Personal Injury Law

Jacksonville Leads In State, National Foreclosure Rate

By Eddie Farah

Jacksonville has the dubious distinction of exceeding state and federal rates for foreclosures. In fact, rates here have hit a five-year high. In March, foreclosure related notices were sent out to 2,721 homes in Jacksonville – a 29 percent increase from February.

Nationwide there was a 17 percent spike during that same period. Duval County, which is where Jacksonville metro is located, saw foreclosure proceedings jump 42 percent.

Compared to a year earlier, the March foreclosure figures jumped ahead 46 percent, according to RealtyTrac. That translates to one in every 159 U.S. homes with mortgages. Florida leads the nation along with California, Arizona, Nevada and Illinois.

Obviously the economy is the main factor here. But major lenders are coming back after giving borrowers a brief respite. They had been waiting to see how President Obama planned to address the nationwide foreclosure crisis.

As it now stands, owner-occupied homes will be the only ones seeing some relief, so rentals and speculators are not going to be cut any breaks.

If there is any good news here, it is that first-time home buyers may be able to take advantage of these distressed homes, though no one expects that to match the foreclosure rate for some time. #

Full post as published by Jacksonville Personal Injury Lawyer on April 19, 2009 (boomark / email).