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The Market Is In Transition And Yesterday’s Prices May Meet Resistance Today

A report from The Signal in California. “The sales inventory of homes and condominiums for the Santa Clarita Valley area rose for the eighth consecutive month as sales dropped and prices increased, the Southland Regional Association of Realtors recently announced. The 550 active listings at the end of the month were up 58.5 percent from a year ago, representing the eighth consecutive month-to-month increase in inventory.”

“Amanda Etchevery, chair of the Santa Clarita Division of the association added that the last time the supply was this high was in February 2012. In January, the association helped negotiate 103 single-family closed escrows and 51 condominium transactions, which were down 30 percent and 7 percent. Those totals came close to the record lows of 99 home sales and 31 condo sales. Both records were set in January 2008.”

“‘It’s good to see homeowners listing more properties in a market that desperately needs housing,’ said Tim Johnson, the association’s chief executive officer. ‘Now, the challenge for Realtors will be to convince those sellers that the market is in transition and yesterday’s prices may meet resistance today.'”

“The median price of homes sold last month came in at $587,000, the association reported. That was up 2.1 percent from January 2018, but down 2.2 percent from the December median price of $600,000.”

From L.A. Taco. “Silvia Venegas grew up in Van Nuys. Shecalls herself a ‘typical Latina Valley girl.t And now’s she in a fight the likes of which Los Angeles hasn’t seen since the dark days of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis. It’s a five-year-long battle involving three multi-billion-dollar corporations, alleged illegal lender maneuvering, and one family stuck in the middle during the city’s latest housing crisis.”

“She’s up against power players in a giant real estate machine, and beat them to a standstill – at least for now. In Venegas’s case, Ocwen foreclosed more than five years ago and then sold it to a hedge fund named Colony Capital, who then turned around and sold it off to another billion-dollar company called Invitation Homes. She’s been fighting the companies ever since.”

“‘For five years I have been living in limbo. For five years I have been living in fear. For five years I have been living in pain — every single year, especially when it comes down to Christmas time, or to my children’s birthdays,’ Venegas told L.A. Taco, wiping tears from her eyes. ‘They are so heartless. They won’t even talk to me, and take into consideration that I was the one wronged. I wasn’t the one that did anything wrong.'”

“How that happened starts in 2010, when Silvia’s suffered from a ruptured hernia. She couldn’t work. In 2011, she filed paperwork with Ocwen Loan Servicing for a loan modification of her mortgage of $2,300 a month.”

“She obtained a loan forbearance agreement until 2013. She was applying for another loan modification agreement, when the company foreclosed on her, according to Philip E Koebel, her former attorney. In the years, since Ocwen initially foreclosed on her home, Silvia has had to file chapter 13 bankruptcy, fight a losing battle to regain title of her home, and fend off forced eviction suits against her.”

“‘She has fought five and a quarter years longer than what’s supposed to have happened,’ said Koebel. ‘I told her many times that she needed to settle and give up. Ocwen made this dual tracking mistake, but you can’t sue to recover the property. You can only sue to recover damages.'”

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This Post Has 30 Comments

  1. Get a hernia, live for free 9 years. What a country.

    ‘The 550 active listings at the end of the month were up 58.5 percent from a year ago, representing the eighth consecutive month-to-month increase’

    Holy shack flood Santa Clarita!

    ‘Now, the challenge for Realtors will be to convince those sellers that the market is in transition and yesterday’s prices may meet resistance today’

    Get to slashin’ and a sawin’ Tim. But if yesterdays price is no bueno, what’s it gonna look like in six months?

    1. live for free 9 years

      While collecting rent! Two mentally ill kids, what a shame, but Silvia that’s genetic.

      1. A common denominator in at least half of these FB sob stories is a single mom with no father in the picture to provide for his offspring or family. I’m guessing a litany of poor choices coupled with a complete absence of accountability contributed greatly to the “victimhood” we see on display here.

          1. “The article mentions the husband, doing freelance auto work in the driveway.”

            Unless I am mistaken there is a picture of her husband Jorge standing next to Silvia in the L.A. Taco piece and he looks pissed.

    2. These fake sob-stories from the libtard media are just like the Jussie Smollett crap. The media loves to create “victims.” In this case, the victim if there ever was one is actually the lender who is getting burned, big time.

    3. A lot of people on single incomes don’t stretch their budget to buy real estate because they know, if they get sick and can’t work for even a few months, the payments will destroy them financially. Not sure how to react to this story. It’s hard hard to believe it didn’t cross this person’s mind before buying a house on one income that, if she got sick or lost her job, she’d lose the house and probably whatever she invested in it.

