PropertyRadar Blog

California Foreclosure Report Notes Big Lender Discounts In November

Written by PropertyRadar | Dec 14, 2007 8:00:00 AM

Banks and lenders start to aggressively discount at auction

Discovery Bay, CA, December 13, 2007 - ForeclosureRadar™, the only web site that tracks every California foreclosure with daily updates on foreclosure auctions, issued its monthly California Foreclosure Report today which showed a total of 12,282 properties with a loan value of $4.91 Billion dollars sold at auction in November. This was a 432 percent increase over the same period in 2006, and a slight reduction compared to October which had a total of 12,336 with a value of $4.968 Billion dollars. Although the month to month comparison appeared to decrease, the average daily sales actually increased 20 percent from October due to the fewer number of auction sales days in October versus November.

"A notable sea change occurred in November. Lenders are starting to aggressively discount properties" said ForeclosureRadar founder, Sean OToole. "As the only service that tracks opening bids at auction, we were surprised by the size of the discounts, and even more surprised that most still go back to the bank with no investor bidding."

The ForeclosureRadar report noted that the average lender discount was $48,000 in November, up from $9,000 at the beginning of the year. Also noted was the percentage of sales being discounted, which has doubled to 66 percent. Lenders are clearly becoming anxious to avoid taking on more real estate owned (REO) assets.

The following are examples of foreclosure auctions where the lender significantly discounted the opening bid from the amount owed on the loan. In the case of 8215 Shay Circle in Stockton, the home was purchased new in January, 2006 for $481,000. The loan defaulted in 2007 and the lender discounted the opening bid at auction in November to $240,000. This particular property went back to the bank with no investor bids.

Property Address

Loan Amount /Opening BidDiscount /Percent Discount

California Foreclosure Statistics By County

RankChange In RankCounty

NDFNTS SalesPopulation Per Sale% Change Oct 2007% Change Nov 200615

MERCED COUNTY 41228825397539%1481%2-1

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY 10836996641,0032%630%32

SACRAMENTO COUNTY 2011147011321,2247%355%43

YUBA COUNTY 10861571,22512%338%5-1

STANISLAUS COUNTY 9275334191,2283%525%6-4

RIVERSIDE COUNTY 2272218715841,233-3%458%71

SOLANO COUNTY 6313903151,34225%650%83

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY 12928416611,55721%536%91

KERN COUNTY 9366184791,6289%477%104

SAN BENITO COUNTY 4528331,74627%725%11-2

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY 1827157610721,858-8%489%120

PLACER COUNTY 3012161532,069-4%410%130

MADERA COUNTY 137102682,1230%656%141

SUTTER COUNTY 11463422,1772%250%151

LAKE COUNTYNDND 292,2114%222%1630

PLUMAS COUNTY 5492,383350%800%175

MONTEREY COUNTY 3882181702,49926%844%180

EL DORADO COUNTY 13979682,591-1%518%192

FRESNO COUNTY 6814233332,7019%693%20-1

IMPERIAL COUNTYNDND 612,7312%663%2110

SONOMA COUNTY3231871463,28735%535%221

ALAMEDA COUNTY4322764283,508-3%386%2321

GLENN COUNTYND483,581167%700%2419

TUOLUMNE COUNTY 1918163,639129%220%253

NAPA COUNTY 8041353,8416%3400%266

NEVADA COUNTY 5035263,84918%333%27-1

SAN DIEGO COUNTY 149113507933,867-6%210%28-8

YOLO COUNTY 11980493,885-25%600%294

TULARE COUNTY 2721561083,89519%370%30-3

VENTURA COUNTY 3572791874,371-16%450%31-6

TEHAMA COUNTYNDND 144,395-18%180%324

SHASTA COUNTY 10576394,65318%144%33-4

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY 140126894,737-11%345%341

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY 10166554,78615%323%353

BUTTE COUNTY 5433425,1728%200%363

KINGS COUNTY 6828275,47117%350%370

ORANGE COUNTY 8878985455,637-2%382%38-4

LOS ANGELES COUNTY 3654314316536,198-15%335%39-9

AMADOR COUNTY 221566,356-33%100%407

HUMBOLDT COUNTY 2213196,97590%533%410

SANTA CLARA COUNTY 6734062377,4820%339%429

SISKIYOU COUNTY 171067,691100%500%4310

MARIPOSA COUNTYNDND 29,108100%ND441

SAN MATEO COUNTY 15490749,7853%252%45-5

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY 114742510,494-38%733%462

MONO COUNTYNDND 113,5970%ND47-5

CALAVERAS COUNTYNDND 315,237-50%ND48-24

LASSEN COUNTYNDND 217,726-80%0%491

MARIN COUNTY 70311221,112-29%140%504

COLUSA COUNTY NDND 121,5120%ND514

MENDOCINO COUNTY 279422,6110%100%520

SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY 89362828,524-40%180%

CALIFORNIA FORECLOSURE REPORT METHODOLOGY

Rankings are based on population per foreclosure sale. NDF indicates the number of Notices of Default that were filed at the county, and NTS indicates filed Notices of Trustee Sale. Sales indicates the number of properties sold at foreclosure auction. Percentage changes are based on monthly Sales. The data presented by ForeclosureRadar is based on county records and individual sales results from daily foreclosure auctions throughout the state—not estimates or projections.