The list of foreclosed homes is still growing in Santa Cruz County, California, based on data from housing nonprofits and advocates in the area.
Based on a Santa Cruz Record report, 54 homes in Santa Cruz have already entered foreclosure since the first day of the year. A total of 5,000 foreclosure homes have been recorded in the county since the collapse of the housing market in 2008. Nearby Monterey County has also been hit hard, losing 141 homes to foreclosure just these first weeks of January.
California Assemblyman Bill Monning said that home foreclosures represent the most personal impact of the economic downturn statewide and nationwide.
Assemblyman Monning was one of about 100 people who attended a foreclosure workshop held this week at Temple Beth El by the Central Coast Foreclosure Collaborative. Housing specialists advised financially troubled homeowners on how to save their homes and how to participate in loan modifications. Refinancing, bankruptcy, short sales, foreclosure sales, tax consequences and emotional effects were also discussed.
According to the panelists, the major reasons for the fast growth of the list of foreclosed homes in Santa Cruz County were the same as those in other places in the country – job losses, declining home values and unaffordable home loans.
Sara Van Artsdalen, a resident of Scotts Valley, was among those who attended the workshop. Her townhome is already scheduled for a foreclosure sale, as she has been in default for over six months on the loan she took out in 2003 to buy her $386,000 home. After her divorce, she realized she could no longer afford the $2,250 monthly payments.
Artsdalen said she knows she bought a home way too expensive compared to her ability to pay, but she lays some blame on the mortgage broker who did not consider her income documents when determining how much she could borrow. Now, she and her teenage daughter are preparing to move in with her friend in case her mortgage is not modified.
Most loan modification applications are rejected, according to Maria Enomoto who counsels borrowers under a housing program run by California nonprofit SurePath Financial Solutions.
Enomoto said that the modification requirements are extremely strict, cutting out a lot of struggling borrowers from the federal foreclosure prevention program.
According to California lawyers Phyllis Shafton Katz and Bill Purdey, lenders are largely to blame for the growing list of foreclosed homes because they threw out their prudent lending policies and lent money to people who cannot pay their loans.
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