Foreclosures Continue to Cripple the South Florida Real Estate Market

Talk to any Realtor these days and they will tell you that they cannot get enough listings. Homes are selling faster than they can put them on the market. They are getting multiple offers, over asking price and cash buyers.

But according to RealtyTrac, a real estate information company and an online marketplace for foreclosed and defaulted properties in the United States, Foreclosure sales still make up 32% of all activity in Miami-Dade County, 25% in Broward County, and 28% in Palm Beach County.

Florida continues to lead the nation in foreclosures and six of the state’s metropolitan areas ranked in the nation’s Top 10 in foreclosure activity. Although overall Broward and Palm Beach showed a slight decrease in foreclosure activity, Miami-Dade County had a 6% increase in foreclosed transactions.

In the fourth quarter of 2012, Miami-Dade recorded a 40% increase in foreclosure-related sales, Broward County showed a 20% increase and Palm Beach had a 7% increase in foreclosures.

Florida doesn’t only lead the nation in the number of foreclosure transactions, but also in the length of time it takes to complete a transaction. In Florida, it took an average of 852, more than twice the national average.

So who are buying these great deals? There are speculators who still invest in foreclosure deals, but this isn’t the same boom of investors that we saw 6 years ago. Today’s investors are more cautious because of the instability in the economy.

New state guidelines have been passed to speed up the foreclosure process, which has received mixed reviews. And with Realtors complaining that there is a shortage of inventory, perhaps they will be moving more of the foreclosed inventory.

If you have received a foreclosure notification from your mortgage lender, please call one of the associates at Adams Law, P.A. for a free consultation at 305-501-2799.