More Californians Filing for Divorce After Spring Homes Sales Increase!

According to a recent article on the Divorce Rates in 2011 and the Housing Market, the divorce rate in California was up for the first and going into the second quarter of 2011.

“With the seasonal high in the real estate market coming to an end, and the economy no better that it was a year ago for most Americans, the flurry of divorce filings that were funded by the cash proceeds of couples who sold their homes and are buying their way out of a bad marriage is coming to a end for 2011.

Real Estate sales peak in the spring, and then taper off with Graduations, Memorial Day trips and as the Summer drags on and people become focused on vacations, home improvement and the numerous distractions of the long hot summer days. And there has been a long pent up desire for couples to get divorced, fueled by the increase in financial pressures on marriages in this economy, the now “triple dip” Recession! With so many American’s under such heavy financial burden and debt, the stress of keeping a marriage and family together is more than most can handle. The problem is that it is this same financial stress that is killing the marriage that is keeping the couples from filing for a divorce. Simply put – they cannot afford the divorce lawyers, attorneys and the two households. Hell, most can’t afford the one miserable household they are in!

After surviving a lackluster Holiday season, there was much anticipation and media supporting the current political agenda that recovery was solid and financial miracles were about to occur. And we all know that has not happened. The Real Estate market is still miserably slow, with inventory levels quoted by industry “Outsiders” as hovering around the 9 month levels (That means that the number of homes offered for sale, with the current rate of sale, would take about 9 months to sell them all). The healthy figure used for comparison is around 6 months inventory. Sadly, these latest figures DO NOT ACCOUNT for the SHADOW INVENTORY, such as pending foreclosures, short sales, REO’s and other “Off the books” real estate that is just sitting in inventory, not being actively marketed or listed, and waiting for the bull-dozer of the Miraculous Recovery we have all been promised by Obama!

In reality, there are at least 36 months of housing inventory and the buyers are few and far between. In fact, within the next 12 months, over 50% of all home sales in America will be short sales. And according to Core Logic, that projection may be conservative in some states. Some of the worst hit states will suffer even more, with over half of all home sales in Michigan (62.8%), Nevada (60.3%), and Arizona (51.5%) being distressed sales – Foreclosures, Short Sales or REO’s.

Rounding out the top 10 states for distressed home sales were California, Utah, Idaho, Georgia, Florida, Colorado, and Hawaii.

So how does the real estate market effect the divorce rate? Simple. Divorce filings were up with the housing market, because couples were able to remove one of the factors keeping them from filing for divorce – their home and or mortgage. IF, upon selling their home, a married couple was able to realize a profit, an abnormally high percentage of them are using part of those proceeds to file for divorce.

And now that the seasonally adjusted REAL ESTATE SELLING AND BUYING high months are behind us, we are seeing divorce filings taper off. But make no mistake, the demand is still there, simmering just below the flotsam of financial decay and lost consumer confidence that has a stranglehold on American families, doubting that there is any real recovery coming anytime soon.”

With the annual housing sales boom now coming to an end, many native Californians hold their breath expecting nothing to change for the better, and fearing the whispers of a triple dip recession rolling over the state this summer and fall.  Silicon Valley seems to be chugging along with sectors of the high tech industry seeing some improvement, but the financial crisis in the Asian and European Markets could have disastrous effects on California’s economy.

Families in California have long led the National trends in just about every aspect of modern life, and it seems to that in Divorce, and divorce rates, the same is holding true with divorce rates.