"He Believed Then That He Had a Steal"

From the Stockton Record:

Home-sales auctions have popped in the Central Valley since last summer, but the latest twist is an online auction for new homes with a bidding process similar to that used by eBay.
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Some residents there aren't happy about the impending auction. Richard Provencio lives at the north end of Crescent Park Circle, a lane that has 14 of the 18 houses to be auctioned off - the remaining four are model homes a block south. "I feel very robbed," he said. "These are the same houses I paid $620,000 for, and now they could be selling for $300,000 to $400,000."...Recently, he counted 15 houses for sale down the long street from his house, and many sit empty because of foreclosure. "Our ghost town," he said. "It's just sad, man."

Many of the homes in the development were bought initially by investors and then filled with renters, he said...The auction likely will draw only more investors, who then will put renters into the houses, he said.
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Another development resident, Matt Mettler, wasn't happy, either...He bought his house for $472,000 in January 2006 — a house originally listed at $585,000 with $80,000 in upgrades thrown in. He believed then that he had a steal — the model of the month. He found out later that a neighbor down the street bought his same-style house eight months later for nearly $100,000 less.

From the Modesto Bee:

Northern San Joaquin Valley home sale prices plunged again in February, dropping to levels not seen since early 2004. But for the first time in many months, Modesto real estate brokers are practically giddy with enthusiasm over jumps in pending sales and prospective buyers.
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Median home sale prices fell to $250,250 last month in Stanislaus County. That was $104,750 below February 2007....San Joaquin County saw an even bigger price drop. The median-priced home there went for $275,000 in February, which was $130,750 less than the year before....Home prices dropped most in south and west Modesto (down 54.7 percent in one year), Patterson (down 37.3 percent), Turlock (down more than 38 percent), Waterford (down 40.9 percent), Denair (down 47 percent), Atwater (down 35.1 percent) and Los Banos (down 35.6 percent).
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After two years of falling home prices,...Mike Zagaris, president of PMZ Real Estate...said the increase in sales volume signals that price stabilization is near. "I believe we've reached the bottom of the market," said Zagaris, who thinks prices will "bounce along the bottom" for a while as the excess inventory of homes for sale clears out.

From the Central Valley Business Times:

Five of the state’s “top ten” counties for foreclosure sales in February are in the Central Valley. San Joaquin County leads the state in a per capita basis with one auction sale for every 709 residents. That’s 6 percent less than January, but 431 percent higher than in February 2007. Merced County is second at one sale for every 781 residents. Yuba County is third in the state with an auction sale for every 831 residents. Stanislaus County is ranked fourth by ForeclosureRadar, with 842 residents per sale. Sacramento County is sixth in the state with one home hitting the auction block for every 995 residents.