Frederic A Din ~ Imperial Valley REALTOR

Find and Buy Foreclosure Bargains in Imperial Valley CA

First time home buyers, trade-up buyers, investors and bargain hunters are able to easily search and find Foreclosure bargainst to buy in Imperial Valley.

Home buyers can search properties in three foreclosure categories, PreForeclosure, Auction (Trustee Sale), and Bank Owned homes.

"I'm giving home buyers another choice when it comes to searching the internet for their dream home" says REALTOR(r) Frederic Din of EXIT Stepping Stone Realty, who is offering clients a value added search on his websites and blogs.

"It's simple, enter a city or zip code in the search bar below and select from one of three foreclosure categories to find and buy your foreclosure deal in Imperial Valley CA", says Frederic.

Search from areas within Imperial Valley such as Brawley 92227, El Centro 92243, Calipatria 92233, Westmorland 92281, Imperial 92251, Heber 92249, Holtville 92250 and other cities throughout the area.

If you find this search tool to be valuable in helping you find your dream home or bargain deal, contact Frederic and let him represent you as your buyers agent in the home purchase transaction.

Take a few moments to leave your comments on how you used the search to find your dream home.

Frederic Din, CA DRE License #01274420

Local Press Confirms What I've Said All Along

As a REALTOR® in Imperial County, CA I provide value opinions known as BPOs (broker price opinions) and CMAs (comparative market analysis) for a variety of private and professional clients and track housing prices for neighborhoods and areas throughout Imperial County for my home buyers, short sales, and REO disposition clients.

I am interested in news stories regarding our local housing market, whether positive or negative. News articles allow me the opportunity to digest the information and interpret housing trends for my clients. Local IV Press confirms what I've said all along.

Elizabeth Varin, a staff writer with the Imperial Valley Press wrote an article regarding housing prices in the El Centro CA area or Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) entitled "Housing Prices Fall in EC Area".

The article confirms what I've said all along, "it's a great time to buy a home in Imperial County, CA".

In the article Ms. Varin quoted various statistics from the popular consumer real estate website http://www.zillow.com/profiles/ivforeclosures as a source for housing prices.

Zillow maintains their "Zestimate® is accurate "...depending on the home data received...in your area". Zestimate® home data is pulled from public record data and "is public because it's the consumers right to have access to information about ... their home" value.

The "Value Range" associated with the Zestimate® provides a low and high range for value associated with the property.

In short, the median home prices that Zillow provides are based upon their Zestimate® and Value Range as described above.

Historically relying on these types of values can potentially be skewed in terms of the low range, or be off the mark based on the high end.

As a service to my home buying public, I pulled out my Imperial Valley housing stats to review any differences or discrepancies in the housing price data.

In September 2008, the median housing price for Imperial County was $165,000, which is 26.67% less than the September 2009 median housing price of $121,000. The median house price for October 2009 is $120,000, a negligible price difference. Median sales prices from April through August 2009 remained only slightly higher than September.

While housing prices have noticeably dropped during the last few years, there are certain areas and neighborhoods in the County which are experiencing slight value increases and stabilization.

Coupled with the extended Home Buyer Tax Credit of $8,000 for first time buyer will assist those making the move through mid-2010 is expected to bolster home sales. In addition to extending the first time buyer tax credit, a new $6500 tax credit for existing home owners was introduced.

What does this mean to home buyers in today's market?

All of this good news means one thing; it's a great time to buy a home in Imperial County. So whether buying you're first home or your dream home, one thing is clear, housing prices are down about ½ from their previous lofty prices a few short years ago.

If you're in the market to buy a home, talk to me, Your Imperial Valley Housing Specialist about your favorite neighborhood, this way I can help you find the right home at the best price in the market today.

July 2009 Housing Stats for Imperial County compared to July 2008

Housing Stats for Imperial County, CA (also known as Imperial Valley, CA)

Recently I reviewed listing service data for JULY Housing Sales stats for Imperial County, CA
homes, including condo/townhomes (attached) and single family (detached) homes and compared them to housing stats of July 2008 to spot any significant trends of use to my readers, potential home buyers, and investors. The following is a compilation of my analysis comparing July 2008 and July 2009.

