Carlsbad Real Estate: Banks Flop, Home Sellers Win

The banks fail California homeowners again but Carlsbad real estate gets a boost from the new fiscal crisis bill…

Carlsbad, CA has been one of the most active real estate markets in recent months with home sales surging at high double digit rates. Many feared this could come to a grinding halt as we approached the edge of the fiscal cliff and numerous benefits of buying and selling San Diego County homes were set to expire. So what’s on the cards now?

The Homeowner Bill of Rights

The Homeowner Bill of Rights went into play on January 1^st. Most of the legislative package appears to be redundant and merely echoes previous regulations, though the end of dual tracking could bite back homeowners who have been slow to seek foreclosure help.

Now that banks cannot pursue foreclosures while loan modification applications are underway some fear that mortgage lenders could rapidly decline many or even shoot down short sale requests to forge ahead with foreclosures and repossessions.

Banks Flop on Foreclosure Reviews

Even though 56,000 San Diego County homeowners applied for foreclosure reviews and compensation under the giant mortgage settlement and robo-signing scandal, the effort has been declared a failure, with one local nonprofit housing collaborative director flat out saying that “The victims of foreclosed homes did not benefit from the process”. Rumors have it that this portion of the mortgage settlement could be squashed by regulators, essentially giving the banks another pass for not living up to their end of the agreement.

Fiscal Cliff Standoff Yields Sweet Results for Carlsbad Real Estate

While not everyone might love every part of the new fiscal crisis bill, those buying and selling Carlsbad real estate have a lot to be thankful for. Perhaps most significantly the tax break which was part of the 2007 Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act was extended, allowing underwater Carlsbad homeowners to sell their homes as a short sale without being penalized. This also promises to continue to fuel the local real estate market with enough inventory to keep pushing home values up.

Together with the extension of tax breaks for mortgage interest and mortgage insurance as well as capital gains on the sale of Carlsbad homes makes buying and investing in property in the area even more attractive. So the race to grab the best deals on San Diego County homes is back on. The question is just whether you will move fast enough to take advantage of it?