I have one for sale in the 93314 zip and have my fingers crossed.  I don't see neighborhoods there that have tons of vacant homes and I think the home buyers in this area can afford to pay for the type of home here without creative financing.  That may not be a good reason but I find areas with many foreclosures unappealing.

Vanessa, I know you are the expert, but I'm gonna stick my neck out and take a shot at answering your question....

Because it's a nice, upper class area.  

What do you think?

Good answer, but you realize that will make you a racist to some here.  I took the CS way out.

Does the Californian talk to any other appraisers other than Crabtree? 

I know anglo. But TBC likes to act like they are this big investigative newspaper. All they do is recycle news from other sources and make it seem like their own. But since they are the only paper in town, we are stuck.  

SoCalMuscle, fair question.

You're right, newspapers should talk to different sources. And when I interview appraisers for stories, I try to solicit a variety of voices and opinions.

The blog is a little different. Before blogs, I had a lot of reports sent to me that just sat in the file cabinet. They weren't all significant enough for a story. With the blog, we can post all those reports, and some people might find them useful.

So Crabtree shows up a lot on MoneyTalks because he produces monthly and quarterly reports on the local market, but they don't all make the cut for the newspaper. Same with reports from companies like DataQuick, which are useful but not necessarily local enough to warrant a story every month.

The idea is that readers might appreciate raw information, unfiltered by reporters and editors.

-Vanessa Gregory, staff writer

"The idea is that readers might appreciate raw information, unfiltered by reporters and editors."

Do you consider " Crabtree" raw information? I consider it a filtered cheerleader of the Real Estate " Good Time to buy" propaganda, It`s a sugar coated commercial.

California foreclosure "surge": Up 327% from '07 levels

The number of California homes lost to foreclosure in the first quarter surged 327% from year-ago levels -- reaching an average of more than 500 foreclosures per day -- DataQuick said in a report, warning that the widening foreclosure problem could "spread beyond the current categories of dicey mortgages, and into mainstream home loans."

From DataQuick's report on California foreclosures in the first three months of 2008: "Trustees Deeds recorded, or the actual loss of a home to foreclosure, totaled 47,171 during the first quarter. ...  Last quarter's total rose 48.9 percent from 31,676 in the previous quarter, and jumped 327.6 percent from 11,032 in first quarter 2007."  That translates into 517 foreclosures every day in the first quarter of 2008

Despite well publicized federal efforts to reach out to homeowners in default, the odds that they will ultimately lose their homes appear to be increasing. DataQuick reports that, of the homeowners in default, "an estimated 32 percent emerge from the foreclosure process by bringing their payments current, refinancing, or selling the home and paying off what they owe. A year ago it was about 52 percent.:

Foreign buyers snap up U.S. real estate

Real estate agents are increasingly courting foreigners to buy homes in the USA — hiring agents fluent in other languages, marketing to foreign buyers and in some cases, offering to pay the airfare and hotel bills of foreign shoppers who buy a home.

The agents are eager to win the business of foreign investors who are swooping in to buy property in the USA as home prices plummet and the dollar's weak value produces eye-popping deals for international buyers.

Maggiepoo - ask any Realtor you know if Crabtree is a "go buy now" cheerleader.... 

I consider it a filtered cheerleader of the Real Estate " Good Time to buy" propaganda, It`s a sugar coated commercial.

^ = Dumb comment.

Also, stop cutting and pasting. If people are sophisticated enough to post in a blog, I am sure they can use Yahoo or Google.

Then why don`t they do it? Sorry I don`t ask a realtor anything except what used car lot they use to work at...

Falling Home Values

The biggest housing slump in a generation is leading the downturn. Home prices nationwide have fallen 10 percent from their peak, according to the S&P Case-Shiller home-price index, and many economists are forecasting values will keep dropping. Falling property prices make Americans feel less wealthy and reduce the amount of equity owners can tap for spending.

Rising foreclosures are also lifting stress levels. Foreclosure filings jumped 57 percent and bank repossessions more than doubled in March from a year earlier as rates on adjustable mortgages increased, Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac Inc., a seller of default data, said last week.

They do. All of your cutting and pasting is comparable to SPAM, imo. 

Also, I'd bet that there are numerous realtors with more intelligence, honor, ethics and integrity that you give them credit for.

I`ll bet there are also, There is around 1%, as 90% of "Closing" sales are made by 1 % of the realtors, This crisis is the best thing that could of happened to the Real Estate game, the good ones survive and the rest get flushed down the toilet, Now I can ask them which used car lot ARE they going to work at......