Port Saint Lucie Ranked as #3 in Best Cities to Retire in Florida

by | Housing Market, Relocating to Port St Lucie

Port Saint Lucie Ranked as #3 in Best Cities to Retire in Florida

According to the US News report dated December 3rd, 2019, Port Saint Lucie is ranked as the 3rd best place to retire in Florida. The following list of the recent awards and accomplishments of Port St Lucie may help to better understand the reason for this popularity:

Beaches of St Lucie County

Port St Lucie activities

• Port Saint Lucie as a Safe City – According to Realtor.com, the city of Port Saint Lucie is ranked #3 as the safest city in the US. https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/10-safest-affordable-us-cities-where-youd-actually-like-to-live/
• Dynamic City and Urban Center – Point2Homes have ranked Port Stain Lucie as #2 among the small cities in the US as the most dynamic. Also, the same source has given Port Saint Lucie the #15 ranking in comparison to all cities in the nation.
https://www.point2homes.com/news/us-real-estate-news/americas-dynamic-urban-centers-150-u-s-cities-ranked.html
• Best City to Retire – Port Saint Lucie has been ranked as #5 for the Best Cities to Retire by US News.
https://www.usnews.com/info/blogs/press-room/articles/2019-10-08/us-news-unveils-the-2020-best-places-to-retire
Retiring in Florida has been the cliche for many decades with over 900 people making it a reality every single day. There has never been any doubt about the Sunshine State’s popularity with retirees and non-retirees. However, the dilemma for the future residents has been deciding on what part of Florida to move to. Coastal Florida has been a top choice for many years until the baby boomers reached the retirement age and start changing the norm, as they have been doing it all their lives.

The rise of the Villages, The Tradition, and Margaritaville communities that are located away from the coastline is a perfect example of the change. This has also had an immense impact on the growth of some cities offering close proximity to the coastlines without the housing and insurance costs associated with living by the ocean.
Port Saint Lucie, FL has been quietly leading the rest of the State as a near-coast city with the highest rate of growth during the last two decades. According to the census bureau, the population of Saint Lucie county was 89,155 in 2000 and 193.400. This is while the same source reports Port Saint Lucie population for 2017 at 189,344 and St Lucie County at 313,506 a whopping 100.12% increase in 17 years.
There are many reasons for such an increase in population for a city known for keeping a low profile to become the 7th largest city in Florida in a short time. The close proximity to the wonderful beaches of the Atlantic Ocean, low housing expenses, and safety are a few reasons to mention for the increase in the migration to Port St Lucie and the Treasure Coast area.

Retiring in Port St Lucie

Beaches in St Lucie County

Best Homes in Best City at Best Prices in Poet St Lucie

I have been living in South Florida for over 40 years and it took me 33 years to find the city which offers the best lifestyle and home prices at the same time! Port Saint Lucie, FL has been my home since 2102 and the only regret I have is why I didn’t make the move earlier. Being involved in the real estate industry for 19 years has afforded me the ability to appreciate and recognize good real estate opportunities with future appreciation, and Port Saint Lucie offers both. I have worked in the real estate markets in Miami/Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties and appreciate the unparalleled values we offer in Port Saint Lucie and the Treasure Coast area. The price difference for some areas could be higher than 50% to 75% when compared to home values in Port St Lucie. The great housing values combined with an amazing lifestyle, safety, and a short driving distance to the famous beaches of Hutchinson Island and Jensen beach have resulted in the popularity of Port Saint Lucie.

Port St Lucie Real Estate Market Report 2020

by | Housing Market, Port St Lucie Real Estate

Port St Lucie Real Estate Market Report 2020

St Lucie County Real Estate Report January 2020

The report contains the local real estate activities for the homes sold by Realtors® and homes sold by owners are not a part of this report. The Florida Association of Florida, FAR,  shows the continuation of the established trend of rising prices.  Although there is an increase of 4.2% on average home prices the area still offers some of the best bargains when compared to other nearby counties. This has brought an influx of homebuyers from southern counties to Port St Lucie and Tradition area.

St Lucie Real Estate Market

St Lucie Real Estate Market January 2020

The most notable changes for single-family homes in the St Lucie County real estate are:

  • Median Price- Rose to $230,000 in January of 2020 from $220,644 in the same period in 2019, a 4.2% increase.
  • Average Days on Market- Drop to only 45 days in comparison to 54 days in January of the last year. This is a clear indication of low inventory and high demand, which in turn fuels the rising prices.
  • Inventory- The total inventory for single-family homes for sale in St Lucie Country is only 3.9 months in comparison to 4.8 months in January 2019. Considering the shortage of inventory of homes for sale in 2020, a drop of 18.8% representing a bustling sellers’ market. This is in addition to the construction of the new homes which home builders have been adding to the inventory.  Ultimately, with the continuous shortage of inventory, the higher prices are inevitable. The problem for surrounding counties is more severe as some like Palm Beach County has reached the boiling point of maxed out prices much earlier in 2014.

