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Florida Foreclosure Properties

Kevin Simpson — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:13:00 +0000

For those looking into Florida foreclosures, the statistical figures based on Florida’s economical status in June points towards an optimistic outlook for the following months to come. Unemployment in the state has been on the decline since December of last year, with current figures sitting at approximately 10.6 percent.

Coinciding with this figure is the increase in employment, which has been experiencing a steady rise over the past several months. The construction industry experienced a boost in employment numbers following a minor decline in April, with such trends expected to continue. Trade, transportation and utilities are currently sitting at an impressive figure, with a percentile increase of 0.7 in employment over the past few months.

Many major cities in the state have experienced increases in the price of foreclosure homes. The most notable city to experience this rise is Bradenton, which, between the period of June and July, has seen a percentile increase of 4.4 percent.

Despite these statistics, the price of Bradenton foreclosures is down when compared to this time last year, with a drop of 18.2 percent in house values. The number of property sales is also sitting reasonably steady, with only a minor decrease over the past year.

The value of foreclosure properties has also witnessed a decline across several major cities in Florida, potentially setting a trend for months to come. Areas such as Daytona Beach, where prices are down by over three percent, are displaying impressive figures at the moment. Spring Hill foreclosures are down by 0.88 percent in value, while Lake Worth is experiencing a dramatic decline in property values, with an impressive drop of as much as 17.89 percent.

However, the city that has experienced the largest decline by a considerable margin is Cape Coral, with a staggering drop of over 25 percent in property prices, an impressive statistic for prospective homeowners.

Florida foreclosures are just one of many developing events at the moment. The major news story to permeate across the state over the past month has been the Casey Anthony trial. The trial involves the murder of child Caylee Anthony in December 2008, for which her mother Casey was charged as responsible for shortly afterwards.

During the trial’s progress over the past few months, media attention slowly began to accumulate. On July 5th, Casey was found not guilty of the murder, which then resulted in a nation-wide frenzy, with many major news outlets reporting on the case, even those outside of Florida.

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Recession Aftermath Still Hit Foreclosures Rock Bottom

Kevin Simpson — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 17:52:54 +0000

Analysts say that the economic crunch that the world is experiencing would still be felt in the next one to two years. In the United States alone, recovery is far from being felt as the housing sector becomes more vulnerable as the years pass. Even with Federal support to GSEs like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, foreclosures still hit rock bottom at the end of 2010. For Fannie Mae alone, statistics about foreclosure homes in this institution shows that they owned around a hundred thousand homes before end of March.

According to Year End 2010 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, there are at least 3 million foreclosure filings across the country. It is higher of 2% from 2009 and a huge leap of 23% from 2008 This shows that even experts say that the global economy is slowly recovering from the aftermath of the recession, housing markets’ recovery still needs a lot more reform to boost the sector.

The ongoing controversy surrounding foreclosure documentations and procedures led to many lenders to have second thoughts in proceeding with foreclosures. It has been the reason of increased foreclosures in the last quarter of 2010 and if this issue couldn’t be resolved, the numbers will rise. The government needs to handle this immediately in order to avoid obstacles in an already slow recovery. The Obama administration has yet to announce as to the amendments on the existing housing policy and if one exists, it needs to be more robust to support the issues surrounding the high foreclosure rates.

On the brighter side of things, GSEs are giving a lot of materials to homebuyers to educate them on how to avoid Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae foreclosures. Fannie Mae, for example, gives information through a website and an active hotline in case a homeowner needs help. For homeowners who want to avoid foreclosure, a short sale option is always available. Short sale is beneficial for the homeowner because the control of the sale is in the homeowner himself, not the bank. This option is ideal for property holders who don’t want foreclosures to appear in public records which affect future loan applications and even job applications.

The most important thing before entering any alternative for foreclosure is to study the options well and weigh both the advantages and disadvantages. Although the effects of the economic crunch are far from over, the best defense to battle foreclosure is to increase knowledge and awareness.

