As unemployment grows and the financial strains of the US homeowner widens, it is now predicted that a record 3 million homes will be repossessed by lenders this year! This is expected to be the peak year and the main reasons are unemployment, and housing values that have fallen far below mortgage amounts.
Government and Lender programs have failed to keep people in their homes, leading to the worst foreclosure crisis since the Great Depression.
Many homeowners will choose to simply walk away from their homes as negative equity positions widen and the desire to remain and pay a loan that is now larger than the homes fair market value seem futile to many homeowners.
This is yet another wave of voluntary foreclosures often referred to as Strategic Defaults.
Finally, the housing market is weighed down by a massive supply of delinquent loans of which many will end up back on the market.
This is leading to a huge imbalance of limited demand and a significant oversupply that will put pressure on housing values for years to come.
Educated buyers who are in the market to buy are turning to short sale opportunities and auctions to help ensure they are finding the best values in this dicey market.
If you are looking to buy or sell real estate in today's economy, I hope that you will seek out experienced professionals who understand how to assist to arrive at the best value possible.
Uncertainty continues to dominate Florida's real estate industry.
Rising unemployment and foreclosures are two of the key factors that have a huge impact on how and when real estate sales will begin to turn a corner for the better.
It doesn't take a trained eye to notice rising vacancies and for rent/sale signs popping up just about everywhere these days.
For those of us who look for a light at the end of a tunnel, short sales, auctions and falling prices seem to be having an overall impact on buyer sentiment and hopefully we are reaching a place where activity will beginning to pick up in the near future.