Overall the Port St Lucie real estate report for January 2020 indicates a stronger seller’s market which combined with anxious buyers has resulted in some listings ending up in the multiple offer situation.  This is a reminder of how the market went crazy in the last decade’s real estate boom.  Multiple offers, price war, anxious buyers trying to buy before prices increase even higher while sellers holding back in the hope of cashing out even more in tomorrow’s market.  With Port St Lucie real estate prices being lower than the neighboring counties the market is destined to stay active attracting buyers from other areas who can no longer afford their local real estate.

 

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How to Sell Your House

by | Real Estate Tips

How to Sell Your House

​How to Sell Your Home

​

Selling Homes in Port St Lucie

Selling Port St Lucie Homes

When it comes to selling your home there are a multitude of issues to be mindful of in order to sell the property at the highest price and shortest time possible. Without a good planning the homeowners risk either leaving money on the table or wait for a long time to sell.

For Sale by Owner or Sale by Realtors®

Making the decision of selling by owner or hiring a Realtor® is perhaps the most important step in sale of any property. While homeowners may think that it’s all about the commission the issue is much broader than the money alone. The Realtors® are trained and experienced in many aspects of the sale of properties that homeowners may not be familiar with. The following is a brief list of what a Realtor® bring to the table and the homeowners could risk to lose many or face legal consequences if they’re not an expert in any of these fields:

  • Pricing a Home for Sale – The correct pricing of a home for sale is the first step in sale of any property. The homeowners should be aware of false prices floating around on different real estate related website. The algorithm of most such websites are not able to differentiate between a related and unrelated compatible sales. For example, the prices of the 3 homes sold in the same area does not necessarily portrays the average price to use for the sale of your home. This is because one of the homes could have a swimming pool while the other offers 2 extra bedrooms and the third home was built more recent than the other two. As a matter of fact, there has been lawsuits by homeowners against one of the most prominent real estate websites for miscalculating the home prices. The Realtors®, on the other hand, have access to many compatible home sales records and the knowledge of how to adjust the prices when the comps are not exact the same. According to the National Association of Realtors® report in 2016, the average home prices sold by For Sale By Owners was $185,000 while the average for homes sold with Realtors® assistance was $245,000 q whopping $60,000 difference. This is a little over 30% deficit which makes the average customary commission of 6% charged by real estate companies a true bargain. This is the main reason why some homeowners have claimed they have lost money due to the incorrect lower price estimate by the real estate websites.

  • Negotiating the Price – Like any other transactions, everything is negotiable when selling a home and the negotiation is not limited to the price of the property. There are items such as title insurance or repairs in the outcome of the inspection that can be negotiated to pay by either party to transaction. How to negotiate the price and when to stand firm or counter offer are crucial negotiation skills which may lack in the For Sale by Owner sales.

  • Inspection Problems – In most transaction the buyers will hire an inspection companies to make sure there are no hidden defects in the property. Some inspectors have the tendency of over-exaggerating the simple flaws in the house which may create panic by the home buyers. In one instance we had an inspection report indicating a cost of $760 for replacement of a sliding glass door which only needed couple of rollers at cost of less than $20. An experienced Realtor® is well versed in recognizing the bogus defects in inspector report from the serious ones. However, it is the Realtors® duty to skillfully negotiate the legitimate shortcomings in the inspection report in order to preserve the integrity of the transaction while minimizing the costs to the home sellers.

  • Appraisal Issues – Sometimes everything going smooth in a transaction until the appraised value falls short of the agreed upon contract price. The Appraisal issues generally arise from the appraised value falling below the contract price. There are few reasons for this:

    • Wrong List Price – Sometimes, the problem stem from the Realtors® knowingly price the listing much higher than the fair market value in order to please the sellers to list with them. Other times the incorrect pricing is done unknowingly by inexperienced or out-of-area Realtors®. Once the appraisal report is published it will be very difficult to convince any buyer to pay more than the appraised value and most importantly the lender will not grant a mortgage for more than what the appraiser has priced the property. Tin case of the cash deals, the more sophisticated buyers would order appraisal. In all real estate transactions, the sellers and their agents should discuss and have a plan B to face any appraisal shortfall.

      • Appraisal Miscalculations – At times the appraisal issues are due to the miscalculations by the appraiser. This could be due to many different circumstances:

      • Out of the Area Appraiser – Although appraisers are only depend on the latest compatible home sales in the area to correctly estimate the value of any property but the lack of knowledge the local real estate market and trends could create a problem. For example, during the crazy real estate market in the Broward County during the mid-2000s at some point the property values were rising on staggering rate of 10% a month. This created a problem when an out of area appraiser used the compatible sale from 3 months earlier without considering the market trend.

