A book on "How to Stop Foreclosures" was spotted in the trash of local family moving to a rental after giving up a 7-year fight to get a loan modification from the Bank of America.
More local jobs are being advertised and more local homes are being sold recently.
Jeff Mowry of Jennings Realty in Pine Mountain sent data last week indicating that 75 percent more Mountain Community homes were sold in 2011 than were sold in 2007. The good news comes with a shadow side of course. The median price per home is just a little over 40 percent of what it was in 2007, and foreclosures are continuing. Still, there are more Help Wanted ads in this newspaper [pages 18-19] this week than there have been in over a year. Jobless rates are down, and the upswing in corporate profits in this state is breaking records.
Workers are being hired for the Dollar General Warehouse in Lebec. First Solar’s building hold-up has been resolved, company representatives said.
Rehiring has begun for construction crews in the Western Antelope Valley, officials say.
In foreclosures, local realtor Andrea Rincon explained that specific banks are working with specific realtors locally.
She often arranges “cash for keys” for homeowners who have Bank of America loans. “Some people have been trying to modify their loans for years, and are just giving up,” she said. “Sometimes we can work with the banks to help people out with time and details. They often feel like a weight has been lifted, to get it behind them.”
Mowry sent this data:
Year Median Price /Apx. No. Sold
2006 $290,000 117
2007 $299,500 113
2008 $212,500 113
2009 $165,000 159
2010 $133,628 187
2011 $123,000 196
Rincon said she has seen only two rescinded sales out of over 160, so purchasing distressed properties has become more reliable.
“Conventional FHA financing is usually not available, though,” Rincon said, “because these homes are sold ‘as is’ and they usually are not in perfect condition.”
Meanwhile, the New York Stock Exchange reported this week that trading closed at levels not seen since 2008.
—By Patric Hedlund
This is part of the March 02, 2012 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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