These days, questions about getting a good deal on a piece of property always seem to turn the conversation to foreclosures and bank-owned properties.
These bank-owned properties are better known as REOs, or real estate owned. I decided to do a little homework on REOs in Santa Barbara County. The properties I checked out were the ones in which a deed had been recorded, making the foreclosing lender the new owner of the property.
My search turned up 203 properties in January and February that banks had taken back, as outlined in the following chart.
Santa Maria 130 Lompoc 36 Santa Barbara 13 Goleta 8 Guadalupe 5 Carpinteria 4 Los Alamos 2 Santa Ynez 2 Buellton 1 Orcutt 1 Solvang 1
It doesn’t take a degree in mathematics to look at these numbers and see that Lompoc and Santa Maria are where most of the foreclosure activity is. Nearly 82 percent of the properties are in those two areas.
The South Coast has a little over 12 percent of the properties that went back to the foreclosing lender in January and February. The remaining 6 percent are spread out among the Santa Ynez Valley and the smaller cities in the North County.
Single-family residences continue to be the types of properties that are being foreclosed on, as outlined in a nearby chart. Maybe next month I’ll take a look to see how many are second homes or primary residences. Either way, these properties are putting a drain on the residential market.
Single-Family Residence 170 Residential Condominiums 21 Multifamily Units 8 Residential Agriculture 2 Vacant Land 2
The loan amounts in the foreclosures run the gamut, as you can see in the following chart.
Highest Loan Amount $1,348,319 Lowest Loan Amount $15,000 Average Loan Amount $409,129
These loans that were foreclosed on have some interesting characteristics. The oldest loan was taken out on Dec. 3, 1997, for $88,738 on a single-family residence on Lockwood Drive in Santa Maria. The most recent loan was taken out on April 27, 2007, for $181,000 on a single-family residence on Concha Loma Drive in Carpinteria.
I find this information all pretty fascinating, but does it help answer the question about there being any real deals out there when you’re looking for property? I don’t think it does and I don’t think it will. But at least you are now armed with more than you knew before about the properties that have been taken back by lenders.
If you would like more information on these properties, click here for a map. Good luck in your search.
Greg Knowles is vice president county manager of LandAmerica Lawyers Title Co. This article, which originally appeared on his Santa Barbara Real Estate blog, is being republished with permission. Click here to read more.