Despite long foreclosure delays and sharp foreclosure declines, Florida still has a lot of bank-owned homes for investors and homebuyers looking for great deals.
According to a report from LPS Applied Analytics, Florida was the fifth slowest state to foreclose on defaulting homeowners in November. Despite this, the state still posted the highest number of real estate owned homes among states in November, based on a report from RealtyTrac.
In November, a total of 10,706 homes in Florida were repossessed by banks and added to their REO lists. Florida’s REO total was the highest among states, even higher than overall foreclosure leader California, which posted 8,213 REO homes. Considering all homes in all stages of foreclosure, California had the highest number – 57,378 homes – and Florida followed with 32,938 units.
The foreclosure total of Florida in November was made up of 10,706 bank-owned homes, 10,937 homes in lis pendens status, and 11,295 homes already notified of foreclosure sale. Its total accounted for 12.6 percent of the total of U.S. foreclosures in November. Florida and chart-topper California accounted for 34.4 percent of the country’s total. That’s more than one-third.
The good news for Florida in November was its sharp drop in total pre-foreclosures and foreclosures. The total fell by a whopping 42.1 percent from October and by another 37.8 percent from November 2009. The ranking of Florida in rate of foreclosure also dropped. From second place in October and for most months in the past, the state fell to fifth place in November, with one distressed home for every 267 residential units in the state.
In the study carried out by LPS, it was found that Florida took the fifth longest time in foreclosing on a delinquent home. The average foreclosure filing in November in the state was started 307 days after the date of first default, which is an extremely long time considering that lenders start foreclosure proceedings after 90 days of delinquency. The other states slow in foreclosure filing were Massachusetts, California, Maryland and New York. Massachusetts lenders waited for an average of 373 days.
Although foreclosure delays help homeowners struggling through financial problems, analysts said that delayed proceedings further slow down the recovery of the housing market. They explain that every time a foreclosure is completed and the bank-owned home is sold to an able buyer, the housing market recovers by one step.
In addition to bank-owned homes, investors and prospective homebuyers can also check out Tampa homes in pre-foreclosure. The Tampa4U.com, which has been helping buyers and sellers of Tampa real estate for many years, has bank-approved short sales.