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Foreclosure Filings are Down

By Sandy Shores FL Realtor®, Melbourne Real Estate

Real Estate Broker/Owner with M & M Realty of Brevard Inc. BK629999

June 15, 2009 07:41 AM

Foreclosure filings are down

Brevard County foreclosure filings were down for May 2009. There were 770 filings last month. April had 851 and in March there were 963. To date 2009 has seen 4297 foreclosure filings. In 2008 we had 9228 for the year. These numbers are for filings only. They don't indicate the total number of foreclosures.

Are the numbers down because more owners have been able to short sale their properties? A short sale is when a bank or mortgage company agrees to take a lesser amount than the outstanding balance of the mortgage. The property is sold because of a financial or economic hardship. We are finding that many lenders are receptive to a short sale as it costs them considerably less than a property that goes into foreclosure. Some are even opting for a deed in lieu of foreclosure.

Foreclosure filing fees in Florida increased on June 1 from $295 up to $1,900. The amount is determined on the price of the home.

The Melbourne Association of REALTORS estimates that one quarter of home sales today are short sales.

NOTE: It is recommended that a seller contact an attorney, legal counsel or an accountant prior to doing a short sale to determine how a short sale will effect their individual situation.

This article is authored by

Sandy Shores REALTOR® , Melbourne FL Real Estate

Brevard County Real Estate & Investing

Palm Bay Florida Real Estate News

I also buy, sell, rent, own and manage Investment Property.

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Brian Schulman

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Lancaster PA - Lancaster, PA

Lancaster County PA RealEstate Expert 717-951-5552

I wonder how much the increase in filing fees themselves contributed to the decline in foreclosures?

Jun 15, 2009 08:07 AM

Paul S. Henderson, REALTOR®, CRS

Fathom Realty Washington LLC - Tacoma, WA

South Puget Sound Washington Agent/Broker!

Sandy, We were just talking of this at the office and we are still seeing banks threatening to "just foreclose" instead of making a sensible deal. They must know a lot more than we do when it comes to marketing from 1500 miles away...

Jun 15, 2009 08:10 AM

Sandy Shores FL Realtor®, Melbourne Real Estate

M & M Realty of Brevard Inc. - Melbourne, FL

Brevard County Real Estate, Florida's Space Coast

Brian, Interesting, as we were contemplating that also. We wondered if the numbers were down because the filing fees were up, or if the numbers should have been up, with everyone racing to file? But apparently the latter was not the case. Great question.

Jun 15, 2009 08:30 AM

Paul, Interesting, we have seen banks have varying opinions on this - whether to short sale or to foreclose. I suppose it depends on the individual situations. I had recently heard that it costs a bank about $400 a day to carry a foreclosure - ouch!

Jun 15, 2009 08:31 AM

Myrl Jeffcoat

Sacramento, CA

Greater Sacramento Realtor - Retired

California has impletmented the "California Foreclosure Prevention Act" today. It is supposedly going to be in effect for 90 days. Lenders will need to prove they tried to work with troubled homeowners to modify their loans before they can foreclose. It will be interesting to know how many are actually helped by this intervention - or whether it is simply delaying the inevitable.

Jun 15, 2009 10:03 AM

Tony Orefice

NorthGroup Real Estate/www.TonyORealtor.com - Concord, NC

Realtor- Cabarrus County, NC

Hi SS,

interesting info in your post. Foreclosures and short sales are saddening to think about....someone out there is losing their home!

Jun 15, 2009 12:38 PM

Goodbye Active Rain

Out of Real Estate

Sandy, that is good news to go along with a beautiful sunset.

Jun 16, 2009 01:31 AM

Hi Myrl, I read about this in your post. Thanks for the info - we'll have to see if this makes a difference or not. The banks don't seem to want to talk to anyone today, unless they are behind on their payments.

Hi Tony, They are very saddening, but today they are a fact of life.

Hi TOTO, It is good to hear that the numbers dropped for this one month. Let's see what the future holds.

Jun 16, 2009 05:05 AM

Linda Breeding

Keller Williams Realty - Pinehurst, NC

Hi Sandy, It's great news that foreclosures are down some of it could be because of the short sales. I also think the decline is because of the refinances and loan modifications. Hopefully it will continue.

Jun 16, 2009 01:58 PM

Cheryl Powell - The Powell Team

Southern Homes of The Carolinas - The Powell Team - Harrisburg, NC

Concord,Harrisburg & Charlotte NC Area Real Estate

Have we finally hit the bottom? It's sad for anyone to lose their house. Many in that position are good citizens who fell on hard times.

Jun 17, 2009 04:12 AM

Hi Cheryl, I don't believe that we have truly hit bottom yet. We may be very near, and treading around bottom, but we are hearing that there may be a wave of foreclosures to come. We'll have to wait and see. Foreclosure is very sad.

Jun 17, 2009 08:13 AM

Hi Linda, I hope that you are right that the foreclosures are down due to the short sales. I suppose that only time will tell.

Jun 18, 2009 12:11 PM

Foreclosure Filings are Down

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