Largest county in U.S. sees foreclosures go up nearly 1000%
San Bernardino County in Southern California is the largest county in the United States, by area. It has more land mass than nine individual states, and is bigger than New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island - combined.
And people there are losing their homes at an astonishing rate.
County defaults up 180% in Q2
Homes lost to foreclosure rocket 987% in same period
VICTORVILLE — Mortgage default notices in San Bernardino County surged 180 percent in the second quarter compared to the same time last year, while the number of homes lost to foreclosure rocketed 987 percent over the same period, a real estate information service reported.
From April to June, lenders sent homeowners statewide the highest number of notices of default in over a decade, according to DataQuick Information Services in La Jolla.
San Bernardino County registered 5,141 notices of mortgage default in the second quarter, up from 1,839 a year earlier. Homes lost to foreclosure in the county totaled 1,489 in the second quarter, compared to 137 over the same period last year.
The trend toward rising foreclosures will continue to accelerate in the Victor Valley, said Carolyn McNamara, a broker with the McNamara Group in Phelan specializing in foreclosures and repossessions.
“We have not seen the peak of foreclosure activity in the Victor Valley,” McNamara said.
“My office alone has received 18 foreclosures in the last two weeks, and I am just one of many agents that specializes in repossessions and foreclosures in the High Desert,” she said.
Analysts attributed the rise in foreclosures to stagnating home prices and sales resulting from a readjustment in the residential market following the home-buying frenzy of 2004 and 2005.
I’m no economist, but I know how to read writing when it’s on a wall.
–WKW