Builders with Perfect Credit Records Are Being Foreclosed upon by Banks

Julie Parker — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:46:07 +0000

Banks are foreclosing upon builders with perfect credit records. One of the victims is Dave Brown, a renowned builder in Tempe. All through the housing crisis he has been walking straight and has not missed a single mortgage payment. It was little wonder then that he was completely taken aback when the bank suddenly demanded millions as extra collateral. He could not comply and last October Morgan Chase foreclosed on five of his developmental projects. Soon after the business he had been running for more than three decades as Brown Family Communities downed its shutters.

Brown complained, “They treated me like a deadbeat who missed car payments. They wanted their money now.”

After having lorded over one of the greatest housing booms in American history today they are facing a catastrophic reversal of fortune. The housing crisis is more than two years old but as yet the banks have not descended harshly on the small house builders. But now they have started to flex their muscles and it seems a wide group will be pushed out of business within the forthcoming years. The concentration of the problem is in the Sun Belt – it having seen a spike in over-construction.

The sale of new houses has come to a halt and the builders are being challenged by waves of foreclosed units pushing into the market. The prices have gone down below the amount that had been spent on building these units. To sell them they have to shoulder losses. The amalgam of all these factors are bringing together the medium and small builders who comprise of 70% of the total number of builders down to their knees.

Steve Fritts of FDIC said, “The reality is, we’re seeing conditions in home construction and home finance that are the worst since the Depression.”

The financial crisis has hit the big public traded house building companies as well. So far they have been meeting their obligations because they are “better capitalized and they have cash on hand” said housing analyst Ivy Zelman. He explained that their position is much better than the private building companies.

As yet accurate details are not available of how many builders have gone out of operations since the beginning of the foreclosure related financial crisis. According to the National Association of Home Builders approximately 20,000 builders, calculating to a fifth of the group across the nation, have downed shutters during the previous two years.

Despite Foreclosures Property Values Have Not Reduced in Fort Worth

Julie Parker — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:01:50 +0000

House owners in Fort Worth are not happy that despite the ravage of foreclosures the property values have not been reduced.

One of the critics is Jenny Eaton of north Fort Worth. She tried to put in her objections regarding property tax but because of personal health problems could not pursue the matter. Many foreclosed houses in this area have been sold for prices much below the market rate and this has made her challenge the rate of house tax that is being charged.

Eaton is not alone in her line of thinking and approach. But Jeff Law the executive director of Tarrant Appraisal said that the value of both commercial and residential properties would not see major decreases till 2009; rather they will increase. He added, “We’re always preparing for protests each and every year, whether or not we’re going to see an increase in filings this year we don’t know.”

Law comments that value of property in Tarrant County has remained strong in comparison to other parts of the country. He added, “The appraisal district does not forecast the future; we report and follow value trends from the prior year. If the next year, sales and economic data show a slowing or decrease in values, those will be reflected.”

Data findings by First American CoreLogic show that the prices in the Fort Worth region have gone up by 1% during the past twelve months. It is below the state’s median increase of 2.7% but much above the national fall of 10.4%. Sam Khater, the senior economist of the firm said, “In January 2008, Fort Worth prices were up 3.3% year over year, but by June, price appreciation decelerated to 2.8% and further slowed to 1% as of October.”

Research economist Jim Gaines said that foreclosures are like wild beasts that “could throw a wrench into everything.” He explained that some pockets are more affected by foreclosures than others. It is doubtful if the appraisers will be taking this into consideration in their calculations without the prodding of the taxpayers. Commenting on this Law said that the foreclosures might not be at all taken into consideration while making the appraisals. He said, “Generally, a foreclosure is not an arm’s length transaction – in other words, it was not sold under a normal market transaction. However if there are a large number of foreclosure sale in an area, we recognize that that could have an impact on other arms’ length transactions and we’ll try to acknowledge that.”

A Golf Course in Las Vegas Faces Pending Foreclosure

Julie Parker — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:43:33 +0000

The fate of a golf course in Las Vegas is hanging in the balance as it faces impending foreclosure. A bankruptcy judge (federal) is yet undecided about allowing a Texas company, Carmel Land & Cattle Co. permission to foreclose on a golf course just outside Las Vegas. The loan involved amounts to $15 million. There are two golf courses in Lake Las Vegas resort and one of them, Fall is facing foreclosure trouble. Judge Riegle deferred the final order till the 15th of January 2009. There are concerns because a water pumping station that is essential for eastern Henderson development is situated inside the premises of the property to be foreclosed. The previous owner of the resort, Ron Boeddeker had guaranteed the $15 million credit and foreclosure proceedings will cost him a lot.

