Call me busy or just someone who has his priorities wrong, but I finally made time to update the loan activity charts for February 2008.
I was not in any way thinking that I would see any signs of an improved real estate market especially after seeing how few home sales occurred in February.
You probably don't need to be reminded that lenders have tightened their lending requirements and there have been a number of foreclosures in Santa Barbara County.
These foreclosures have had an effect on all the communities but have caused Santa Maria and Lompoc's real estate market to struggle for a number of reason. The biggest issue is lower home values caused in great part to the lenders doing everything they can to get foreclosed properties off their books. These lower home prices are the reason many people can't refinance out of their existing loans. The properties are under water or don't have any equity.
So, you might ask, when is the good news coming? 
After looking at the lending activity charts for February we may be seeing a change in our real estate market.
Both the Santa Barbara and Lompoc communities saw the largest number of residential refinances occur since October of last year.
Santa Maria had an upward number as well and was just a couple of refinances away from having its best month since October of 2007. Combine that news with the increase in home sales in that area from January to February and you might surmise things are moving in the right direction. 
It's hard to imagine a better situation for all of us than to see the refinance business get moving again. I think with the increased underwriting and the new laws about predatory lending the new loans should be pretty rock solid loans that hopefully are helping homeowners get out of the pinch they found themselves in because of the loans they originally took.
Just the fact that these areas are seeing increased lending activity makes me think that appraisals and property values may be stabilizing to some degree. I think the next sign we should see is an increase in the number of home sales. I wouldn't expect that to be to far off, but I don't expect it to happen until after the tax man cometh.
I welcome your thoughts.
I know this is going to come off as some kind of understatement, but I'll write it anyway. "This is a very interesting Real Estate Market!"
Updating the numbers for the Foreclosures Trends is just like updating any of the other numbers I look at each month, Crazy!
If you remember when I first started this chart it was a little void of much historical data for the number of loans that are adjusting here in Santa Barbara County. As you can see we are starting to see a trend there.
The number is down to 41 in February. I can tell you the number will go up to the 180 mark as soon as May, so don't think we have seen the end of that.
You can also see from the chart that the number of Notice of Defaults that are recorded seems to have plateaued in the 280 range for the last couple of months.
This in turn affects the number of properties going back to the banks reflected in the number of Trustees Deeds being recorded. February had 95 of those record down from 98 in January. This will cause the number of bank owned listings to increase in the coming months.
The number of Bank owned Properties that sold in February rose to 24. This is a relatively good sized increase over the 17 in January and December that were recorded. I would expect to see this number be pretty consistent over the next few months. It may rise some as well since the number of Trustees Deeds has been pretty high for the last couple of months.
I think the key is going to be what is happening with the number of Notice of Defaults recorded in the coming months. If that number grows even though the number of loans adjusting has decreased then we can guess that those loans aren't as big a problem as once thought.
See You In Escrow!
"Save Coast Village Road" is one groups cry!
The firestorm that has surrounded the 76 station on Coast Village Road is causing some real debate.
Over at Santa Barbara's Blog, they received over 35 comments on the subject including one from me.
I personally am not as well informed as I should be on this topic and I am guessing others may be in the same boat. I do know Jeff Farrell, who is a very active and giving community leader has spoken out against the proposed project that is under consideration. Many of the neighbors have as well.
If you read all the comments on many of the local blogs you may find that many of the folks in this community are o.k. with what is being proposed. John Price and his comments certainly seem understandable.
I thought I would do as comprehensive a job as I can to put up some links to any and all the websites and articles that may be appropriate. Read on and make your own decision. If anyone has a link or information to include just post a comment.
Thanks!
Mark did a very good job of reviewing the number for 2007 and putting them in to perspective. Some of his comments outlined how the vacancy rates we have here locally are some of the lowest in the State. He also spoke about how the lease rates have continued to rise.
If you are buying, selling or refinancing property in Santa Barbara County, give us a call. We are here to make it easy!
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