      • Lack of Compatible Sale – This is more true when it comes to sale of a property in a unique subdivision or gated community where there are not enough sales for the appraiser to locate compatible properties necessary to correctly estimate the value. Appraisers generally consider the sales of similar properties taking place in past 3 months, within the same community or one-mile radius as acceptable comps.

  • Communication with All Parties – In addition to the buyers and sellers there are many other people and companies involved in each real estate transaction. An experienced Realtor® shall always be in constant communication with all parties and report any and all issues to the sellers. The bank or mortgage companies, title company, appraisal, and inspection companies are few entities who are routinely involved in the outcome of all real estate transactions.

  • Closing on the Property – The Closing Disclosure will be send to both buyers and sellers by title company 48 hours prior to closing. Examine the Closing Disclosure thoroughly and don’t hesitate to ask questions and challenge any fluff charges. Please note, some of the expenses are non-negotiable, fixed line-items such as Doc-Stamp or pro-rated property taxes that are collected on behalf of the County or State of Florida.

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How to Qualify for a Mortgage

by | Mortgages

How to Qualify for a Mortgage

How to Qualify for a Mortgage

Calculating Property Taxes in Florida

​Qualifying for and obtaining a mortgage is the first hurdle the home buyers may face. The process is handled by mortgage professionals who will issue a pre-approval letter indicating the amount of the mortgage the homebuyers could qualify for. This is an important step when it comes to sending an offer on any property since most home sellers and their agents will not entertain offers without a pre-approval letter.

Buyers should familiarize themselves in advance with terms like Amortization, Fixed and Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) and compare the rates along with monthly payments for 30 years, 20 years, and 15-year mortgages and choose the plan that will suit their long term goals. In the long run, this could save them tens of thousands of dollars during the life of the loan and remember; there’s no substitute for knowledge and preparation.

Homebuyers should be educated about the loan options including the rates and terms of the mortgage, which are always detrimental in obtaining the best loan. The knowledge of understanding and checking the financing details such as the downpayment options or PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) with different mortgage lenders are some of the most important steps when applying for a mortgage and getting the best value afforded to them.

Documents Necessary for Obtaining a Mortgage

Having all the documents necessary for obtaining a mortgage ready in advance is a great help in expediting the mortgage process. The following list covers the majority of the documents the home buyers will need although different lenders may ask for additional supporting paperwork:

  • W2 Forms for Past 2 Years

  • Pay-Stubs (or other proofs if not receiving pay-stubs)

  • Tax Returns for Past 2 Years

  • List of Debts

  • List of All Assets

  • Profit and Loss Statements for Self-Employed

  • Proof of Timely Payments for Renters

  • Bankruptcy Documents (if applicable)

  • Proof of Any Additional Income (such as divorce decree)

  • Gift Letter (if applicable)

It is important to remember to update these documents if any changes to employment, income or debt occur. Lenders do not like surprises. We have had instances when the lender approved a loan and a few days prior to the closing pulled another credit report which resulted in the cancellation of the mortgage because the buyer signed up for a new leased car. This cancellation of the loan was simply due to the change in Debt/Income Ratio or as otherwise called the Obligations/Income Ratio.

Calculating Debt-to-Income Ratio

Home buyers should be aware of their Debt-to-Income Ratio before applying for a loan. This ratio along with the credit score are the two most important factors in the approval of a mortgage as well as obtaining the best interest rate. Sometimes, it is well worth the effort to pay-off or pay-down some of the debts in order to qualify for a mortgage. The ratio is consisting of only two factors; Income and Debt and the homebuyers could either try to decrease their debt obligation or increase their income, which the later may be more difficult than lowering the debt.

To calculate the Debt-to-Income Ratio simply divide all debts by your income. For example, if the total monthly debts are $2,000 and your monthly income is $5,000, the Ratio is 40%. Although the Ratio may vary by each lender the rule of thumbs for an acceptable ratio should be less than 36%. That said, the government-backed mortgages such as FHA have their own DTI ratios. The 2019 Debt-to-Income Ratios for FHA are 43% for total debt obligations and 31% for total housing payments.

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Kings Isle Real Estate Sales Report

by | 55+ Active Adult Properties, Port St Lucie Real Estate

Kings Isle Real Estate Sales Report

Market Report for Kings Isle Port St Lucie, FL 34986

Kings Isle 34986

Kings Isle Real Estate

The market report for the calendar year of 2019 consists of 64 closed sale transactions on record for Kings Isle Port St Lucie, FL 34986. The average is 5.3 sales a month for sold properties in the Kings Isle 55+ community while there were. This is not, by all means, any indication of the market slowing down, on the contrary, the Port St Lucie real estate market is still a sellers’ market in comparison to some other counties.  I would contribute to the lower volume of the sales to the soaring popularity of this wonderful community preventing the homeowners to sell their Kings Isle homes since they will not find a better value elsewhere.

