Fort Lauderdale Foreclosures | Could The REO Market Be Making A Come Back?
The South Florida real estate market in recent months has seen quite the roller coaster ride.
At the beginning of 2013, inventory was flying off the shelves and this led to many believing that the market had momentum and was making a significant upward climb. The issue at hand is that most of the properties purchased in this period were by “foreign money” investors and US hedge funds. These investors believed that they could rent these homes and cash in on them a couple of years later in a prosperous real estate market. The current problem for these investors is a 30-40% vacancy rate on these homes. These homes are sitting empty and these investors will have some decisions to make on these assets in the next few months now that the market has cooled off. Keep in mind that these investors bought THOUSANDS of properties in Florida over the last 12 months. On the other hand, REO agents such as myself have seen a small increase in their REO workload. Couple this information with the current rate for HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) re-defaults at 29%, and this number is expected to keep rising, 4.5 million mortgages unpaid nationally in September ultimately spells out more Fort Lauderdale Foreclosures inventory and an unstable real estate environment in our future.
