It turns out F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong when he famously wrote about the rich being different from you and me.
Even some of them had trouble making mortgage payments last year and lost homes to foreclosure.
In the ZIP code of 91302 - which encompasses Calabasas and the gated city of Hidden Hills - 40 homes were reclaimed by lenders in 2008, according to a report by MDA DataQuick, which was prepared for the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University, Northridge.
Porter Ranch and Northridge - 91326 - saw eight foreclosures in January 2008, a number that soared to 126 by year’s end.
A similar trend was seen in Sherman Oaks’ two ZIP codes - 91403 and 91423, starting the year with a dozen foreclosures and ending with 139.
Still, the level of distress seen in more expensive neighborhoods was not as bad as in lower-income areas.
In Pacoima - 91331 - there were 674 foreclosures last year. And the Northeast Valley neighborhood represented by ZIP code 91342 saw a whopping 757 homes seized by lenders, the biggest concentration of economic carnage in the San Fernando Valley.
In the Valley as a whole, a record 7,725 homes were lost last year.
Adam Plotkin, an agent for ZipRealty, said that bargain hunters seeking deals on real estate-owned properties are now creating a brisk business and intense buyer competition.
“On REOs and short sales, if they price them well, you are seeing multiple offers,” Plotkin said.
There is also some evidence that the worst of the foreclosure problem might be behind us.
Foreclosures from Glendale to Calabasas hit a monthly record of 923 in August and the year ended down 465, a 49.6percent decrease.
But if a trend is forming it is obscured by the opaque fog of uncertainty. A direction is hard to sense.
The easing of foreclosures might mean that strongest wave washed over the Valley early last year, said Jim Link, chief executive officer of the Southland Regional Association of Realtors in Van Nuys.
“Our members are telling me they are seeing fewer come onto the market now. Does that mean the volume is subsiding?,” Link asked. “Will we get hit by another wave this year?”
We will know that in the months ahead.
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