An attorney representing Lake Las Vegas opined that the foreclosure course was of no consequence to the bankrupt companies as keeping the same entailed financial burden for the debtors.
Tom Weiskopf was the designer of the Falls. It had been built at a cost of $30 million. In 2008 the loss had been $1.9 million and it is apprehended that this amount of loss will increase to $2.9 million in 2009. This is according to paper filed by the executive vice president of Lake Las Vega, Robert LaForgia.
The director of Real Estate Transactions and Developments of Boeddeker’s Transcontinental Corporation, John Plunkett Jr. said that the golf course was not running at a loss but was rather making profits. He had based his calculations on the dues of the club and other financial adjustments.
Byrm Lee Jr., the legal representative of Transcontinental said that if the golf course were surrendered many would lose their jobs. It would also negate the chances of the finances of Lake Las Vegas being built up again.

The Lake Las Vegas resort stretches across 5.6 square miles and lies approximately 17 miles south east of Las Vegas strip. In it are a casino, two hotels and 1,600 residential units that have been completed.

The Lake Las Vegas Joint Venture sought out the protection of Chapter 11. The report stated that there were debts ranging from $500 million to $1 billion. The assets added up to $100 million and $500 million. Two hundred and sixty workers are employed – most of them being stationed at the two golf courses, Falls and Reflection Bay.

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FDIC Chairperson Expresses Her Concern About Steps To Mitigage Foreclosure Related Crisis

Julie Parker — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:27:17 +0000

It was while the top fiscal regulators were discussing over the ways and means to be employed to stabilize City Group, FDIC’s Chairperson, S.C. Bair, expressed her concern about steps to mitigate foreclosure-triggered crisis. Her support to the City Group was absolutely certain provided the bank aided and supported her in return. Her cause was to reduce foreclosures and the bank finally submitted to her demand. The conference was a rarity as most of the debates pivoted around helping citizens avoid foreclosure but ended without a resolution.

As a definite step towards curbing foreclosures, Bair had suggested the use of money collected from the taxpayers. This did not go well with the government and the resulting displeasure led to the formation of measures and strategies that have proved unable to stem the rapid rise in foreclosures. Over ten million people will be victims of foreclosure in another five years time.
Mrs. Blair’s fight to prevent foreclosure is seen as an effort to advertise herself, by the White House and the Treasury. This, they feel is aimed at projecting them as unfeeling persons towards the plight of the millions suffering from foreclosure. She is now precluded from most of the meetings regarding foreclosures.
As part of a rescue programme, Mrs. Blair, put into action certain measures, to help about 65000 house owners. These were people who were two months behind with their dues. Though not all, but nearly 7200 people have benefited so far. So too Congress proceeded to help the people and ended up with problems. Till now only 200 owners have applied for relief and there has been no modification of loans.
There are families with ailing members who could easily pay up only if the rate if interest was a trifle low. They fail to understand why there is no help for them when banks are being aided. Bair in her attempt to help the people had estimated a total of 24 billion dollars that would be required. The Treasury observed that it would take at least 70 billion dollars for the purpose and that the F.D.I.C. has not looked into the possibility of defaulters once the rates are reduced.

Severe criticism has bee leveled at the FDIC and the Congress for their plans seem to be overlooking the loss that the economy will, incur. They are also wary about who the genuine loaners at risk are. There are those who become defaulters willingly in order to claim a modification.

Foreclosure Victims Feel a Two Year Halt on Foreclosures Can Help Them

Julie Parker — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:43:05 +0000

Foreclosures victims feel that a two-year halt on foreclosures can help them. Lawmakers echo same sentiments and are proposing a moratorium on house foreclosures.

