California Sees Fewer Homes Going into Foreclosure

California may have some rough patches in it, but overall, with the worst part of the housing crises appearing to be over.

A total of 56,258 Notices of Default (NODs) were recorded at county recorders offices in California during the first quarter of 2012, the lowest level since the second quarter of 2007 when 53,943 NODs were recorded, according to DataQuick.

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Lenders that Sell Short Sales Faster and for Less

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA had the shortest timelines at 193 days in January 2012, a decrease compared to a year ago in January 2011, when short sales averaged 248 days. Ally Financial came in second at 321 days, reducing its timeline as well from 393 days a year ago.

As for the number of short sales, Bank of America completed the most in January 2012, with 5,276, followed by Chase (2,967), Wells Fargo (2,788), MERS (1,429), and Bank of New York Mellon (1,401).

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RealtyTrac: Short Sales Up 33% in January, Outpace REO Sales in 12 States

Short Sales has replaced REO and becomes the dominating theme in foreclosure market since 2nd half of 2011.
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Short sales even outpaced bank-owned REO sales in 12 states, including Utah, California, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Colorado, New York and New Jersey.

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California Home Prices Going Up, Inventory Down, C.A.R. Reports

The median price of a single-family home for March 2012 was $291,080, a 1.6 percent increase compared to a revised $286,550 for March 2011, and a 9.2 percent increase compared to February’s median price of $266,660. The month-over-month increase was the largest since March 2004.

When breaking up prices by specific regions, the San Francisco Bay area was an exception, seeing a year-over-year decrease of 1.6 percent, but a 9.1 percent month-over-month increase.

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BofA Makes Changes to Trim Short Sale Timeline

Bank of America says it will now be able to provide a decision on a short sale offer in 20 days. Typically, BofA’s short sale process has taken anywhere from 45 days upwards.

See the article here.

Best Markets for Single-Family Rental Investments

from DSNews on 4/12/2012

I don't know how those cap rates are calculated. In Northern California, the cap rate can range from 3% to 8% if you hire a property manager. Lowest cap rate of 5.4% sounds still high.
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Based on the 26 major markets CoreLogic assessed, the markets that yield the highest single-family rental cap rates were generally in Florida or the Midwest. West Palm Beach had the highest rate at 12.4 percent, followed by Cleveland (12.3 percent), Fort Lauderdale (12 percent), Chicago (11.6 percent), and Las Vegas (11.4 percent).

The common denominator for areas with lower cap rates was lower than average prices. Honolulu at 5.4 percent had the lowest cap rate, followed by Raleigh (7.3 percent), and Austin (7.7 percent). Among the larger markets, Miami had the lowest cap rate at 7.7 percent, which is partly due to improved home prices.

As of January 2012, cap rates for the single-family market averaged 8.6 percent, according to CoreLogic.