RTC Mortgage Blog

Laguna Foreclosures Jump 66.7% Over Year

By, Kelli Hart, Orange County Register

The number of homes lost to foreclosure in Laguna Beach increased 66.7% over last year - the 10th highest increase in the county - recent MDA DataQuick foreclosure activity statistics show.

Though quarter-over-quarter foreclosures dropped slightly by two homes, the year-over-year figures jumped considerably for this beach town where finding a foreclosed home is often like finding a needle in a haystack.

Not so much anymore, in fact, some of these new foreclosures are hitting the beach market now.

The chart below breaks down the number of homes lost to foreclosure in Laguna Beach and the quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year change.

The number of homes with a notice of default filed, which triggers the foreclosure process after one or a series of missed mortgage payments, decreased by 24.4%. This actually supports the increase in foreclosed homes, because some of those homes in default eventually became foreclosures once the homes were taken by the banks.

The chart below breaks down the number of homes that received a notice of default in Laguna and the quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year change.

Local mortgage expert Richard Cirelli, president of Laguna Beach-based RTC Mortgage Corporation, makes the following observations based on this data:

• "Laguna Beach saw a larger appreciation rate than other markets during the boom years so there are more people with equity here than most other markets. As long as there is equity, owners are more likely to find a way to keep making their payments.
• "Laguna Beach has a higher percentage of executives and business owners and therefore a higher income than most other markets and presumably more cash reserves too. Many also owned other properties that they may have liquidated in order to survive. Now, that money has run out.
• "The low interest rates over the past few years were only for loans less than $729,750. Many Laguna buyers and homeowners owe more than that and therefore there are no programs to enable them to refinance to obtain a lower rate and payments. And if they did have a small enough mortgage, they probably couldn't document sufficient income to qualify.
• "The Loan Modification programs that were created were mostly geared to those that had Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loans which were capped at $417,000 prior to the Stimulus Package increases to $729,750. There has been little if any relief for larger mortgage holders."

Mortgage Rate Update:

As expected, this week's Fed meeting has adjourned with no change to key short-term interest rates. The post-meeting statement didn't bring any changes to the key verbiage that some had hoped to see. The Fed did say that the economy is improving, but did not change words from the previous statements that would have indicated they were expecting to start raising rates sooner than later. While not many people expected them to adjust rates at this meeting, some analysts are growing impatient and fear that waiting too long to start raising rates will cause more problems, particularly inflationary as the economy gains steam. This issue is widely debated but was the focal point of this meeting, so some market participants and economists are disappointed by its results.

Overall, the immediate reaction to the Fed statements have been fairly neutral for the bond market and mortgage rates. Rates for 30-year fixed rate mortgages less than $417,000 are still under 5%.