Sandra Applleberry of Grand Blanc is 53 years and is a pastor of a church in Flint. She is one of the thousands who are threatened by impending foreclosures as they are behind in their mortgage payments. This tense situation has caused the three senators of the state to support a bill that will put a hold on mortgage as well as tax foreclosures in Michigan.

The legislation would permit foreclosure victims a respite for two years according to court orders. The time could be worked out to reduce the amount of monthly payment. During the first quarter of 2008 there were 1,734 foreclosure postings in Genesee County according to the findings of RealtyTrac. It is the same as the last quarter of 2007 and an increase of 47% from the first quarter of the previous year, 2007. Michigan as well as Genesee County has been attacked simultaneously by foreclosures and high unemployment rates. Senator John Gleason (D-Flushing) sees this problem as exasperating. “It’s not ending. It’s getting worse.”

The situation began to get problematic for Appleberry from the fall of 2007 when her mortgage monthly amount suddenly zoomed to $1,700. Just at that time she had lost the allowance she got from housing. Her husband, Leslie is disabled and received payments from social security.

The ACORN branch of Flint mediated to stop an auction of the house of the Appleberry’s some month’s ago and is now pursuing the matter with the lender to bring down the interest rate to 9.5%. Sandra is optimistic that some sort of agreement will be reached – something that they can afford. Hitherto a proposal by the lender had been well beyond their means.

The legislation will also permit the owners of houses to ask for a freeze on property tax for two years. The plan allows Michigan State Housing Development Authority to issue bonds that would ensure mortgage guarantee during the time of the freeze. The money from the bonds would be utilized to help foreclosure victims about to lose their houses.
In the past a tax postponement plans had helped many out of tax foreclosures. In six years 1,700 families have benefited. ACORN hopes to utilize a $7.8 million grant to help more families threatened with foreclosures.

Foreclosures Create Opportunities For First Time House Owners

Julie Parker — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:16:19 +0000

The plummeting housing prices and soaring foreclosure create opportunities for first time house owners, according to a reputed auction house in Florida. In the yester years foreclosure properties were shunned as distressed properties that needed total over hauling before it became habitable and that was expensive. In recent times however foreclosure properties in the housing market draw agents and investors who understand foreclosure as good investment opportunities. Intelligent people purchasing a house for the first time dive into the market during such recession periods to retrieve property at bargain prices. The staggering real estate market, flooded with bank-owned foreclosure auctions allow purchasers heavy discounts on these properties, as the lenders, eager to dispose off these mortgages within the shortest period possible become very flexible.
Florida continued to be battered with foreclosure during the second quarter of 2008. RealtyTrac, the nation’s most trusted name in the real estate market and tracking foreclosure records in the nation, reported that Florida ranked as running the country’s fourth highest foreclosure rate during the past three months. One in every 78 households received a foreclosure filing which was twice as much as the nation’s average in foreclosure filings.
Dave Webb, Principal of Hudson and Marshall, the country’s most experienced foreclosure auction firm declared that 700 bank-owned homes in cities throughout Florida were to be auctioned in mid-August. Detailing the programme, Dave said, over 100 houses would be auctioned in Orlando, almost 100 houses in Tampa and more than 200 houses would be auctioned in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area. The sellers paid for the title insurance of all the properties. The foreclosure properties were to be auctioned at ‘as-is-where-is’ basis, Hudson and Marshall confirmed. The buyers were allowed to carry out a thorough inspection of the house they wanted to bid for. After the sale, the successful bidder was required to deposit in cash or certified funds an amount of $2500 for each of the properties he had successfully purchased.
Hudson and Marshall, based in Texas, was America’s premier auction authority with forty years of auction history in the US. Maximizing sales, the company was able to sell 70,000 houses in the past eight years by means of an accelerated sales process, which efficiently sold innumerable properties that minimized expenses and maximized returns to the lenders. Last year, H&M total sales amounted to $1.2 billion and the company’s anticipated sales were stated to auction another 30,000 houses through 2009.

