The crush of foreclosures in the Southwest Florida real estate market has seriously started to subside as we head into 2012. It seems Lenders only filed 5,419 foreclosure lawsuits in Lee County in 2011, a decrease of 48.3% from the 10,447 in 2010 and 75.1% below the peak of 21,768 filings in 2009. For Collier County, Lenders filed 2,842 foreclosure lawsuits, a decrease of 36.2% from the 4,452 in 2010 and 72.5% below the peak of 8,421 filings in 2009. All in all, it’s not too bad when you consider we’ve had well over 100,000 foreclosures in the two county areas since January, 2006.

Continue Reading Southwest Florida Foreclosures: 2011 End of Year Review

Tags: buyers, Florida, foreclosures, markets, real estate, sellers

Florida courts will no longer require mandatory foreclosure mediation after the Florida Supreme Court announced it will close down the two-year-old program yesterday. Citing reports the program didn’t work as well as hoped and that the court system could no longer justify the cost, Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady said new foreclosure cases will no longer be referred to mediation.

The mandatory program, established in 2009, was created to ease pressure on the court system and speed up the foreclosure process. However, according to many Florida homeowners facing foreclosure during its tenure, lenders did not take the process seriously and the program did little to help them avoid the inevitable.

Continue Reading Florida Supreme Court Ends Mandatory Foreclosure Mediation Program

Tags: foreclosures, real estate, sellers

The government sponsored GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have announced new standard guidelines for Loan Servicers to follow during the foreclosure process.

Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco said “by the end of 2011, foreclosures under Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must follow the same procedures and Loan Servicers under Fannie and Freddie will be rewarded if they perform well and punished if they do not.” In addition, the GSEs hope the new guideline will help minimize taxpayer losses by ensuring that (Fannie and Freddie) loans are serviced more efficiently and fairly.

Under the new guidelines:

• Loan servicers cannot work with homeowners on their loans while simultaneously moving forward with a foreclosure, called a “dual track” by FHFA.

Continue Reading Fannie and Freddie Announce Foreclosure Guidelines

Tags: Florida, foreclosures, mortgages, real estate, sellers

Following the declines seen in last years numbers, foreclosures in the Southwest Florida real estate markets continued to subside in the first quarter of 2011.

Lee County’s first quarter foreclosure rate was second in the state, with one in every 86 properties in a foreclosure action for a total of 4,248 homes. It was a drop of 34.4% compared with the fourth quarter of 2010 and a decrease of 58% from the first quarter of last year.

Collier County ranked 29th in the state for foreclosure activity with a rate of one in every 196 homes filing for a total of 992 properties. It was a decrease of nearly 55% compared with the last quarter of 2010, and a decrease of 70% from the first quarter of 2010.

Continue Reading Southwest Florida Foreclosures: 1St Quarter Review

Tags: Florida, foreclosures, markets, real estate

According to a couple of articles I read in the Sunday papers this morning, the IRS has released additional guidance for homeowners that have negotiated a loan modification or short sale and need to understand how to deal with their canceled mortgage debt.

Here’s a breakdown of the key points in their latest guidance:

• First and foremost, the debt canceled by your lender must have been used by you to “to buy, build or substantially improve your main principal residence.”
• Second, you cannot deduct forgiveness on debt for second homes, investment properties, or seasonal properties you occupy for less than 6 months a year.
• Third, refinanced debt that was used for non-qualifying purposes – tuition, a new car, paying off credit card debt, etc., does not qualify.

Continue Reading IRS Guidance for Forgiven Mortgage Debt

Tags: foreclosures, IRS, mortgages, taxes