What is happening here in the local Southern California real estate market? Do you believe that prices are flattening out and we are "at the bottom" of the market or do you believe that we have a ways to go and we wont see prices flattening out until well into 2009?

Brief snippet from an article I read an last week:

"LATE PAYMENTS: One in 11 mortgaged houses was at least 30 days late or in foreclosure at the and of March, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The delinquency and foreclosure rates are the highest in the 36-year history of the MBA's quarterly survey. In California, 1 in 19 mortgages are delinquent (5.26 percent) and 1 in 32 are in foreclosure (3.13 percent). Combined, 1 in 12 houses are delinquent or in foreclosure. That's better than the national combined rate, but the state numbers aren't seasonally adjusted. If they were, they would be higher. The national numbers are seasonally adjusted."

Most of us in this business have now seen the adjustable rate mortgage reset chart, below, that's been floating around now for about the last 8-9 months. What's interesting and changing is that at the beginning of this market decline, loans that were in default were hitting the REO market about 7 months after a homeowners first late payment. Now we are seeing banks hold off on issuing the notice of default for 5-6 months before issuing the NOD. We wont see these homes as REOs until mid 2009.

It's imperative that we get the information that we make these HUGE decisions on from a trusted source, advisor or mentor that is in the trenches every day, who practices what they preach and has a history of making the right decisions and who is not afraid to go against the crowd.

The person I'm speaking about for me is Bruce Norris of The Norris Group. The Norris Group provides the tools necessary for me to make the right decisions in the real estate market of today, not the real estate market of 3 years ago. One characteristic that I believe is key to a good mentor is that they believe in the power of giving through education. It is easy to see Bruce speak and share his knowledge for little to no cost. There is a ton of great information on their website as well. Bruce not only teaches very specific steps on the how to grow wealth in today's real estate market but even more importantly, gaining wealth; but not at the expense of others.

I guess that what I have learned is to truly become knowledgeable and make the Right Choices and Decisions about todays Southern Cal market takes effort. It's not for everyone, some just don't have the desire but If you are serious about buying/investing or helping your clients purchase homes you would be doing yourself a big dis-service if you did not tap into The Norris Group or another trusted mentor.