Orange County Under Seige of Foreclosure

Kevin Simpson — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:04:27 +0000

Foreclosure have lain seize on Orange County, especially where sub-prime lending had concentrated, and was intensifying. During the second quarter of the year, four Santa Anna ZIP Codes were the epicenter of foreclosure in the county. The overall ratio between foreclosure and the total number of condominiums and houses more than doubled over that in the first quarter in some ZIPS, according to DataQuick, which analyses foreclosure trends in the country.
Statistics show that 75% of the people in Santa Ana had borrowed money to buy houses under sub-prime lending in 2005 when the real estate market was booming, and it was they that were the worst hit in the nationwide foreclosure crisis. Santa Ana, with 92701 properties filing a foreclosure was the forerunner and 23 out of every 1000 households received a foreclosure filing during the second quarter compared to 10 out of every 1000 ratio in the first quarter, as projected by DataQuick which detailed foreclosure in each ZIP for the quarter ending June 2008.
The tentacles of foreclosure had spread to the neighbouring county cities, including Anaheim, Orange, Garden Grove and Stanton and even beyond to places that have not been the target of sub-prime lenders. Market watchers stress that people enjoying good credit back-up had ventured to buy houses in areas such as parts of Lake Forest, Ladera Ranch, Rancho Santa Margarita and Aliso Viejo, as investments or to live in, in the near future. Unfortunately, these buyers are suffocated under their mortgage loans.
These South county ZIPs rank third for having the maximum concentration of foreclosure among counties. Experts blame foreclosure for pulling down the prices of houses in the country. In Santa Ana’s six ZIP codes the median prices of houses sold dropped 50% compared to a 13% drop in June last year.
US Representative, Loretta Sanchez, covering Santa Ana, Garden Grove, parts of Anaheim and Fullerton, promised that the housing bill passed at the Congress intended to help areas like central Orange County. The housing bill would enable borrowers entrapped in the foreclosure dilemma to interchange the existing loan mortgages for loans at more affordable rates and conditions. The borrowers in default would be backed by refinance mortgages by the Federal Housing Administration to the tune of $3oo billion. Apparently, though the bill looks good, it is obvious that lenders would be unwilling to suffer losses on loans backed by the FHA, snapping out the efficacy of the much-publicized housing bill.

Hand To Handle Foreclosure

Kevin Simpson — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:33:14 +0000

HANDS was certified by the US government Department of Housing and Urban Development, to handle foreclosures. It will give counsel on mortgage properties just when the problem of foreclosure was sneaking into Warren County.
Mayor Elaine Walker confirmed that seven local banks were working with HANDS, to set up offices throughout the region, in 27 counties, Owensboro and Elizabethtown to help borrowers understand better their mortgage deals. They offered to counsel potential purchasers of houses even at the pre-mortgage stage. The local leaders in their effort to navigate borrowers, struggling under foreclosure or immersed in the midst of bigger problems, had come forward several months ago to counsel them and show them ways and means of wading out of it. The government officials, bankers, Realtors, AARP and Kentucky Housing Corporation had organized a program wherein much of the problems of the borrowers at risk of running into a foreclosure could be bailed out. Their policies were updated regularly.
The foreclosure crisis had touched Warren County but was not as bad as it was in the states of Florida, California or Michigan, nevertheless people were feeling the pinch. The whole year of 2007 saw 230 houses being foreclosed in Warren County but this year in July alone there had been 183 foreclosure filings and 25 more were slated for August, 2008. Deborah Williams, Executive Director of non-profit Housing Assistance and Development Services, anticipated that the total foreclosure figure at the end of the year was quite likely to exceed 300 households.
According to Williams many factors contributed to the present crisis in the housing finance industry. Since the late 1970’s the US had not witnessed a slump of this stature and was caught unawares. Suffering was rampant, people with low income, middle-class families with good incomes were suffocated under pressure of inflation, and higher fuel costs fanned prices so that even people with very good savings account and an organized budget were affected, and topping the problem was the foreclosure and sub-prime lending debacle.
Williams said that some funds had been procured to help out borrowers in several ways. First, it could reach out to areas to spread awareness among borrowers the status of their mortgage loans, counselors could negotiate a lower rate of interest especially if it was through a partner bank, it could offer financial help to borrowers who suddenly is retrenched or suffers a major illness. The borrowers were only to dial HANDS for help free of charge.