I get alot of questions from home buyers asking me if we are at the real estate bottom here in Burbank and the San Fernando Valley and the honest answer is, I don't know.  But I will tell you that looking at the unemployment numbers that came out today, I would guess the answer is probably, no.  But keep in mind that we won't know where the bottom actually was until things start to improve.

Unemployment hit at 25 year high for February coming in at 8.1% and to make matters worse the numbers from December were revised.....for a total loss of 681,000.  The December revision makes that the worse figure in 59 years.   If you look at the numbers more closely you'll find that the average wage has been trending up slightly indicating that more lower paying jobs were cut.  But the cuts have been widespread canvasing a wide range of industries.

The other statistic that we should all be looking at is the number of delinquent mortgages.

More homeowners are struggling to pay their mortgages, according to the latest study.   More than a tenth of households were behind on payments, 7.9% of the loans are overdue and 3.3% are in the foreclosure process.

We'll have to see how effective the new stimulus package is as far as helping homeowners avoid foreclosure, but even with that help be prepared to see short sales and foreclosures for some time to come.  On the glass is half full front I will say that there are some great deals out there!

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