Area foreclosures climb

Yuba County ranked second highest in the state for the percentage of foreclosure sales last month, data shows.

ForeclosureRadar, a Discovery Bay company that tracks every auction in California, determined Yuba County had one foreclosure sale for every 2,252 residents.

Company founder Sean O’Toole said the company does not analyze the reason behind the numbers, but he guessed it’s linked to a rise in growth. Counties with a lot of land for new development are more likely to have higher foreclosure rates.

Sutter County ranked sixth highest with one foreclosure sale for every 2,534 residents, and Colusa County ranked 23rd, with one foreclosure for every 7,171 residents.

Nadia Artero, branch manager at Countrywide Home Loans in Yuba City, said she has noticed a large number of foreclosures in the area recently.

“All you have to do is look in the newspaper every day at the notices of default,” she said.

Appeal-Democrat records show that 85 ads were taken out for notice of trustee sales in June, compared with 60 in January.

Artero said a decrease in property values since October 2005 has contributed to the increase. Many people purchase homes with 100 percent financing and use adjustable-rate mortgages. The rate jumps out of their price range when it eventually changes, and people end up owing more than their homes are worth.

“People can’t afford the home, can’t afford to refinance and were probably stretched just to get the home to begin with,” she said.

Artero’s advice to homebuyers is to use a fixed-rate or more conservative loan. Once someone reaches foreclosure, it’s difficult to keep the home, she said.

“That’s tough, really tough,” she said. “It’s an ugly time right now for a lot of people.”

ForeclosureRadar reported that foreclosures now represent 16 percent of all new and resale home sales in the state. California had 6,960 homes sold at auction in June, a 95 percent increase from January. However, there was almost no increase from May to June.

“We’ll keep our fingers crossed that it will stay that way,” O’Toole said.

Ashley Gebb can be reached at 749-4724 or agebb@appealdemocrat.com