Tampa Palms TownhomeI have been hesistant on posting articles related to foreclosures in the Tampa Bay area, however I found this article and thought it had enough info worth while. If you are looking to purchase foreclosures in the area check out these statistics. It may help you decide where the best places are to purchase your next property.
Foreclosures Skyrocket-
from the Tampa Tribune
Carriage Pointe is just one example of what’s playing out in hundreds of neighborhoods throughout Florida and the Bay area.
The Sunshine State’s foreclosure rate of one filing for every 248 households is second only to Nevada. In Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties, the number of foreclosure filings through September was 19,226, up nearly 131 percent compared with the same period last year, according to RealtyTrac, a California company that tracks foreclosures. That’s up from 9,476 in 2005, the first year the company began its reporting.
Just last month, there were 4,365 filings in the three counties, and lenders took the keys back from 502 homeowners, RealtyTrac said.
The Tampa Tribune set out to find pockets of the Bay area that are feeling the foreclosure pinch more than others. The Tribune interviewed experts and homeowners, and analyzed public records and data provided by RealtyTrac and ForeclosuresDaily.com, a local company that sends researchers to courthouses daily.
The data show no neighborhood or price range is immune. Those in default are a mix of investors and people who bought primary residences. Neighborhoods with clusters of foreclosures were typically popular with speculators who purchased multiple homes. Many bought beyond their means with adjustable-rate and interest-only mortgages that fueled the 2005 real estate boom in Florida.
The idea was to sell or refinance before the low teaser rate went up. Now that the real estate market has slowed, that’s no longer an option for many. Homes are sitting on the market for months, and prices are dropping.
The Bay area real estate market is expected to stabilize over the next two years, but experts say the neighborhoods where foreclosure rates are highest could suffer much longer.
“Those neighborhoods will have sharper drops in prices because you’ll see more aggressive pricing to move homes,” said Mike Larson, a real estate analyst with Weiss Research in Jupiter. “And when there are a lot of renters, prices could drop because renters don’t typically take as good of care of the home as homeowners do.”
RealtyTrac’s data show the ZIP codes with the most foreclosure activity were in Port Richey, New Port Richey, Wesley Chapel and Riverview. The areas tended to be more densely populated and, in most cases, had intense residential growth.
But out of 145 ZIP codes in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties, the one for Port Richey in Pasco topped the list with 716 filings, RealtyTrac data show. As retirees have moved out in recent years, first-time homeowners have moved in, often using nontraditional financing. The area also was a hot spot among investors looking for rental property.
In Pasco, foreclosures in New Port Richey and Wesley Chapel, where hundreds of new homes were built during the boom, have risen dramatically in the past year, too.
In Hillsborough, ZIP codes with new subdivisions were hardest hit. The Riverview ZIP code had 573 filings, more than any other in the county. But it was followed closely by an area north of Ybor City and the Sulphur Springs area in Tampa, which had 528 and 538 filings, respectively.
Hillsborough and Pasco had ZIP codes with the highest total foreclosures, but Pinellas also has been susceptible. Some areas, such as neighborhoods in south St. Petersburg, have had a lot of foreclosures because of high investor activity.
