The Rate of Foreclosures in Sonoma County Drops

One would usually think that the rate of foreclosures would increase with the worsening economy all across the country. However, there is one county in California called Sonoma that has shown a promising trend.

From good signs such as this one, our nation can develop a greater sense of hope among today’s distraught citizens. Many people today have been against government and its current policies. It seems like things are turning out for the better, however.

At the end of 2012, Sonoma had the lowest number of foreclosures it ever had in six years. During the fourth quarter of 2012, Sonoma recorded a total of 452 default notices; this is a big leap from the 407 default notices that were recorded during 2007’s first quarter. A decreasing in the number of default notices is also a good sign.

The number of houses being foreclosed upon has also decreased. Only 269 properties were lost during that quarter as well while, during the same quarter in 2007, 407 properties were lost to foreclosure.

Besides a decline in the number of foreclosures in Sonoma County, home values also shot up due to this recent positive trend. This is most likely due to a lower number of homeowners that are underwater. More and more homeowners can now sell their properties at better prices and can also refinance their home mortgages.

Alarmingly, over 14,000 homes have fallen into the pitfalls of foreclosure or were sold in short sales over the last six years. But the question here is: why is the number of foreclosures declining even though so many have gone into foreclosure? An answer to that question could be that an increasing amount of banks are allowing short sales.

Across the state itself, foreclosure notices fell to 38, 212 during that same quarter at the end of 2012. This was a decrease of about 38 percent from the previous year; the entire state is also showing the same positive trend as Sonoma County.

One day, the housing market will vastly improve all over and home prices will increase to a more suitable amount than they are now. Currently, housing prices are very low, which is a possible result from the still high number of foreclosure notices. However, things are really looking up. If what is happening in California spreads, we could be looking at a healthy, robust housing market.