July 2008 - The number of SOLD homes: 76
July 2009 - The number of SOLD homes: 125
Increase of 39.2% from 2008

July 2008 - Average SOLD price: $204,359
July 2009 - Average SOLD price: $126,485
Decrease of 38.1% from 2008

July 2008 - The Median SOLD price: $196,000
July 2009 - The Median SOLD price: $128,500
Decrease of 34.4% from 2008

July 2008 - Average SOLD Price % ~vs~ Listing Price:98.13%
July 2009 - Average SOLD Price % ~vs~ Listing Price: 99.66%
Virtually unchanged - Increase of 1.5% from 2008

July 2008 - Average PRICE per Square Foot: $111.65
July 2009 - Average PRICE per Square Foot: $77.60
Decrease of 30.5% from 2008

July 2008 - Average MARKETING Time (known as DOM): 103 Days
July 2009 - Average MARKETING Time (known as DOM): 65 Days
Decrease of 36.9% from 2008

July 2008 - Average SALES Cycle Time (known as True DOM): 174 Days
July 2009 - Average SALES Cycle Time (known as True DOM): 71 Days
Decrease of 145% from 2008

Sales by City/2008/2009
===================
El Centro - 25 / 23
Brawley - 5 / 20
Calexico - 22 / 24
Calipatria - 0 / 1
Heber - 4 / 14
Holtville - 3 / 4
Imperial -14 / 37
Salton City - 2 / 2
Seeley - 1 / 0
Westmorland -0 / 0
TOTAL: 76 / 125

If you have questions about the Imperial Valley area, please feel free to contact me if you're thinking about buying, selling, short sale, or want to modify your mortgage to your Imperial County, CA home.

I'd like the opportunity to provide you with up to date information, along with a customized housing
market analysis and plan that will surely keep you ahead of the real estate cycle curve.

Looking to buy a home? Get your own customized Home Search for up-to-date information of homes that fit your home buying needs in all areas of Imperial County including foreclosures, bank owned, REO, short sale, and market listing homes. Some homes may be probate or estate sales, as well there may be fixer-upper homes at various price levels from $15,000 to $250,000 depending on the area, style, size, age and condition of the home.

Thanks,
Frederic Din, REALTOR(r)
Your Imperial Valley Housing Specialist
619-241-4415 cell
info@ivforeclosures.com

http://imperialvalleyreo.com

All information herein is deemed accurate, has not been verified and is not guaranteed.

Loan Mod Fail Think Short Sale

It's not just a catch phrase, it's serious thinking.

If you're attempting a loan modification to keep your home, your bank and lender LOVE you since they're trying to find a way to keep you in debt (they will not be lowering your loan balance). Sure, they may lower your monthly payments for 6-months or even 5-years but rarely do we see a long term modification that both impacts principal balance and the term(they happen, just not often at all).

Your debt is still much higher than what your home may be worth now however if your monthly payments are affordable you're able to keep your home, upside down and all.

Long term, it may not be so bad, however what happens in three or five years when your temporary loan mod reverts back to its regular terms? Then what?

Perhaps your bank or lender said "NO, we cannot offer you a Loan Modification", in that case you need consider Loan Mod Fail Think Short Sale. I posted some Questions & Answers regarding Short Sales for Sellers

Also, to help lighten the air, I found a great song that exemplifies the mantra, which can be viewed by clicking ---> Loan Mod Fail Think Short Sale




Do you have additional questions regarding a Loan Mod (loan modification) or Short Sale? Allow me to help and review your situation to determine the best course of action for your situation.

PS If you like the song, please vote for it and pass it along to others you know, thanks!

"Loan Mod Fail Think Short Sale is (c) 2009 by Frederic Din, all rights reserved"

The following is the print posting of a story in the Los Angeles Times regarding the Imperial Valley economy entitled "Deepening woes for the Imperial Valley" by bureau chief Tony Perry. Please comment below, I am interested in what you have to say. I call this version of the story, Imperial Valley: Hardship and Hope

From the Los Angeles Times COLUMN ONE

Deepening woes for the Imperial Valley The remote region in California's arid southeastern corner has a long history of hardship and hope.

Now, an economy in free fall has residents wondering how much worse it can get.

By Tony Perry

April 27, 2009

Reporting from El Centro, Calif. — The Imperial Valley is accustomed to the spectral look of failure: Houses around the Salton Sea have been abandoned for decades; the Planters Hotel in Brawley stood empty for years before it was destroyed by fire; Main Street in El Centro, the Imperial County seat, remains stubbornly vacancy-pocked.


But even by historical standards, the latest bust in the region's cycle of hardship and hope has been profound.

Never-completed subdivisions resemble movie lots waiting f8or a picture set in a typical Southern California suburb. Men who had found high-paying jobs building homes are back in the fields -- if they can find work at all. View the Audio Slideshow by clicking here.

