Foreclosures in the Tampa real estate market continue to rise at an alarming rate. Financially troubled homeowners cannot sell their home for anywhere near what they paid for it and they simply cannot afford to make the mortgage payments. Once they are a good three or four months behind on their mortgage payments, they get notification from their lender that they have entered into the foreclosure process. Before a homeowner receives the foreclosure notification from their lender, I would hope they will have already picked up the phone and have already spoken to their lender to notify them of their financial situation. Sadly, many homeowners in foreclosure have never picked up the phone and have never spoken to their lender. Another call the homeowners need to make is to a Short Sale Specialist who can help them sell their home before the bank actually forecloses. Alot of Realtors, like myself, are now specializing in short sales because it is the bulk of the market. Foreclosure should be a homeowner's LAST RESORT. A short sale can be a life saver.
When a lender agrees to do a short sale, they are agreeing to forgive the amount between what the homeowner owes and what they can sell it for. if you claim the home as your primary residence, the forgiven amount will not be taxed. If you bought the home as an investment or a second home, however, the forgiven amount can be taxed. For example, if an investor owes $250,000 on the home, but the market will only support selling the home at $200,000, the lender will forgive the $50,000 but the investor will need to claim the forgiven $50,000 as income on their taxes. Realtors need to be aware of this and advise their investor clients. Florida is known as a debtor's haven, but the government is not letting the investor who bought three condos during the market boom get away scott free.
For more information, please contact me at info@buytampafl.com
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