    4. Q: Why did the REALTOR cross the road?

      A: To lie to a used house buyer on the other side.

    1. Camarillo had an insane asylum back in the day. Maybe we can repurpose it to hold destitute Realtors and mortgage brokers?

  3. https://datausa.io/profile/geo/santa-clarita-ca/

    Median income 85K, median house price 418K. Wow

    “The median price of homes sold last month came in at $587,000, the association reported. That was up 2.1 percent from January 2018, but down 2.2 percent from the December median price of $600,000.”

    I google map this area. Holy sh*t it’s out there in no where. 600K to commute to LA or who knows where….

    1. And the numbers get even worse when you go to other states where median income is less than $50k but median house prices are almost $400k.

      1. $50k but median house prices are almost $400k.

        That needs to go down to $100K at most to strike a non mania balance. Buckle up.

    2. qt – That ratio isn’t even that bad. SF Bay area and San Diego are 15X and 12X median income to median house, respectively. Any desirable zip code in the country seems to be around 8X-10X right now.

      Hard to imagine population growth in major coastal metros isn’t going to go negative over the next 5 years as flyover country offers a relatively affordable cost of living.

      Never was a Trump supporter but his policies are certainly providing a big incentive to decentralize wealth and power beyond the superstar major areas.

      1. Hard to imagine population growth in major coastal metros isn’t going to go negative over the next 5 years as flyover country offers a relatively affordable cost of living.

        Only for the ones who didn’t buy or do have a jingle mail plan. The rest may be tethered to their sinking anchors.

  4. “‘For five years I have been living in limbo. For five years I have been living in fear. For five years I have been living in pain — every single year, especially when it comes down to Christmas time, or to my children’s birthdays,’ Venegas told L.A. Taco, wiping tears from her eyes. ‘They are so heartless.

    Lenders trying to collect on the debt you agreed to repay? Those BASTARDS!!!

    1. Agreed, the lenders are the true victims here.

      They deserve all the sympathy that is to be offered and they deserve to be rescued once again by another taxpayer funded bailout.

  5. The 550 active listings at the end of the month were up 58.5 percent from a year ago, representing the eighth consecutive month-to-month increase in inventory.”

    And to think the real fun hasn’t even started yet.

  7. It Begins: China’s Largest Property Developer Will Sell All Homes At A 10% Discount | Zero Hedge

    (snip)

    “Back in 2017, we explained why the ‘fate of the world economy is in the hands of China’s housing bubble.’ The answer was simple: for the Chinese population, and growing middle class, to keep spending vibrant and borrowing elevated, it had to feel comfortable and confident that its wealth would keep rising. However, unlike the US where the stock market is the ultimate barometer of the confidence boosting ‘wealth effect’, in China it has always been about housing as three quarters of Chinese household assets are parked in real estate, compared to only 28% in the US, with the remainder invested in financial assets.”

    (snip)

    “Meanwhile, in the process of reflating the latest housing bubble, another dangerous byproduct of this artificial housing ‘market’ has emerged: tens of millions of apartments and houses standing empty across the country. As we reported recently, according to recent research, roughly 22% of China’s urban housing stock is unoccupied, according to Professor Gan Li, who runs the main nationwide study. That amounts to more than 50 million empty homes.”

    There’s much more and well worth reading. Go here …

    https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-03-04/it-begins-chinas-largest-properties-developer-will-sell-all-homes-10-discount

    1. 1275 S Fillmore St
      Denver, CO 80210

      From: $1,462,500

      Investor opportunity! This property is being offered at Public Auction on 03-28-2019. Auction.com is the nation’s leading real estate transaction platform focused exclusively on the sale of residential foreclosure and bank-owned properties. The majority of these properties are priced below market value.

      Date Event Price $/sqft Source
      2/26/2019 Listed for sale — — — Auction.com
      10/19/2004 Sold $1,010,000 +359.1% $1,233 Public Record
      6/29/2001 Sold $220,000 — $269 Public Record

      https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1275-S-Fillmore-St-Denver-CO-80210/13372567_zpid/

      I bet somebody refi’d that sweet equity.

  11. “In January, the association helped negotiate 103 single-family closed escrows and 51 condominium transactions, which were down 30 percent and 7 percent. Those totals came close to the record lows of 99 home sales and 31 condo sales. Both records were set in January 2008.”

    So market activity in some areas has slowed to Great Recession levels. Can anyone recall where prices went from January 2008? And IIRC, 2008 was not a great year on Wall Street, in part due to deep involvement in dodgy mortgage lending.

    Don’t worry, folks, this time is different.

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