Florida is one of the states hit very hard by residential foreclosures. We had over 13,000 foreclosure filings in the Seventh Circuit Court (for Flagler, St. Johns, Putnam and Volusia Counties) in 2008 and over 16,000 filings in 2009.
A task force was formed to address the crises and they identified lack of communication between the parties as the most significant issue. The Florida Supreme Court addressed this issue by requiring mediation in all foreclosure cases involving homestead property unless the parties agree otherwise or have already participated in mediation.
The mediation will be handled by a Florida Supreme Court certified mediator appointed by the Court. The costs of the mediation will be paid by the lender and the total cost may not exceed $750. The plaintiff (lender) must have a representative who has full authority to settle at the mediation but they may appear by telephone or other electronic method. (more…)
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I have to admit I am not sorry that 2010 has arrived and 2009 is behind us. I do believe the worst is over for real estate in St. Augustine, FL.
The Northeast Florida Association of Realtors market statistics show we had more closings and pending sales in 2009 than in 2008. We had 14% more closings with a total of 14,381 and 25% more pending sales for the year with 15,836.
The prices continued to drop during 2009. The median price for the year 2009 was down 15%. The average price for 2009 was down 19%. The December average and median price did drop slightly from the November numbers, but I still say the prices are stabilizing in our homes in St. Augustine.
I looked at the data for the 32092 zip code which includes World Golf Village and the surrounding communities. The activity for 2008 and 2009 was about the same. There were 596 transactions for 2009.The average price for homes in the 32092 zip code was $233,370 which was approximately a 16% decrease from 2008. There has been about a 30% decrease in average sales price since the peak of the market in 2006. (more…)
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I have been working with many homeowners lately that are in a distressed financial situation. They aren’t able to pay their mortgage any longer and are looking at alternate solutions, like a Short Sale and, in extreme cases, foreclosure. Unfortunately, this has become quite a common occurrence, which is why there are so many foreclosures in Jacksonville and the rest of the Northeast Florida real estate market. As the homeowners make these difficult decisions, they feel grief and sadness. It is my job to help my clients with their real estate transactions, however, as I work with them they become my friends too. And I want to help alleviate their stress and get them to a brighter tomorrow. So I did a little research to get a better understanding of what they are going through. I realized that the stages you go through when you are losing your home are the same stages as when you lose a loved one. After any significant lose, people experience the five stages of grief. They are:
1. Denial and Isolation- At first, you tend to deny the loss has taken place.
2. Anger – You may be angry with yourself for letting the event take place, even if, realistically, nothing could have stopped it. (more…)
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Don’t miss the encore presentation of our free, educational webinar series titled “Avoiding Foreclosure” in December. The online webinar series offers the following presentations for homeowners in distressed situations:
Dec. 1, 2009 at 10 a.m. EST: “Why You Should Avoid Foreclosure”
Register at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/859811800
Sherry Davidson, President of Davidson Realty, Inc., will lead a discussion with Mirtha Barzaga, an agent with Davidson Realty and Kevin Koscinski, a mortgage loan officer with Bank of America. Barzaga will share information about how she has helped northeast Florida homeowners to avoid foreclosure, as well as how she educates them on the impact a foreclosure would have on their jobs or security clearance. Koscinski will share his experience about impacts to credit score.
Dec. 10, 2009 at 10 a.m. EST: “How to Avoid Foreclosure”
Register at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/584635016
Sherry Davidson, President of Davidson Realty, Inc., Suzy Evans, an agent with Davidson Realty, Inc. and Damien Blumstein of Dolphin Mortgage will (more…)
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Davidson Realty is offering a series of free, educational Webinars to home buyers, investors, real estate industry professionals and others interested in learning more about real estate.
As millions of American families are currently enduring the difficult prospect of foreclosure, the first series kicks off in November with three Webinars about the different opportunities available to families and individuals facing foreclosure.
The first series is designed to help homeowners who are in distressed situations understand their options with the foreclosure process. The following topics will be presented with this first series:
- Nov. 5, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. EST – “Why you should avoid foreclosure”
- Nov. 12, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. EST – “How to avoid foreclosure”
- Nov. 19, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. EST – “More information on the short sale option” (more…)
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