Stockton's Repo Bus

From the Stockton Record:

It's not a magic bus, just a vividly marked one - REPO HOME TOUR.COM - that real estate agent Cesar Dias hopes will work some magic for him in a bleak home-sales market. Dias, an agent and loan officer at Approved Financial & Real Estate Center, 1140 N. El Dorado St., has launched a weekly Saturday bus tour to try to get buyers interested in looking at some of the area's growing number of foreclosure properties.

The bus absolutely is just a marketing ploy, he said, because anybody can go look at foreclosures with any agent. But between a dozen and 20 people a week have taken the tour of 10 to 12 bank-repossessed homes the past few weeks, Dias said, and a few deals have been made. Not bad in a market where home sales in September dipped to the lowest level so far this decade.
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[T]he latest Coldwell Banker Grupe-TrendGraphix monthly sales report, based on Multiple Listing Service data,...indicates that sales and selling prices of existing homes in San Joaquin County have continued to drop as the market moves into its third consecutive year of decline. The 228 sales countywide in September were the fewest this decade, as were the 289 pending sales last month. That compares with 796 sales and 716 pending sales in September 2005, just before the downturn hit. And median selling prices have fallen sharply, from $370,000 in July to $325,000 last month, a 12.2 percent drop in two months.

From CBS 13 (video):

A sleek-looking high rise in downtown Sacramento, called Epic Tower looks similar to the proposed Aura Project. It's an aggressive proposal considering the real estate market's current downturn. High rise condos like the Towers on Capitol Mall prove investors can get in over their heads. The Aura proposal is another example...Craig Nassi's BCN Development is behind both Epic Tower and Aura projects. Nassi hopes to break ground next year probably after city planners make a decision in January.

From the Sacramento Bee:

Jose Olagues knew the bad news. Like so many area residents, he's seen his Tahoe Park home decline in value. The good news: He's among 50,000 Sacramento County property owners who can expect to receive a shrinking tax bill. "That is sweet," said Olagues, who may be in line for a rebate from his mortgage company, which rolls his taxes into his monthly bill. "If they want to give me money back, that is cool."

Most property owners – in Sacramento County and elsewhere – will still see an increase in their property tax bills, which started arriving last week. Sacramento County taxes 446,000 properties. But the county's move to reduce the taxes on 50,000 properties – just over 10 percent of county properties – is perhaps the most sweeping in the state.
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The silver lining for some recent Sacramento County homebuyers is nothing but bad news for schools, the seven cities within the county, the county government and special districts that rely on property taxes. The Sacramento County assessor's recalculation of property taxes wipes away $15 million in tax revenue.

From the Associated Press:

Wells Fargo & Co.'s earnings grew at its slowest pace in more than six years during the third quarter, dragged down by deteriorating home loans likely to cause more trouble in the months ahead.
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Like many other lenders, Wells Fargo is being hurt by a combination of crumbling home values and overextended borrowers who can't afford to make their monthly mortgage payments as their once-low adjustable interest rates reset to higher levels. "The housing sector is weak and we are not immune to that," Atkins said.
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Atkins said the bank is having the toughest time collecting from homeowners in parts of the Midwest and California's Central Valley, where many borrowers now owe more money than their properties are worth.

From the MarketWatch:

U.S. home builders grew even more pessimistic in October, hit by a triple whammy of tight credit, abundant supply of homes for sale and falling prices. The seasonally adjusted housing market index fell to a record low of 18 in October from 20 in September, the National Association of Home Builders reported Tuesday. It's the lowest reading in the index since its inception in 1985. "The market for new homes is dead for all practical purposes," wrote Patrick McPherron, an economist for Moody's Economy.com.
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All three components of the home builders' index notched record lows in October. Sentiment fell in three of four regions, with builders in the West the least optimistic.