Stockton California Is The Foreclosure Capital Of The United States
Tuesday, 4. November 2008, 00:44:06
Melinda Fulmer, MSN Real Estate, reports that the foreclosure crisis has an epicenter in Stockton
California alone accounted for six of the top 10, and Stockton, California, took the top spot, with 3.69 percent of its housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the quarter.
Lancaster had 3,543 total filings between January and August 2008, the most recent data available from RealtyTrac. That is second only to Stockton, Calif. And if you include Lancaster's immediate neighbor to the west, third-ranked Palmdale, it has the highest concentration of foreclosure activity in one small area. (RealtyTrac is an MSN Real Estate partner.)
It wasn't a dwindling economy that brought crisis to this dusty town next to Edwards Air Force Base. It was a volatile combination of subprime lending, ignorance and greed.
Builders put up homes they shouldn't have in this commuter town an hour outside Los Angeles, says economist Edward Leamer, director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast. Then they relied on subprime loans to get lower-income buyers to stretch to afford them.
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"Now we have a larger number of homes that are not likely to find owners," Leamer says.
Locals also point to the large number of naïve, new house-rich homeowners who began using their home as a cash register, taking out lines of credit to buy RVs, three-wheel bikes and other expensive toys, before watching rates and gas prices tick up. "The attitude was 'I want it now,' " says Elizabeth Brubaker, director of the city's housing and neighborhood revitalization agency. "People got greedy."
Of the 4,063 homes listed as active on the Greater Antelope Valley's Multiple Listing Service in late October, 74% are owned by banks or are short sales.
And unlike other parts of the country, this crisis has touched just about every part of this town, from cracker-box starter homes to custom estates in gated communities.
On almost every street in Lancaster, you can find houses with brown lawns, lockboxes and tumbleweeds rolling in the backyard.
Yahoo Finance reports there are 9513 homes for sale in Stockton today
Trulia reports there are 7,052 foreclosures in Stockton today
California alone accounted for six of the top 10, and Stockton, California, took the top spot, with 3.69 percent of its housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the quarter.
Lancaster had 3,543 total filings between January and August 2008, the most recent data available from RealtyTrac. That is second only to Stockton, Calif. And if you include Lancaster's immediate neighbor to the west, third-ranked Palmdale, it has the highest concentration of foreclosure activity in one small area. (RealtyTrac is an MSN Real Estate partner.)
It wasn't a dwindling economy that brought crisis to this dusty town next to Edwards Air Force Base. It was a volatile combination of subprime lending, ignorance and greed.
Builders put up homes they shouldn't have in this commuter town an hour outside Los Angeles, says economist Edward Leamer, director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast. Then they relied on subprime loans to get lower-income buyers to stretch to afford them.
What’s your home worth?Find out what your home is worth in one easy step!
"Now we have a larger number of homes that are not likely to find owners," Leamer says.
Locals also point to the large number of naïve, new house-rich homeowners who began using their home as a cash register, taking out lines of credit to buy RVs, three-wheel bikes and other expensive toys, before watching rates and gas prices tick up. "The attitude was 'I want it now,' " says Elizabeth Brubaker, director of the city's housing and neighborhood revitalization agency. "People got greedy."
Of the 4,063 homes listed as active on the Greater Antelope Valley's Multiple Listing Service in late October, 74% are owned by banks or are short sales.
And unlike other parts of the country, this crisis has touched just about every part of this town, from cracker-box starter homes to custom estates in gated communities.
On almost every street in Lancaster, you can find houses with brown lawns, lockboxes and tumbleweeds rolling in the backyard.
Yahoo Finance reports there are 9513 homes for sale in Stockton today
Trulia reports there are 7,052 foreclosures in Stockton today
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