Southwest Florida Foreclosures: Where are we now?

Estero – Bonita Springs – Naples Real Estate

By D. Michael Burke

The more being said in the marketplace about Florida’s foreclosures, the more it seems that we are confused. Some say things are worse, others say better. Depending on where the data is coming from, you would be hard pressed not to believe the sky was falling and everyone and their brother was going to lose their home to foreclosure. Fortunately for us, the facts trump the misleading information that you might be hearing from our neighbors or seeing on television.

Depending on the source, you might see foreclosure numbers represented in one of the following manners:

• The number of homeowners who received at least one notice of foreclosure
• The number of homes that have received notice they have been scheduled for a foreclosure sale.
• The number of homes actually taken over by the lender – actual post foreclosure Real Estate Owned properties (REO).

The point is, of course, which one is a true representation of the foreclosure rate?

According to a report released by the Florida Realtors and SGS, “A brief comparison of Lis Pendens, Notices of Sale, and REO’s sheds some light on one of the possible reasons for large disparities in reports on foreclosures. Since about March of 2007, there has been a growing gap in the number of Lis Pendens issued and the number of homes that eventually went to auction. One must take great care, therefore, in reporting on statewide foreclosure statistics. While reporting the number of Lis Pendens filed may reflect the number of foreclosure proceedings started, it does not necessarily reflect the number of homes that were eventually sold at auction.”

Here are some of the numbers and analysis from the report for Florida in 2010.

• 180,402 filed Lis Pendens
• 140,105 Notices of Foreclosure Sale
• 2,800 Real Estate Owned Properties (REO’s)
• The total number of homes in some phase of foreclosure – all three categories – comes out to 323,307 Florida households.

Other report findings include:

• In 2010, 1 in every 29 Florida housing units were in some phase of foreclosure. In 2008, it was only 1 in every 54.
• The top Florida counties for high foreclosure rates were Lee, Miami-Dade, Osceola, Charlotte and Orange.
• The Florida counties with the lowest foreclosure rates were Taylor, Union, Jefferson, Lafayette and Liberty.
• There were 82,632 pre-foreclosure short sales throughout Florida in 2010.

Counties in Central and South Florida were the hardest hit in 2010, with several experiencing foreclosure rates in excess of 40 foreclosures per thousand households. The map to the right shows foreclosure rates, broken out by county. The most affected areas are shown in the deepest red, representing a 5% foreclosure rate.

Florida County by County Foreclosure Map

It seems lenders only filed 10,669 foreclosure lawsuits in Lee County in 2010, a decrease of 50.8% from the 21,768 filings in 2009. For Collier County, lenders filed 4,452 foreclosure lawsuits, a decrease of 47.2% from the 8,421 filings in 2009. All in all, it’s not too bad when you consider we’ve had over 100,000 foreclosures in the two county areas since January, 2006.

For Lee County, December’s 409 foreclosures was an increase from November’s 343, but it’s still far below the peak of 2,665 reached in October, 2008 after the housing crash caused homeowners and investors to lose properties at a breakneck pace. Collier County faired a little better with 218 filings in December. And, while it was an increase from the 177 filed in November, it was also far below the peak of 1,103 seen in July, 2009.

Foreclosure sales also did well in 2010 in both counties. For Lee, there were 5,239 total foreclosures sold in 2010. In Collier, 2,177 foreclosures left the market. In terms of the overall sales, these numbers represented 33% and 25% of the total sales volume in each county repectively.

In addition, here are some foreclosure numbers being reported for January and February, 2011 in Lee and Collier Counties.

• Lee County January, 2011 foreclosure filings – 374
• Lee County February, 2011 foreclosure filings – 346
• Lee County February, 2010 foreclosure filings – 1,421
• Lee County Active Foreclosure Listings March 1, 2010 – 609
• Collier County January, 2011 foreclosure filings – 156
• Collier County February, 2011 foreclosure filings – 111
• Collier County February, 2010 foreclosure filings – 565
• Collier County Active Foreclosure Listings March 1, 2010 – 389

Lee County Clerk of Court Charlie Green said “there are so few that the backlog of foreclosures that’s plagued the court system for three years may nearly be under control.” The backlog of foreclosures reached a peak of more than 28,000 in 2008 before the stepped-up processing of foreclosure cases known as the – rocket docket – started working on the backlog. Now, according to Green, “We’re just plain running out of inventory of properties remaining that have delinquent mortgages.” Only about 11,000 foreclosure cases remained in the system at the end of February.

If this trend continues (and we believe it will), by the end of 2011 things will visibly start to turn around here in Southwest Florida. Don’t be confused by the foreclosure market! If you need more information about your own foreclosure property or about the purchase of a foreclosed property, call a professional! You need a knowledgeable agent who can look out for your best interests and keep you informed on the pulse of Southwest Florida’s foreclosure market.

Michael@CoconutPointRealEstate.com

www.CoconutPointRealEstate.com