. So that could be a reason why we are seeing a reduction of these listings in Bellingham, WA.

On Monday in California implemented a freeze on foreclosures. The goal is to pressure banks into modifying home loans for struggling homeowners. My initial instinct is that this is a good thing. Homeowners need help! It is common knowledge that banks are raising billions of dollars http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124398503075879165.html#mod=djemTMB so the question begs, "is the rescission over?"

It doesn't feel like it here in Bellingham, WA yet, but the market is brisk, especially in home sales under $300,000.

If Washington State followed California, it would help to stabilize this market and hopefully it would start to spur the new construction market which is really struggling in Bellingham, WA. There are very few new construction starts here in Bellingham, WA. That segment of the market used to be a large part of my income.