Foreclosed Property Sales in Florida’s Treasure Coast
Negotiating foreclosed property sales in the Treasure Coast has been a mixture of exhilaration and discouragement for buyers and real estate agents over the past months as various factors come into play in the Treasure Coast housing market.
According to broker Gayle Beyer, the Saint Lucie foreclosure home market has become a very competitive market for buyers because of the soaring number of low-priced distressed properties in the area. Some have been making offers on foreclosure homes without first inspecting them; others have been making inflated offers just to beat the competition in cases where there are multiple offers.
On the other hand, there are also buyers who have looked at over 100 distressed properties and have made over 50 purchase offers, but have not succeeded in buying one.
There are also buyers who have been filled with excitement after moving into the homes they purchased, but soon fall into some feelings of regret and sadness when they realize the situations of families that formerly lived in the homes. But as they live in the foreclosed houses and make improvements, they begin to become attached to the homes.
According to Bonnie Peters, head of the Martin County Realtors Association, foreclosed property sales have always been higher in Saint Lucie County because of its rapid economic growth and the spike in home prices in the county during the boom years. In other Treasure Coast counties like Martin, slow growth rates have prevented them from being clobbered with a lot of foreclosures when home values plunged to low levels.
Colwell Banker Georgann Schreiber said that oftentimes, the first people to check the interiors of foreclosure homes are the realtors authorized by mortgage lenders to sell their properties. First, they check if there are people still living in the properties and if there are, they act as counselors to the families on how they can move out with assistance from several sectors.
Buyer Mike Riha related that he has checked almost 100 homes and made about 60 purchase offers in Cape Coral, Indian River and Tampa counties over the past few years before finally buying one in Vero Lake. He said he does not think about whoever has occupied the house before because he does not know their situation.
Statewide, foreclosed property sales levels are still high despite a slowdown in foreclosure filings in October because of the availability of lower-priced foreclosure properties across Florida.
