Foreclosure numbers tick up over past week

The pace of foreclosures in Tuolumne County has picked up.

According to the county Recorder’s Office, from Sept. 14 to 18, 10 properties were taken over by banks.
  

Last week’s completed foreclosures come from all corners of the county, including: Sonora (4 total), Soulsbyville (1), Twain Harte (1), Long Barn (1), Mi-Wuk Village (1), and Groveland (1). The location of one of the properties was unspecified.

 If the trend continues, September could see the highest number of completed foreclosures so far this year. By Sept. 18, 29 properties had been taken over by banks for the month.

The year’s current one-month record was set in June, which saw 35 properties taken over by banks. Over at least the past 12 years, that figure is exceeded only by the 36 foreclosed properties in October 2008.

"Maybe on some level the recession is ending,” said county Assessor-Recorder Ken Caetano, “but it’s not very visible on the real estate end.

“When we see foreclosures going down, then that may signal the end of the local real estate recession.”

So far this year, over 200 properties have become bank-owned in Tuolumne County. In all, more than 1,000 properties have been at some stage in the foreclosure process this year.

Things are so bad that completed foreclosures are on pace to easily outnumber those in 2008, which set a record going back at least 20 years.

All of 2008 saw 973 properties at some stage in the foreclosure process.

Ann Ritchie of the Tuolumne County Association of Realtors said the number of local sales have been in holding pattern this year, with about a third of the total sales involving either short-sales or bank-owned properties.