Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Foreclosure Radar

Sean O'Toole from Foreclosure Radar presented to the SJREI Association last night in Foster City. He shared some facinating data surprising us with the news that we should not expect an avalanche of foreclosures, ultimately turning into REO properties. That does not mean there will be very few, just a continual stream over several years. His thoughts were that banks would rather hold on to defaulted loans than defaulted properties as government intervention is assisting to keep them afloat. If they hold on to these inventories they can get more assistance long-term (at tax payer expense!) and have no reason to panic, and release large inventories fueling further declines in prices.

His suggestion that all loans should be modified thereby eliminating the need for people to walk away because they are upside down, or because they could not afford the payment. This would simply wipe out a ton of equity, but would leave the market open for a recovery without having so many home owners displaced. Additionally, no more tax dollars would have to be spent and we could move forward to recovery. Interesting but banks could never feel safe again with loaning money and capitalism is not allowed to thrive...food for thought.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

thanks, geraldine for posting sean's sjrei presentation. i am out of town on vacation, but thanks to you, i was able to view his slides.sean provided excellent local data that i heve not seen anywhere. he is a great reource and i learned a lot. keep up the good work.i will be back from vacation to help you celebrate your 7th anniversary. dick smith