South Florida Foreclosure Filings Spike 36%

MIAMI—South Florida recorded more than 13,200 foreclosure actions in the third quarter, a 36% year-over-year rise. Lenders also filed 35,700 notices of default so far this year in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, according to new report from CondoVultures.com.

Still, that’s a far cry from previous years. In 2009, there were 75,500 foreclosure actions in the same period and in 2010 there were 49,000 through the first three quarters, according to the report based on filings with the Clerks of the Court for each county.  

Peter Zalewski, a principal with Condo Vultures, points to administrative irregularities that he calls “robo-singers” in the repossession process that caused a hiccup in the process. He tells GlobeSt.com robo-singers first surfaced late September 2010, creating a foreclosure freeze.

That slowdown continued through 2011. The nation’s five largest mortgage servicers reached the National Mortgage Settlement Agreement with the federal government and the attorneys general from 49 states to provide at least $25 billion in relief to borrowers in February 2012.

“We are tracking roughly 330,000 foreclosure filings and we’ve seen about 182,000 bank repossessions or forced sales of the properties,” Zalewski says. “Those numbers may be inflated by condo foreclosures, which usually result in multiple filings. So it appears that the worst part of the foreclosure mess is over.”

Zalewski says investment groups set up to buy the bank-owned property are waiting in the wings. As soon as the banks process the repossessions, he says, chances are the product is going move relatively quickly.

“If I were going to guestimate I’d say we are in the seventh inning of a nine inning ballgame,” Zalewski says. “We anticipate there will continue to be foreclosure filings in the upcoming quarters, then you will start to see a slow down. All indications are pointing toward 2014 getting into a growth phase.”