Buying Foreclosure Properties in the Orlando Metro Area
November 9th, 2009 by 
Joseph Smith
Buying foreclosure properties in the Orlando metro area is a good proposition because of the continued rise in residential and commercial foreclosures in the area, pushing real estate prices down and making more properties affordable.
In Lake County, which is one of the areas covered by the Orlando-Kissimmee metro area, there are already 4,802 foreclosure filings so far this year, exceeding the number of foreclosures filed last year.
According to Barbara Shivers, who monitors foreclosure filings for the Lake County Circuit Court, this year is the fourth straight year that foreclosure filings have been rising.
In the ten-month period ended October 31, the county has already posted 4,965 commercial and residential foreclosure filings, marking a 25-percent increase from total foreclosure filings during the same ten-month period in 2008.
In 2008, a total of 4,801 foreclosure actions were filed in the court, a significant increase from the 2,080 foreclosure actions filed in 2007 and the 878 foreclosures posted in 2006. The rates of increases every year were substantial.
Because of these significant rates of foreclosure increases, buying foreclosure properties in the area is recommended because home prices fell sharply over the years. The price depression has been so sharp that it has been causing a large decrease in real estate tax revenues, forcing Lake County to reduce its staff by 90 employees over the past several months and to impose monthly furloughs.
Cities in Lake County are also now being affected by the deterioration in property values, prompting Lake County Judge Don Briggs to consider implementing mandatory mediation between lenders and homeowners before judges rule on the foreclosure filings. He added that foreclosure filings are now dominating civil dockets.
Across Florida, courts are being overwhelmed with stacks and piles of foreclosure lawsuits, now hitting a total of 290,000 cases. Concerned about the pace of statewide foreclosures, the state Supreme Court this week held a meeting in which members of its task force for residential foreclosures discussed the proposal of imposing mandatory mediation between lenders and homeowners, particularly in cases where foreclosures involve owner-occupied houses.
The foreclosure task force proposed that mortgage lenders pay the full cost of mediation because of the financial difficulties of borrowers, but bankers and lenders insisted that the mediation cost should be split between the two parties so that homeowners would not use the mediation process just to delay foreclosure proceedings.
Despite efforts to prevent foreclosures in Florida, foreclosure filings continue because of unemployment, making the option of buying foreclosure properties in Florida still a good investment option.
