"No Homeowner Left Behind"

From Time:

The peach-colored house in a modest subdivision near downtown Modesto, Calif, used to be someone's dream home. But it stands out in a row of similarly hued homes where many have a "for sale" sign planted in their front yards. The two-story appears battered: its address has been scratched on a front panel and weeds choke what may once have been a manicured lawn. And then there is the overwhelming stench of human waste and stale beer. There has been no electricity and no running water since the bank repossessed it months ago. Still, at least three young men have been squatting here since January...Scratched in the entrance hall is a fitting salutation: "Welcome to Hell."...The dream home has become a nightmare.

This horror is not an uncommon sight in the Northern San Joaquin Valley, where foreclosure rates are among the highest in the nation, and vacant properties — so tempting to vagrants — flourish. From a fire-gutted shell across from a pretty park on the north side of town to a mangy wreck near the airport where a collection of cats and dogs were found chained together in the yard, abandoned residences are putting a blight on all types of neighborhoods. "We get about six to ten calls a day on vacant homes," says police officer John McGill, who stresses that this isn't just a problem in the poorer parts of town.
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[L]ess than a mile away from the peach-colored home, close to 1,000 people recently gathered for the city's first free No Homeowner Left Behind seminar....

From Home Front:

Word is there is a deluge of bank-owned properties coming onto the market soon. That might be because banks repossessed another 3,495 houses in Amador, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Yolo and Yuba counties in January and February.

From the Stockton Record:

The sales of existing homes in San Joaquin County jumped by 65 percent last month [up 133% YoY] as the median sales price continued to sink....[Per Grupe-TrendGraphix, the median sales price dropped 34.2% YoY and 38.8% from peak.]

Stockton-area brokers and agents said that after two painful years of a real estate market downturn, the flurry of foreclosure almost feels as if a drought is ending. "There's a tremendous amount of activity in the low price range of under $250,000," said Jerry Abbott, president and co-owner of Coldwell Banker Grupe. "I'm in a much better mood now. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel - and it's not a train."
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Broker Bob Riggs, of Riggs & Associates GMAC Real Estate in Stockton, said there's a long way to go before getting back to a normal market, but foreclosure asset managers finally are pricing the properties low enough to move them.