Regardless of the area of the state of California from San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento or any town or city in between they have been effected by the global economic meltdown caused in large part by the mortgage meltdown that preceded it.
Foreclosures are in no short supply in California as the state ranks #1 in this dubious honor. This much higher number of foreclosures is in large part due to its incredible success in several economic areas and abysmal failure in other areas of the State's health overall. Regardless of the causes of the situation the facts are that foreclosures in California lead the country and this incredibly high number could seem like a bust for the residents of the state or if seen another way could very likely been California's next boom.
As the third largest state and the state with the highest population, California has nothing if not opportunity. Combined with the fact that the unemployment rate in California is the fifth highest as of 2010 at 12.4% by contrast the unemployment rate in 2007 was 5.9%, on par with the national average. This sky rocketing of the unemployment rolls is made all the worse by the fact that California itself ranks in the Top 10 of all the economies of the world. This means millions of people are out of work in California. Yet this is still good news for the savvy investor in that all of the negatives listed above lead the trained eye to once again see what looks like California's next boom.
As the real estate market continues to reset itself and prices continue to adjust and mortgages also continue to adjust, more and more Californians will lose their homes by merely walking away from what appears to be an untenable situation. If the average home in California has lost 20% of its value than the average mortgage will take 5 additional years before it starts to build its first dollar of equity.
This is negative equity position sometimes referred to as being underwater or upside down on the mortgage is motivating more and more Californians to stop paying their mortgage as the insult is exacerbated by injury when the mortgage rate is adjusted upwards and quickly becomes unaffordable on its own.
You should be buying homes that have gone to foreclosure. Buying as many homes below market as your credit can withstand. Why buy in a down market? Buying in a down market and not trying to time the market to purchase on the exact day that the market sees its lowest point will allow the smart investor to buy more foreclosed homes and rent them out before buying additional homes and repeating the process. Remember all of those people that lost their homes will still need a home to live in and provide their family shelter. This is where the greatest boom in recent history for the state of California will come from. If you are not in the game, get in the game.
California is made up of 58 counties with the largest most populated being Alameda county, Butte County, Contra Costa County, El Dorado County, Fresno County, Humbolt, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Marin, Merced, Monterey, Napa, Orange, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Fransisco, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbra and Santa Clara.
If you are buying or looking to buy in any of these counties you are more assured of a quick resale or rent out than in most places in the rest of the country. More than 75% of the state of California lives in the above handful of counties and the population of Los Angeles alone is larger than the entire population of 42 other states.
Meanwhile the economy in California has hit a perfect storm. A slow economy, unemployment figures that have not been seen in the Golden State since the great depression and a state deficit that has broken through the 26 billion dollar ceiling. This is the definition of "Buy low, Sell high" as the foreclosure number keeps piling on top of the last.
The economy no matter how dismal it may look presently will rebound and when it does the winners in the battle will be those that invested in the low period of the market and that low period is right now. To wait and try to time the market perfectly will leave the skeptical investor out of the best opportunity to become wealthy and the average home buyer if not buying now, when?
To wait for the recovery means to lose out on the equity that will rise nearly as quickly as it fell. The California economy is strong and diversified. From agricultural concerns to the high tech industry, military and aviation, California doesn't have the size of economy that it does because it is singularly focused. It is one of the Top 10 economies of the world because of its reach into most of the industries that the world depends upon. The leading export of California is not oranges or the film industry. It is computers and electronics. The other industries of California merely compliment each other to create a rich and powerful force for the world and that size and scope will bounce back faster than any other.
Leading the economic recovery and therefore the housing recovery will be the incredible amount of migrants to California. With a yearly population growth of 3% the need for housing will not somehow dissipate but will instead need to grow with the increasing amount of new citizens.
Read more about how to buy foreclosures and educate yourself on the communities you are most interested in buying a foreclosure and start shopping here for the foreclosure home that meets your needs. If you are facing a pending foreclosure call a local real estate professional and determine what types of options you have. Your options will depend on your particular situation. Other variables in California include but are not limited to, where a home is located, density of that areas population, which can vary greatly in California, how much is owed on the home and how much the particular home is worth in today's market. Real Estate markets in parts of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbra and San Diego appear to be among the most stable in the state with some pockets of depression in each but with an average price which is more stable than the national average.
Q. Does the higher number of foreclosures mean that there are too many homes already for the population?
