The real estate market was one of the hardest hit sectors during the recent recession. During this challenging economic time threat of foreclosure became rampant all across the nation with some states being hit worst than others. Florida had been known as one of the worst hit states with record numbers of foreclosures during the recent recession. However, some recent data shows that the real estate market is beginning to recover in Florida as well as most of the rest of the country.
Although Florida still has ten percent of its mortgages in foreclosure, this is still significantly lower than two years ago when 14.5 percent of mortgages in Florida were going through the foreclosure process. Some commentators believe that because foreclosures in Florida require court approval, the state holds a disproportionate amount of the foreclosures in the nation. These types of states are known as judicial states which on average have three times as many foreclosures as non-judicial states.
Overall, the national foreclosure data shows a drop to its lowest since mid-2008. Currently 6.96 percent of residential mortgages for one-to-four unit properties are in foreclosure. This is significantly lower than last year, which was 0.62 percentage points higher. Also the number of new foreclosure actions initiated dropped from 0.64 percent to 0.7 percent, which is as low as it has been since the beginning of 2007.
On the other hand, despite the good news about the real estate market, there are still many people in Florida who find themselves facing foreclosure. However, they will have the right to plead their case in court in order to attempt to stop the foreclosure. There could be a variety of legal defenses against the threat of foreclosure, however each situation is different and will require specific solutions and strategies.
Source: thestreet.com, "Mortgage Defaults, Foreclosure Rates Moving Toward Normal: MBA," Shanthi Bharatwaj, Aug. 8, 2013