Not even the dead are immune to the valley's woes. A huge sign warns that Memory Gardens Cemetery and Memorial Park, the final resting place for Imperial Valley residents for nearly a century, is in foreclosure.

"The valley has never seen things this bad, never," said Roy Buckner, Imperial County assessor and a lifelong resident of Brawley. "This is the worst."

Desperation has always had a place in the Imperial Valley's story.

Hard upon Mexico and the Colorado River in California's arid southeastern corner, the valley has never been an easy to place to live, not with its isolation, austere landscape and blistering heat.

Legend holds that a Franciscan friar traveling with early Spanish explorers declared it a "deadly place" and urged the group to move on. Naturalist John James Audubon took a look in 1846 and pronounced it "most melancholy."

Since the early 1900s, when buccaneer capitalists organized the Imperial Land Co. and began large-scale irrigation, its fortunes have depended on the unpredictable farm economy. In recent decades its unemployment rate has remained high -- sometimes the nation's highest -- even when the rest of the state is prosperous.

Name the state statistic, and Imperial County (population: 172,000) is usually near the top or the bottom, whichever is worse: per capita income, welfare recipients, families below the poverty line, elderly living in poverty and so on.

From 1983 to 1999, while unemployment statewide averaged 7%, unemployment in Imperial County was 27%. Last year, the county's year-end average was the highest in the state.

In March, the unemployment rate was 25.1%, the highest in the United States for any area with at least 50,000 people.



Farmworkers have always led the jobless ranks, but others have joined them: truck drivers, construction workers, retail salespeople and service industry employees. Teachers and school employees could be next. Even a repo man, after capitalizing on the economic downturn for months, is facing an uncertain future.

In a crowded classroom in an El Centro strip mall, some of the valley's jobless come to learn new skills and rescue what is left of their dreams.

Tony Arispe and two dozen other unemployed workers are studying to become pharmacy technicians. The 37-year-old Arispe lost jobs as a truck driver and bar manager and lost his home to foreclosure.

"I'm putting my family through misery right now because I'm not working," said Arispe, who is married with a 5-year-old son. His home, once valued at $285,000, he said, is for sale by the bank for $100,000 -- with no takers.

Carla Balbastro, 34, lost her job at a lumber company in August. Then she had to move out of her apartment. "I felt like a failure," she said. "I didn't even know how to tell my parents."Now she lives with them in Calexico.

Jose Gastelum was laid off by a cellular-telephone outfit. "I was planning to get a house," the 23-year-old said.

Instead of shopping for a home, he's worried about not making the next payment on his car. "I get kind of depressed," he said. "I don't have the life I used to have."

The class is run by the Imperial Valley Regional Occupational Program. Roberto Avila, who has worked for the training program for 15 years, finding jobs for veterans, has started for the first time to counsel job seekers to look outside the county.

The program's superintendent, Mary Camacho, said of the unemployed who seek help: "They come here so very desperate it makes you cry. I want to stop their bleeding, but often I can't."

Imperial County's main cities -- Brawley, El Centro and Calexico -- are residential and commercial islands amid vast cultivated fields, with major streets chockablock with fast-food restaurants and small businesses. Larger shopping centers -- including a new Wal-Mart Supercenter in Brawley -- have begun to put pressure on smaller, older retailers.

Besides its 500,000 acres of cropland, the county is known for the smelly and environmentally endangered Salton Sea, the New River (once designated the most polluted in America), buggy-friendly sand dunes, the Brawley Cattle Call Rodeo and the Navy's Blue Angels, whose winter base is in El Centro.

The Pioneer Museum, across from Imperial Valley College just north of El Centro, is devoted to exhibits about the grit of the immigrants who arrived as farmers in the early 20th century: Koreans, Swiss, Greeks, Chinese, Italians, Portuguese, Mexicans, Filipinos, French, Lebanese, Japanese, East Indians and African Americans.

The museum also has an exhibit about the county's unofficial (and fictional) heroine: Barbara Worth, the plucky orphan who survives numerous challenges in a bestselling 1911 novel set in the valley.

"We're a lot tougher than people think," said Lynn Housouer, the museum's director of operations. "You have to be tough to survive in the Imperial Valley."

For Carlton Hargrave, operator of the Hometown Buffet in Calexico, the worst part is the uncertainty. With its buffet style and friendly atmosphere, his 400-seat restaurant has long been a popular spot favored by government employees, farmworkers and politicians.

