Sarasota County Short Sale Preferred According to Study

A new study, conducted by a California-based company which tracks foreclosures, revealed there is an increasing number of short sale transactions recorded in Southwest Florida and decreasing number of homes completing the foreclosure process and ending up as bank foreclosures.

It can be assumed from the said study that lenders are becoming experts at home sales before they proceed with the repossession and buyers are now more comfortable and patient when it comes to waiting for the conclusion of the short sale.

According to a foreclosure expert from Re/Max Alliance Group, the reason why there is a trend favoring short sale over foreclosure is because homes which end up in the short sale table are more likely to be in better physical condition compared to bank foreclosures which are usually unoccupied, abandoned and require major repair.

The said study is indeed good news for home buyers looking for affordable housing. Property flippers, on the other hand, can use the data from the study to create a playbook which will allow them to find out how much should they spend on a property.

An example obtained from the study showed that in Sarasota County, average home sale price was at $206,267 for the first quarter of 2010. A foreclosed property sold for 48.4 percent discount (or $106,409) while a property sold via a short sale sold for 27.5 percent discount ($149,630).

Sarasota County short sale and foreclosure sales are actually dominating the local market. Last May, 36.5 percent or 336 out of 920 sales involved foreclosure properties. For the same month, short sales represented about 19.7 percent while it was only 2.9 percent in October of 2008.

Considering the figures, it is obvious it took some time for lenders, buyers and owner/seller to feel comfortable and confident with a short sale. In fact, lenders are becoming more and more open to short sale especially after they realized that much money and time is wasted when opting to proceed with a foreclosure. There is no more need for them to pay property taxes, spend on maintenance and generally make sure the property do not become so dilapidated at a point when no buyer would be interested. At the end of the day, lenders have discovered they could enjoy more profit.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100630/ARTICLE/6301018/2055/NEWS?Title=Study-Short-sales-favored-over-bank-seizures&tc=ar