The California Foreclosure Prevention Act, which established a 90-day moratorium on foreclosure that went into effect June 15, ends today. RealtyTrac�s report for August shows foreclosure activity is down from the same time last year�9% from a year ago and 15% from the previous month�but the question is: are they going to be up in September and months following, now that the moratorium�s up? That�s what happened earlier this year after the federal government�s moratorium on foreclosures came to an end.

For the most part, panelists at Monday�s real estate event expressed concern, mixed with a hint of optimism, about the end of the moratorium, and they offered their thoughts on general market conditions to a crowd of more than 100 professionals from the industry gathered at The Grand in Long Beach.

Richard Daskam, another Keller Williams agent, noted that he reads legal notice advertisements in the Long Beach Press-Telegram daily to keep tabs on trustee notices of foreclosure sales. What Daskam�s seen is a surge in notices in the 90808 and the 90815 ZIP codes. He recently conducted an online foreclosure search in which little bubbles pop up with addresses in locations where a foreclosure can be found in affordable areas, like Hawaiian Gardens, South Gate and Compton. �There were so many bubbles that you couldn�t even see the streets,� Daskam said.

Marna Brennan, with First Team Real Estate, is hopeful banks won�t start foreclosing following the end of the moratorium and then hurriedly sell of properties once they own them. �I�ve heard the banks are going to pace the number of (real estate owned properties) they put back on the market,� she said.

Fellow panelist John Dumke, with Keller Williams, said he doesn�t believe the end of the moratorium will �to be a big impact on neighborhoods.� In nicer areas, you have true buyers looking for their ideal homes, and in more undesirable areas you have �repos dictating values.�

On a brighter note, panelists say that in-spite of the hard-to-predict impact the end of the foreclosure moratorium will have on Southern California, we have reached bottom and the market will be on the way up sometime in the near future.

�Obviously I�d say the market�s not going down,� said Dumke, who noted in the Los Altos neighborhood of Long Beach that the housing supply has dwindled to a meager one to one-and-a-half-months. Such short supply is putting upward pressure on pricing, he said, adding, �I�d say we�ve seen prices come up $20,000 to $40,000.�

Daskam agreed. �I�d say we�re at the bottom of the pendulum. It doesn�t matter now when you buy, as long as you buy before prices start going up quickly the other way.