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Foreclosure Process Slowing Down In Silicon Valley

SAN JOSE (KCBS) – The latest numbers show that fewer homes in Silicon Valley are being foreclosed on, but that may not necessarily be a good thing. As it turns out, the actual numbers are deceiving because all that is really happening is that fewer homeowners are getting foreclosure notices.

"Right now in Santa Clara County, at the high point, there were 4,300 houses scheduled to be sold at a foreclosure sale. Today there are about 3,200 houses scheduled for the same sale," said Dan Carter, who publishes the Blue Sheet, a weekly list of foreclosures.

KCBS' Mike Colgan Reports:

He said that there are some cases where lenders are up to two years behind on evicting residents from their homes.

"In past times, when a resident got 60 days or so behind on their mortgage, a lender went ahead and filed a notice of default, and then they followed through with the sale," said Carter. "But today they don't file that notice, in fact they just don't do anything until people are maybe one to two years behind on their payments."

Carter said that it could take up to three years for these banks to unload all of their foreclosures.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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