Foreclosures Hit Record Highs In Orange County

We were waiting for the flood and now it is here. Banks are bringing thousands of foreclosed homes on to the open market, depressing prices. Meanwhile, the Federal Housing Administration is running out of money but delaying an audit. How much of an appetite will politicians have for further bailouts? The same sort of interventionist policies that created this housing disaster are now perpetuating it. There is no right place for housing values. They should be left alone to float in the free market without artificial government interventions to try to shore up values.

The Los Angeles Times says:

There is some more news on the local foreclosure front this morning, with Mathew Padilla at the Orange County Register reporting that outstanding foreclosure auction notices in Orange County rose to a record high of 8,895 at the end of September, “the highest in this housing downturn and probably the highest ever.”

Jim the Realtor at bubbleinfo.com took his own look at the Encinitas and South Carlsbad areas this week, and found 261 single-family homes on the auction and "real estate owned" lists.

Speaking of Realtors getting all tech-savvy on us, the National Assn. of Realtors has announced that it is creating its own online service to compete with services such as Zillow and Redfin.

And on the mortgage front, the Federal Housing Administration has released some new guidelines to make mortgages for condominiums more accessible. In other recent FHA news, the agency last week said it would delay a much-anticipated audit of its finances. For a refresher on some of the FHA’s woes, check out Times staff writer Jim Puzzanghera's story here.

Meanwhile, it appears as if the FHA’s funds are dwindling, as the Washington Post reported this week.

– Alejandro Lazo