According to Realty Trac, the Florida Foreclosure Rate is gradually slowing down its rapid ascent. After several years of foreclosure rates increasing at an increasing rate in Florida, the first half of 2010 had only 277,073 new foreclosure filings up only 3% from the same period in 2009. This is, hopefully, the beginning of better news.
Mortgage modifications in Florida are seldom approved due to the degree of market decline. We had a short sale closing this week at $183k on a mortgage of over $510k. It is hard to modify such a loan. We believe that we negotiated the best deal for all parties including the lender. The majority of trial modifications are ultimately rejected by the "bank" for a variety of reasons so negotiated settlements with the lenders in usually in everyone's best interest...short sales.
There are reasons for optimism on several fronts in the Florida Residential Real Estate market. The market, although still declining, is declining at a much lower rate than the past few years. New government programs to encourage short sales are starting to work. This is a necessary step to recycle the hundreds of thousands of "underwater" homes in Florida but, again, the good news is that it is happening.
For those of us that specialize in this area, there is much work to be done. We expect it to take some years to work through the mess that we find ourselves in. To get some ideas and alternatives check www.StopFloridaForeclosureNow.com.
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