Although Florida metro areas, including Orlando, saw a declining trend in foreclosure rates for the first half of 2011, data released on Friday by RealtyTrac, shows foreclosure filings were reported on 23,569 Florida properties in August, a 5 percent increase from the previous month, but still down 59 percent from August 2010. The report also shows one in every 376 housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month.
While there was a slowing of foreclosure activity in the first of 2011, many real estate experts believe this has little to do with the healing of the housing market, but instead due to delays from the robo-signing controversy last year and clogged courtrooms.
“The big increase in new foreclosure actions may be a signal that lenders are starting to push through some of the foreclosures delayed by robo-signing and other documentation problems,” RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio said in a statement. “It also foreshadows more bank repossessions in the coming months as these new foreclosures make their way through the process.”
According to the RealtyTrac report, there were 1,342 foreclosure properties in Orange County in August, or one in 346 housing units with a foreclosure filing, ranking the County sixth in the state and beating out Osceola, Lake and Seminole County.
For the Orlando metro area, here’s how the other counties fared in August 2011:
- Osceola County: 134 foreclosure properties; one in every 913 housing units
- Lake County: 347 foreclosure properties; one in every 419 housing units
- Seminole County: 425 foreclosure properties; one in every 411 housing units
Of the Florida metro areas, Miami-Dade tops the list with 3,352 foreclosure properties, or one in every 292 housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month, the state’s highest foreclosure rate.
With foreclosure activity picking up steam, Billie Passmore, Director of Outreach for Housing at InCharge Debt Solutions, an Orlando-based non-profit organization, specializing in personal finance education, housing counseling and bankruptcy services, told West Orlando News Online, more residents may wish to avail themselves of these free services.
“We provide foreclosure prevention counseling and we provide it free of charge,” Passmore said. “What we do is work with the borrowers, we assess the problems they’re having in order to see what type of income they have and what their expenses are.”
She added that a full budget counseling session is done to make sure that the homeowner is spending their money in the right way.
“You can’t possibly go to a lender and say that you are having problems paying your mortgage when in fact you are spending 40 percent of income on eating out and taking trips, or having an expensive car that you can’t really afford,” Passmore declared.
Incharge Debt Solutions will also assess a home-owners income-to-debt ratio and if there is a lot of credit card debt, various options are discussed and agreed to on how this can be reduced, making it “easier” for mortgage payments to be undertaken.
Passmore said, all the information is then submitted to the lender in the hope that a modification will be considered. InCharge Debt Solutions has a 15 percent success rate of modifications approved, she said.
Asked what advice would she give to those seeking housing counseling and bankruptcy services, Passmore is adamant that homeowners should always look for a HUD-approved agency. Using a HUD-approved agency would also guarantee that the homeowner would not be scammed.
“It’s important to look for a HUD-approved agency because it is free and available to them,” she said. “We are the ones who are trained and certified and know exactly what the lenders are looking for. All our services, from begining to end, from the time it takes us to speak to homeowners and then follow-up with the lender, regardless of how long it takes, there is absolutely no charge for that service.”
