The amounts of foreclosures and delinquencies that have been occurring across the country are an alarming subject that has been closely followed by the media.

Subprime mortgage holders are not the only ones that are liable to go into foreclosure or become delinquent, homeowners with good credit and good paying jobs are also likely to have mortgage troubles if they borrowed more than they could really afford or took out a loan that they didn’t understand.

But San Diego, a place known for its sky-high real estate prices and consumers who have been known to do anything to get into that home, the amounts of foreclosures has actually been decreasing lately.

Foreclosures have been shown to be predominant in areas that appreciated tremendously during the housing boom from about 2000-20005. This is because many people wanted to get into a house during this time so they took out a loan that was much bigger than they could really afford since credit standards were so lax.

No, as they fall behind on their payments, or realize that their rate is going to reset into a much higher monthly payment, we begin to see the repercussions of the actions taken during the housing boom.

But although San Diego is currently seeing a decrease in foreclosures, the rest of the state definitely isn’t.

A March 27, 2007 article by Roger Showley of The San Diego Union Tribune, “Foreclosure filings drop in county, but increase in rest of state,” discusses some foreclosure trends we are currently experiencing right now in San Diego and California as a whole.

“Despite its high housing prices and chronic affordability issues, San Diego County saw foreclosure filings fall last month while the number rose in the rest of the state. RealtyTrac, an Irvine-based publisher of distressed property listings, said yesterday that there were 1,065 default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions in the county in February. That number was down 7.4 percent from January's filings and up 20.9 percent from February 2006.”

But according to the same company, foreclosures increased significantly in California, which is bad news for the housing market, homeowners and the overall economy. “Meanwhile, California filings totaled 16,273, up 4.4 percent from January and up 78.6 percent from year-ago levels.  Nationally, there were 130,766 filings, down 7.4 percent from January but up 11.6 percent from February 2006.”

“‘Based on our numbers for the past two months of 2007, foreclosure activity is running at a rate that would project a 33 percent increase over 2006,’ RealtyTrac Chief Executive James J. Saccacio said in a statement. ‘It appears that as subprime and FHA loans default at higher-than-anticipated rates, and lenders tighten their underwriting standards, we're going to continue to see a spike in the number of homeowners facing foreclosure.’”