Within the gates of the exclusive Los Lagos development in Granite Bay, home to business executives and real estate magnates, the postman delivers almost one fresh home loan default notice a month.
Mortgage defaults are not just a problem of the poor. Sacramento's wealthiest residents are defaulting on their recent home loans at least as often as everyone else – and in some posh enclaves, more, according to a Bee analysis of federal mortgage data and figures from Foreclosures.com.
Banks have filed about 550 default notices on local home loans of more than $1 million since 2007. The total value of those loans is roughly $750 million.
Estates on the west side of Folsom Lake form the epicenter of the trend. In this strip of Placer County, banks have filed four default notices for every 10 home loans of more than $1 million issued during 2006 and 2007.
"Everyone always has delusions of grandeur. At some point you have to accept this is what it is," said Folsom resident James Caramazza, who took a hit on his $1.4 million loan following a short sale.
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