Effective January 1st, California’s new Homeowner Bill of Rights goes into effect.

In many respects, it is patterned after the national settlement between the federal government, 49 of the 50 states, and the largest lenders earlier this year.

But the new law will, in my opinion, now make the filing of a Notice of Default more significant in 2013.

Key parts of the law include:

• Applies to 1st deeds of trust
• Bans lender policy of “dual tracking”
• Lender must provide single point of contact
• Within 5 days of filing the Notice of Default, lender must give borrower notice of “foreclosure prevention alternatives” which include loan modification and short sale.

When a lender/servicer files a Notice of Default (or Notice of Trustee Sale) in 2013, it will mean:

• The homeowner hasn’t applied yet for a loan mod, or
• The homeowner has “busted” (failed) their trial (or permanent) loan mod, or
• The request for a loan mod was denied, and now
• The legal time clock for foreclosure has started.

A homeowner now has 2 choices – Plan A or Plan B:

• Plan A – apply for a loan mod if they haven’t already done so.
• Plan B – consider the benefits of a US Treasury HAFA short sale.

A number of factors may suggest doing a short sale (ie, loss or reduction in income, change in marital status, medical expenses, job relocation or other financial hardships) instead of losing the home through foreclosure.

The US Treasury HAFA (a “graceful exit”) short sale program is designed for these homeowners.

Timeline considerations…

Foreclosure in California ( a “non-judicial” state) is a 2 stage process:

• Filing of the Notice of Default stage – a minimum of 3 months
• Filing of the Notice of Trustee Sale – a minimum of 20 days

For a more detailed summary of the Bill of Rights, please see the California Association of Realtors legal summary.

Listed below are the November results for the sold prices of homes, the number of homes sold and number of homes in escrow – a future indicator of homes sold.

This data is taken from the Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo MLS.

To see the detailed charts for Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo, please see the links below.

The percentage of single family homes that were distressed sales in the month of November are:

Ventura – 22%      Oxnard – 43%     Camarillo – 40%

Sold prices – Single family homes in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo:

• 12 month graph

Sold prices – Condos in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo:

• 12 month graph

Numbers sold – Single family homes in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo:

• 12 month graph

Detailed data for single family homes sold in:

• Ventura
• Oxnard
• Camarillo

Detailed data for condos sold in:

• Ventura
• Oxnard
• Camarillo

Detailed monthly data for pendings (in escrow) – single family homes and condos:

• Ventura
• Oxnard
• Camarillo

All data is taken from the Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo MLS.

It’s happened to thousands of others – but now it’s you.  Your home.  What do you do?

Leslie has written several short newsletters – The Tough Decisions – for homeowners in the beginning stages of foreclosure.  However, they provide wisdom and advice for those in the last, crucial stage of foreclosure as well – when the auction date’s been set for the sale of your home.

The Tough Decisions in a nutshell… Read the rest of this article »