Foreclosure Listings Blog

Osceola, the county with the highest rate of foreclosure in Central Florida, is set to receive around $14 million from the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program to manage its record number of foreclosure homes.

According to John Quinones, chairman of the County Commission, said part of the money will be used to help foreclosure-battered communities such as Poinciana, where home prices have gone down by a staggering 49 percent.

In July, Osceola County reported 955 foreclosure filings. In the four-county Central Florida region that include Osceola, more than 7,200 foreclosure filings were filed in July, an increase from the over 5,200 cases filed in July 2008. In June, over 6,600 foreclosure cases were filed.

Human Services Chief Lania Crouch said that approximately $4 million will be used to assist home buyers with their down payments and another $4 million will be spent to buy and rehabilitate vacant and dilapidated houses across the county.

Part of the funding will also be used to jump-start an affordable housing development for low-income families, using $5 million of the NSP funds.

According to Quinones, approximately 150 families would be helped with down payment aid, with every home buyer receiving around $30,000 to reduce their home purchase costs.

Qualified families can begin applying for the housing aid after Osceola County completes its pre-approval for foreclosed houses qualified under the NSP program. County spokesperson Niki Whisler said information workshops would be held in the last week of September and that the distribution of down payment assistance could begin in January next year.

Osceola County is set to receive the NSP money from the Florida Department of Community Affairs, which supervised the county’s application for the grant. Other Central Florida counties are also set to receive their allocations, but Osceola’s spending plan is unique because it has several initiatives. Other counties just focused on acquiring, fixing and selling foreclosure properties.

Quinones explained to distressed homeowners asking for assistance from the NSP funding that NSP explicitly ruled that the funds must not be spent for foreclosure prevention, as there are other federal programs designed to prevent foreclosures.

The NSP was enacted by Congress last year as the number of foreclosure homes increased across the county and began battering neighborhoods. Last September, the Housing and Urban Development Department distributed $541 million directly to several Florida communities hit with record numbers of foreclosures. The state received a separate funding of $91 million for distribution to neighborhoods that did not receive direct allocation from the HUD.

The National Association of Home Builders has called on the U.S. Congress to extend the $8,000 federal tax credit offered to first-time home buyers or taxpayers who have not owned a home in the last three years to November 30, 2010 to give more time for potential home buyers to obtain financing and cut down inventories of new homes, existing homes and foreclosed houses. The tax credit is set to expire on December 1.

NAHB also is urging Congress to offer the federal tax credit to all buyers of main residences and not just first-time home buyers.

According to Joe Robson, chairman of NAHB, if the tax credit scheme is extended, it would result to 383,000 more home sales, creating around 350,000 jobs in the coming months and year. NAHB estimated that the extension would result to 80,000 housing starts.

Robson also explained that the tax credit extension and expansion would help solve the unemployment problem, as the house construction sector comprises over 15 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. Currently, the nationwide unemployment is nearing the 10-percent level.

Robson also explained that NAHB members will meet with their legislators in their respective states during the August recess to explain other factors clobbering the home building industry.

One of these is the appraisal process, which the NAHB says is unfair to home builders. NAHB members are complaining that new homes are being appraised at very low prices because the sales prices of foreclosed homes and distressed properties are being used as comparables. A recent survey held by NAHB found that 25 percent of new-house sales are not closed because new-home appraisals are far below the contract prices.

The homebuilders are asking Congress to require the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and the Federal Housing Administration to create an appeals process for appraisals, like the one established by the Veterans Affairs Loan Guaranty Program.

NAHB are also asking lawmakers to support the net operating loss relief bill already being discussed in Congress. This proposal eliminates the $15 million limit on average yearly gross receipts and allows 2009 losses to get qualified for the expanded carry back scheme.

Additionally, home builders are also asking Congress to pressure banks to provide them with loans for the purchase and development of properties and to give construction borrowers time and flexibility to sell their new homes and developed lots.

More foreclosed homes entered Treasure Coast repo house listings in June and in July, based on foreclosure records kept by the Clerk of the Circuit Court in Martin County, Florida.

A total of 233 foreclosure cases were filed in the county in July, surpassing the record 227 filings set in June. According to Marsha Ewing, county clerk of Martin County, she and her team expect more foreclosures in August and that the August total will again surpass the July record.

Ewing said that based on the current pace of foreclosures, Martin County could exceed 2,000 foreclosure filings in 2009, which would become another record in the history of the county.

In the past 3 months alone, the St. Lucie County Clerk has received over 2,300 new foreclosure filings, including 924 actions in July. Compared to filings in 2008, the July 2009 filings marked a decrease of 12 units from the 936 filings in July 2008.

Joe Smith, another clerk of court, said daily foreclosure filings have been fluctuating. During some days, there were no lawyers coming in with foreclosure; in other days, lawyers would just show up with boxes of foreclosure documents.

In Indian River County, foreclosure filings were highest in June, when 287 cases were filed, breaking the previous record of 280 filings set in October.

According to the court clerks, the mandatory mediation initiative undertaken by the 19th Judicial Circuit for distressed homeowners starting March may have slowed down the pace of foreclosures from March to May.

But the foreclosures soared again in June and July, especially in the counties of Martin, Indian River and St. Lucie.

Ewing, who has been working for the county for 32 years, said the number of foreclosures being filed now is much higher than filings during the 1990s recession because of the substantial increase in population in the region.

Meanwhile, Joe Catrambone, who heads the Stuart/Martin County Chamber of Commerce, said he is concerned that the lingering effects of the downturn will soon clobber also commercial mortgages and drive commercial real estate foreclosures.

Catrambone said that business owners in Martin County are worried that the residential meltdown will push more commercial properties into foreclosure.

All in all, the three-county area had 6,252 foreclosure cases from January to June 2009. Analysts estimated that total filings for the three counties for the year 2009 will reach 10,717 filings based on filings in the first 7 months of the year.

A foreclosed home auction site has been in operation since November last year to enable the Clerks of Courts of Duval County, Florida to maintain residential foreclosure records and to facilitate foreclosure auctions through online auctions.

It is the same sad story for most dairy farmers across the country as they face the possibility of foreclosure properties listings while trying to survive the economic downturn that devastated the dairy industry since last year.

The Legacy Gold Club in Lakewood Ranch, Florida is in a financial quagmire. Because of the financial difficulties being experienced by the golf club, its lender, Textron Financial, has decided to take over ownership of the property before it will be placed in bank foreclosure listing.
Troon Golf President Hud Hinton said that the Legacy Golf [...]

After getting clobbered by waves of residential foreclosures, the U.S. economy will again be trashed by commercial property foreclosures.

The demand for home loans nationwide increased last week as mortgage rates for 30-year fixed loans dropped to their lowest level in the past three weeks and as the number of loan refinancing applications increased.

More houses are expected to enter foreclosed home auction lists in Boulder, Colorado in the coming months as more foreclosures are being posted in the counties of Boulder and Bloomfield, based on trustee office records in the two counties.

Several residential and commercial beach development projects in Ventura County, California are on foreclosure property listings. These distressed properties have loans that went back three years ago.