Florida HUD foreclosure properties
August 11, 2011 | 
Author New HUD map identifies REO properties
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) launched a new web-based mapping tool that shows the location of all foreclosed properties held by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).
Government-owned foreclosed homes account for almost half of all real estate-owned (REO) properties in the U.S., and the new mapping tool provides useful information for Realtors, local communities, homebuyers and investors.
“In this case, a picture is worth more than a thousand words,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. “This new mapping tool gives local communities a much clearer picture of where these foreclosed properties are so they, along with private investors, can focus their energies in especially hard-hit neighborhoods.”
In addition to mapping individual properties, the portal provides listing info by neighborhood, with details such as list date, price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms. It also includes links to the government agency that holds the listing – Homepath (Fannie Mae), Homesteps (Freddie Mac), and HUD Homestore (FHA). The tool allows users to search by specific address or neighborhood.
To use the map, visit HUD’s website portal.
G&E Realty is a HUD approved Real Estate Brokerage and can assist you in finding your next home as an occupant or investment. Contact us today for more information.
© 2011 Florida Realtors®
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Florida’s existing home, condo sales up in 2Q 2011
ORLANDO, Fla. – Aug. 10, 2011 – Florida’s existing home and existing condo sales experienced an upswing in the second quarter of 2011 compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the latest housing statistics from Florida Realtors®. Existing home sales rose 1 percent in 2Q 2011 with a total of 52,421 homes sold statewide; during the same period the year before, a total of 51,973 homes changed hands according to Florida Realtors. Statewide sales of existing condos in the second quarter rose 14 percent compared to the year-ago sales figure.
Statewide home and condo sales in the second quarter also increased over 1Q 2011’s sales figures, Florida Realtors’ records show. For 2Q 2011, statewide sales of existing homes rose 17.7 percent over the previous quarter’s activity; statewide existing condo sales increased 8.1 percent over the 1Q 2011 level.
The statewide existing-home median sales price was $134,600 for the three-month period; in 2Q 2010, it was $141,500 for a decrease of 5 percent. However, the 2Q 2011 statewide existing-home median sales price was 8.9 percent higher than the 1Q 2011 figure. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half for less.
Looking at Florida’s housing sector in the second quarter of 2011, Dr. Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Competitiveness, noted positive signs for a strengthening recovery. “Florida Realtors second quarter housing data shows that momentum in sales of both single family homes and condominiums continues to build, while median sales prices have also increased from first quarter to the second,” Snaith said.
“The fate of the housing market in Florida is tightly bound to that of the labor market,” he said. “They are like economic conjoined twins – improvement in one will invariably help the other. More jobs and lower unemployment will slow foreclosures as well as build the pool of potential buyers; both of these will work to help support prices. As single-family home and condo prices stabilize, the wealth effect of this will make owners more willing to spend, which in turn could boost hiring.”
Snaith added, “This may sound like a classic ‘chicken and the egg’ scenario, but as far as Florida’s economy is concerned, it doesn’t matter which comes first.”
In the year-to-year quarterly comparison for existing condo sales, 25,263 units sold statewide in the second quarter compared to 22,137 units in 2Q 2010 for a 14 percent gain. The statewide existing-condo median sales price was $94,700 in the second quarter; a year earlier, it was $96,400 for a 2 percent decrease. However, the 2Q 2011 statewide existing-condo median sales price was 17.3 percent higher than the 1Q 2011 figure.
Low mortgage rates were another favorable influence on the housing sector. According to Freddie Mac, the national commitment rate for a 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.66 percent in 2Q 2011; one year earlier, it averaged 4.91 percent.
Looking to buy, sell or rent in South Florida? Contact G&E Realty Group, Inc. today, for all of your Real Estate needs.
© 2011 Florida Realtors®
Foreclosure activity down in most U.S. metro areas
Foreclosure activity down in most U.S. metro areas
LOS ANGELES – July 28, 2011 – Most of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas are seeing a sharp drop in foreclosure activity as banks take longer to move against homeowners who are behind on their mortgage payments.
In the first half of this year, 84 percent of metropolitan areas with a population of at least 200,000 saw their foreclosure rate drop versus the same period last year, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.
The firm tracks notices for defaults, scheduled home auctions and home repossessions – warnings that can lead up to a home eventually being lost to foreclosure.
All told, foreclosure activity declined in 178 of the country’s 211 largest metropolitan areas during the first six months of the year.
The decline is due to delays in the foreclosure process as lenders work through foreclosure documentation problems that first surfaced last fall. Those problems prompted them to resubmit paperwork on many properties that had been slated for foreclosure and led to a slew of government investigations of the mortgage industry.
Mortgage banks also have put off taking action against newly delinquent borrowers in order to try loan modifications or other tactics aimed at avoiding foreclosure. Lackluster home sales this year also have provided little incentive for lenders to evict homeowners and chance having the property sit empty and unsold for months.
Some 1.7 million potential foreclosures are being held up, according to real estate firm CoreLogic.
The slowdown in foreclosure activity has been most pronounced in states where courts play a role in the foreclosure process and now have to wade through a logjam of cases.
The 20 metropolitan areas that saw the biggest annual declines in foreclosure activity are in New York, Maryland, Florida, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Illinois – all judicial foreclosure states, RealtyTrac said.
Syracuse, N.Y., led the decline, posting a 78 percent drop in its foreclosure rate versus the January-through-June period last year. The city had the third-lowest foreclosure rate among the 211 metropolitan areas in RealtyTrac’s report.
Despite the slowdown in the pace of foreclosures, many cities continue to have elevated foreclosure rates.
California, Nevada and Arizona, among the states most affected by the housing bust and ensuing foreclosure crisis, account for the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rate for the first six months of the year.
Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev., registered the highest foreclosure rate in the nation, with one in every 19 households receiving a foreclosure-related notice – nearly six times the national average. But the metropolitan area’s foreclosure activity fell 17.9 percent from the first six months of last year.
The Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz., metropolitan area was second, with one in 28 households receiving a foreclosure warning, even as foreclosure activity fell nearly 17 percent from the same period in 2010.
California is home to seven of the metro areas that were among the top 10 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rate in the first half of the year, led by Modesto with one in every 30 households receiving a foreclosure-related notice.
Bucking the trend, some metropolitan areas saw their foreclosure rates spike in the first six months of this year.
Among those, Seattle posted the sharpest increase, a 10 percent jump versus the same period last year, RealtyTrac said. One in every 98 households got a foreclosure-related notice.
Job loss, rather than time-bomb mortgages resetting to higher payments, has become the main driver behind rising foreclosures.
The Seattle metropolitan area’s unemployment rate stood at 9.2 at the beginning of the year, but it has eased of late, sliding to 8.5 percent in May.
Still, the metro area has seen the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits due to large-scale layoffs increase this year. In the first quarter, it was ranked 8th highest on the basis of initial unemployment claimants due to layoffs, up from 15th a year earlier.
“The lag time between job loss and foreclosure is a little longer than it is in a normal cycle,” said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at RealtyTrac. “We could be seeing a fallout from job losses there over the last year or two.”
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press, Alex Veiga, AP real estate writer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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