With business down a third, Hargrave laid off 23 employees, many of whom had been with him for years. A recent lunchtime was the slowest day in his 16 years at the restaurant.

"Nobody knows when we're going to bottom out," Hargrave said. "I've laid off 40% of my employees, and I don't know if that's going to be enough."

Marco Recio, the repo man, is also feeling the pinch after months of reaping a windfall as banks and other lenders hired him to reclaim cars, trucks and farm and construction equipment. In a windowless room, his four employees search for debtors in phone books and on the Internet.

But people appear to be leaving the valley or getting better at eluding Recio. That's hurt his business as lenders have become more aggressive.

"They're hiring private detectives," he said. "It's the economy."

Mervyns stores in Calexico and El Centro closed when the chain went bankrupt. The Millie's Restaurant in El Centro and Western Auto in Calexico have closed, along with locally owned businesses that had endured for decades, such as Wright's Cleaners in El Centro, Pine Market in Holtville and Garcia Food in Calexico. Del Norte Chevrolet in Brawley, one of the oldest dealerships in the valley, went out of business. U.S. Gypsum laid off employees at its Plaster City plant.

Every Tuesday, the Imperial Valley Press has a front-page feature called "Tough Times." It's had stories about mortgage scams, the decline in sales-tax revenue and the scramble by local officials to lure businesses to the valley.

The most visible effect of the recession has been in the real estate market. Imperial County had the highest percentage of subprime 100% loans of any county in the state. More than 600 homes are in some stage of foreclosure. Prices are plummeting. "Short sales," in which banks agree to write down loans, are common.



Real estate agent Frederic Din, who on his blog has chronicled Imperial County's housing boom and bust, remembers the go-go years when couples with incomes below $30,000 easily got loans for $250,000 homes.

Part of the market was supported by a growing number of government workers in Imperial County, particularly in the federal and state governments.

But then many government employees, Din said, became obsessed with "keeping up with the Garcias" and bought homes bigger than their co-workers' -- often tempted by 100% financing.

"They were living beyond their overtime," he said.

Imperial Avenue, connecting Imperial and Brawley, was lined with billboards for subdivisions offering creative financing. Now a billboard warns, "Foreclosure Affects The Whole Family," while another advises, "Unlock the Truth: Question Your Mortgage Lender."

The county is bracing for a 5% drop in assessed valuation, which means a reduction in property tax revenue to pay for schools and local governments, on top of cuts in state and federal allotments.

There are, however, glimmers of better times ahead. Home sales are picking up. Camacho's program is trying to ensure that residents are in line for jobs with energy companies aiming to tap the desert's sun, wind and geothermal power and with construction firms that will build a major transmission line to link new energy sources to San Diego.

Boosters also hope that new Indian casinos will provide recession-proof employment, as the construction of two prisons did in the 1990s.

The Manzanita band of Kumeyaay Indians is seeking approval for an off-reservation casino in Calexico. In February, the Quechan tribe opened a casino and resort in Winterhaven on the valley's eastern edge, two miles from Yuma, Ariz., bringing 1,000 slot machines and 600 jobs. The grand opening was highlighted by the Flying Elvi from Las Vegas, a parachute team whose members dress like Elvis Presley.

But help seems far off to the unemployed.

Corina Garcia, 34, who learned on Christmas Eve that she would lose her job as a department supervisor when Mervyns closed, is back living with her parents and has interviewed with most of the valley's big-box retailers.

"I'm just not getting any response," she said.

Balbastro has spoken with employers but found many are offering only part-time work with no benefits. "I just hope I don't get sick enough to require a doctor because I have no insurance," she said.

Arispe misses being able to reward his son with a nice toy. "Used to be $30, no problem," he said. "Now it's a 99-cent Hot Wheels. If I pay more, my wife chews me out because it's not in the budget."

Still, Hildy Carrillo-Rivera, former crusading editor of the defunct Calexico Chronicle and now executive director of the city's Chamber of Commerce, believes Arispe and the others will eventually find work.

She has seen the valley rebound before: from the whitefly infestation in the 1990s, from the inflationary 1980s, from multiple devaluations of the Mexican peso.

"Imperial Valley has always been at the bottom of the bottom," she said. "We're used to fighting our way out of troubles. Now the whole nation is joining us. We'll dig our way out together."

tony.perry@latimes.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives. Article licensing and reprint options

Portions Copyright 2009 Los Angeles Times