Personal Finance and Money Management

Miami foreclosed homes for sale put the area tenth in a ranking of metro areas nationwide based on rates of foreclosure in 2009, based on a report from a California-based foreclosure tracking firm.

A total of 72,391 homes in Miami-Dade County entered foreclosure listings in 2009, a 46-percent jump from filings in 2008 and a substantial increase of 187 percent from filings in 2007.

Nearby counties such as Broward County and Palm Beach County had lower filings, with Broward posting 69,633 foreclosures and Palm Beach posting 30,870 foreclosures.

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Tampa foreclosed homes for sale will be tracked by a city registry that will be set up after city officials approved an ordinance requiring banks and other property owners to register any property that they foreclose within ten days of filing their foreclosure actions and to maintain the properties.

According to Jake Slater, head of code enforcement for Tampa, the registry ordinance will go into effect immediately but the registry program will probably be set up in 45 days. He added that there will be a registration fee but the amount will still to be determined.

City officials said that the registry will help the city quickly identify entities responsible for the maintenance of vacant properties and enable officials to serve legal notices for code violations.

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San Antonio foreclosed homes for sale and residential foreclosures in other parts of Bexar County reached a record-high total of about 16,000 units in 2009, based on public records and data from local foreclosure research firms.

In addition to the 16,000 units, another 1,652 units have been notified of foreclosure in December and will be sold off at auction next year. The December filings marked the biggest monthly total recorded in about 20 years, prompting local housing analysts to contend that the housing market in San Antonio and in the entire Bexar County will still be struggling next year.

Foreclosure specialist Gregg Stanley said that Bexar foreclosure figures are still better than other places in the state and in the country, but the foreclosure levels are
still high.

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Fort Lauderdale foreclosed homes for sale will continue to pull down home prices and real estate values in the area, according to several real estate analysts.

According to analysts at Fortune Magazine, home prices in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, West Palm Beach and Orlando will continue to fall in 2010 because of continued foreclosures in Florida.

These three Florida cities are among 100 U.S. cities where home price levels are expected to fall further, according to Moody’s Economy.com economist Mark Zandi.

In Fort Lauderdale, home prices will fall 30.1 percent, the third highest in the list. Miami will top the ranking, with an expected price drop of almost 33 percent. O

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