Foreclosed Properties Data Articles

The continued rise in foreclosure properties has been hurting condo associations throughout Florida, according to Fort Lauderdale-based Becker and Poliakoff, a law firm helping homeowner associations.

Condo complexes are now being forced to cut amenities and to impose higher fees on condo owners as the rising number of foreclosed condo units has been creating severe deficits for condo associations. Banks and mortgage firms are also contributing to the problem as they delay final foreclosure procedures to avoid paying condo association dues.

Banks have also been tightening their lending policies on condo purchases. They now refuse to lend when over 50 percent of units in a condo complex are being rented, when condo owners do not have adequate reserve funds, when many condo owners are delinquent on their association dues or loans and when many units are owned by a few investors.

Real estate brokers specializing in condo units complain that banks are worsening the foreclosure situation involving condos. But Anthony DeMarco, government relations vice president for the Florida Bankers Association, explained that banks have been losing money too and that banking regulators have required them to be strict in their lending activities. Additionally, bankers said that the foreclosure process in the courts takes too long they cannot legally take back their foreclosure properties at the expected time frame.

According to Rich DiBello, rental manager for Villagio Condominiums, banks have been using all strategies to avoid assuming their responsibilities as owners of foreclosed units.

Most of the condo complexes currently suffering from foreclosures are those that were built or converted into condos from 2004 through 2007. These complexes were products of heavy speculative buying, according to analysts.

At the 42-unit Waterside Condominiums in Charlotte County, 74 percent of buyers abandoned their units, leaving only 6 owners to pay monthly expenses totaling $8,000 and a yearly insurance bill of $16,000. The six owners had to increase their monthly fees to $500 each and to pay an assessment of $1,800 each.

At the 320-unit Villagio condo complex in Sarasota, over 40 buyers abandoned their loans and their units when the housing market plunged. These buyers were able to purchase units as lender Countrywide Mortgage allowed them to buy with zero or minimal down payments.

Among Florida condos suffering from foreclosure properties are the Las Palmas in Sarasota with 105 foreclosures, the Town Park Village at Lakewood Ranch with 143 foreclosures and the Cortez Palms at Bradenton with 97 foreclosures.

Orlando foreclosed properties and other foreclosures in Florida account for 29 percent of the $3.2 billion bad loans and assets of Ohio-based Fifth Third Bank as of September 30 despite the fact that total loans provided by Fifth Bank in Florida account for only 10 percent of the bank’s loan portfolio.

According to records from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Fifth Third Bank still has to remedy a total of $922 million of bad commercial and residential loans in Florida after already having charged off almost $900 million bad loans.

According to analyst Bert Ely, many banks have substantial loan problems in Florida, which has among the highest foreclosure rates in the country largely because of overbuilding and overlending.

Fifth Third Kevin Kabat explained that the bank’s entry into the real estate market in Florida was ill timed. For years, the bank did not invest in the state, and when it did, it got burned.

After taking over First National Bankshares in 2005 and R-G Crown Bank in 2007, Fifth Third became the tenth biggest lender in Florida, with $7.61 billion worth of deposits and 167 branches in the state. The two banks added $$10 billion worth of assets to Fifth Third.

Today, Florida is the fourth biggest market of Fifth Third, but Orlando foreclosed properties and other Gulf Coast foreclosures have been contributing significantly to the difficulties of Fifth Third in paying back the $3.4 billion in bailout money it received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program in December last year.

Over the past year-and-a-half, $892 million or 20-percent of the $4.3 billion charge-offs made by Fifth Third were for bad loans in Florida. Additionally, 55 percent of the $473 million bad loans set aside for sale at a loss in the last months of 2008 were in Florida.

Fifth Third has cut down its $9.7 billion worth of loans in Florida to $8.1 billion by September 30, but Florida still accounts for nearly 30 percent of the bank’s distressed assets.

Fifth Third is not the only big bank with substantial loan troubles in Florida. SunTrust, BB&T and Regions all are suffering from bad property loans across the state. Commercial and residential foreclosures contributed to the collapse of 15 Florida banks over the past year, including BankUnited, which was the country’s fifth biggest bank before its collapse.

Los Angeles foreclosed properties contributed to the $60.8 billion in home values lost by property owners in the metro area during the 11-month period ended November this year, according to a real estate company.

The property loss in Los Angeles was higher than losses in any other metro area in the country during the period, but it was much lower than the $345.8 billion in residential property value lost during the entire year of 2008. The housing stock of the entire Los Angeles area in November was valued at $1.7 trillion.

Other metro areas lost substantial home values through November, but the losses were lower. Chicago lost a total of $49.6 billion and the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area lost a total of $45.9 billion.

The metro areas that gained in home values were Boston, where the residential sector grew by $23.3 billion in value and Providence, where the housing sector grew by $12.4 billion.

Despite the staggering loss in home value, Los Angeles will recover more quickly than other Sun Belt areas like Phoenix and Las Vegas because of signs of stabilization in house prices in Los Angeles, according to economist Stan Humphries.

However, the improvement in price levels could be hindered by the rise in default rates in the metro area in October, which could again increase the number of Los Angeles foreclosed properties in the coming months.

According to mortgage market monitoring firm First American CoreLogic, the foreclosure rate for homeowners with mortgage loans in Los Angeles increased from 1.75 percent in October last year to 3.69 percent in October this year. The rate was lower but close to the national foreclosure rate of 3 percent.

In October, mortgage loans that were in default by three months or more accounted for almost 11 percent of all home loans in the metro area, an increase of almost 6 percent in October last year.

In the most recent foreclosure report by a California-based research firm, foreclosure activity in California in November slowed down by more than 13 percent compared to the previous month, but it was still at a higher level than foreclosures in November last year.

California also improved its ranking in foreclosure rate by going down from second to third, but three of its metro areas – Merced, Stockton and Modesto – topped metro area foreclosure activities.

Foreclosure houses on sale and distressed properties for sale currently account for more than 50 percent of all residential units for sale in the Alabama Gulf Coast counties of Baldwin and Mobile, according to members of the Baldwin County Association of Realtors.

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.

A foreclosed property for sale in Sarasota can be turned by a buyer into a vacation home as the city of Sarasota is a favorite destination for families and individuals looking for sparkling beaches, clean air, beautiful weather and other tourist spots.

FHA foreclosure homes have been rising in number largely due to the delinquencies by high-risk borrowers who took out loans in 2007 and 2008.

The first foreclosed property on sale purchased under the valley’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program has been repaired, renovated and ready to be resold, according to city officials of Indio.
Renters or residents of the Coachella Valley who want to own homes under the NSP program are advised to call HomeFinders Inc., submit their documents and wait [...]

Foreclosure property sales have been the major source of money for one Florida-based investor whose sales soared when his purchase and quick resale of foreclosure properties were featured in a documentary produced by Michael Moore.

Orlando foreclosed properties increased in number in the July to September quarter, based on data released this week by a foreclosure tracking firm.