A newly released report by the University of California, Irvine has found that the Southern California economy is really powered by what goes on here in Orange County. That region has seen the greatest job growth, the highest median home values and the lowest unemployment rates. You could say that “where Orange County goes, so goes the rest of the state.” Just as there are some positive economic indicators created in Orange County there are also the numbers we’d all like to forget get like the foreclosure rates. Here are the official findings from that UC report with regard to foreclosures:

“The foreclosure crisis has begun to abate but has had a sizeable impact on home values. Hardest hit were residents of San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Foreclosure rates also correlated strongly to falling home values throughout the region. A 1 percent increase in neighborhood foreclosures reduced home sale prices by 5.9 percent the following month. Many of the lowest foreclosure rates are found in wealthy Orange County communities. The hardest-hit Orange County clusters in 2008 and 2009 were Anaheim, Rancho Santa Margarita and Santa Ana. The Seal Beach cluster was the only one in Orange County below the regional average for foreclosures between 1995 and 2010.”

But with every piece of bad news there is that silver lining. The foreclosure crisis in Orange County has also allowed new investors to get in on the action of the real estate market at some very decent prices. When a property goes into foreclosure, the bank or lending company who holds the deed wants to move fast to get that toxic asset off their books. If not then it is reported as a loss and that’s not going to help their bottom line. In many cases the attitude from the bank is, “Here’s the price… pay it and you can have the home.”

A quick sale like that forces you to act fast. A potential pitfall might be the shape that a foreclosed home is in with regard to the trash that has been left behind. Don’t let that scare you off a good deal! A team of professional junk haulers like Junk King Orange County can handle all the clean up chores. They’ll probably take less time than it would take for you to sign all the papers!

On many levels, cleaning up a foreclosed property is much easier than cleaning up your own home. With your stuff, you want to sort through what you intend to keep, toss or donate. At a foreclose property, all you would need to do is a quick walk through to determine that everything should be tossed out. Then just tell Junk King OC to “take it all out” and they’ll handle the rest. Nothing could be simpler! A foreclosed home should never be thought of as a dead end!