The lowest price sale in Kings Isle belongs to a 1,217 Sq Ft 2/2 villa which was sold for $125,000 while a 3/2 single-family home with 2,102 Sq Ft under air sold for $254,400. The market has steadily increased during the past few years while the Days On The Market (DOM) have been declining.  43 our of 64 closed sales for homes in Kings Isle were on the market for less than 40 days while 14 listings closed in less than 10 days

Kings Isle homes in Port St Lucie are still a bargain for the active adult homebuyers.  The incredible amenities, secure community with 24 hours manned security gate, lush landscaping, and close proximity to shopping and medical facilities have made Kings Isle a favorite with many residents.  The home prices in Kings Isle are much lower than similar homes in neighboring counties, bringing an influx of more home buyers to the market.  The low inventory of affordable homes in Port St Lucie has also made Kings Isle homes very popular with homebuyers.  For northerners, retirees, and baby boomers the lifestyle in Kings Isle is like being on a tropical vacation all year long.

Our office has been successfully representing both buyers and sellers in many successful transactions in Kings Isle Port St Lucie, FL.  The low inventory has created an additional pool of qualified buyers ready to purchase homes in Kings Isle Port St Lucie.  If you wish to sell your home, this is a perfect time.  The low-interest rates have been instrumental in qualifying more buyers who will not be able to afford these prices when the rates go up.  Please contact us for a confidential evaluation of your home by one of our expert real estate professionals or get the most recent Kings Isle properties for sale list:

Phone: (772) 323-6730

Email: info@portstlucie.city

Buyers get automated properties for sale and compare other 55+ communities in the Port St Lucie area including Vitalia at Tradition, the Cascades at St Lucie West, and Lake Park at Tradition

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7 Reasons for Buying New Construction Homes

by | Buying Real Estate, Pre Construction

7 Reasons for Buying New Construction Homes

7 Reasons for Buying New Construction Homes

Buying New Construction Homes

New Construction Homes

Buying new construction homes offers a number of benefits, which generally are not available when purchasing resale homes. However, when you’re in the market to purchase a home, you have to compare the advantages of purchasing new construction homes versus pre-owned homes. This entails comprehensive research on builders, the costs associated with the construction of a new home, wait time and putting up with contractors. But if home buyers do their homework, they could enjoy the latest design on construction methods in most stylish homes offering a comfortable lifestyle.

Advantages of Buying New Construction Homes:

  1. Builders Warranty – Most builders offer 10 years warranty on major structural defects and 2 years on plumbing, electrical and HVAC system.
  2. Location – You can choose the location by either purchasing a lot in your favorite area or, if gated community, pick one of builders lot that suits your needs and requirements the best.
  3. Incentives – Most builders offer incentives for the purchase of their ready to move-in new construction homes or lower prices o the pre-construction homes.
  4. Design – The new home buyers have the option of designing their future home layout or chose from builders’ models
  5. Energy Saving – The latest construction methods emphasize more than ever on energy efficiency and safety.
  6. High-Performance HVAC and Appliances – Today’s advanced technologies have resulted in the most energy efficient HVAC system and appliances, which weren’t available even five years ago.
  7. Smart Homes – This latest trend it’s here to stay and improve on a daily basis. Builders are adjusting to the latest innovations covering all aspects of home constructing. Some of the features of smart homes include double to triple pane safety windows, smart HVAC, lights and alarm systems controlled from cell phones from any place in the world.

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Port St Lucie Real Estate

by | Port St Lucie Real Estate

Port St Lucie Real Estate

Port St Lucie Real Estate

Houses Port St Lucie

Buying Homes Port St Lucie

The Port St Lucie real estate showcases many amazing residential areas, each with their own design concept, lifestyle, and amenities. The diversity of homes in Port St Lucie along with more favorable prices have been attracting home buyers with different tastes and wish lists to Port St Lucie and Tradition area.

When searching for that dream home in the Port St Lucie area, the first step to locating the ideal home is to match the neighborhood to your own living preferences. For example, when searching for a self-sufficient development with a genuine small-town feel, you can find the perfect match in the homes in Tradition, Port St Lucie. Tradition is truly an exceptional town, complete with a town center, known as the Tradition Square which is packed with things to do, places to dine and recreational activities to enjoy for all ages. Families can select from homes in a number of gated and non-gated communities each showcasing a unique lifestyle and experience.

Port St. Lucie is a wonderful city to live if you’re searching for an uncomplicated, laid back everyday lifestyle. Buying a home in Port St Lucie area means getting used to a life surrounded with trees, sunny shorelines, peaceful sea breezes, boating, and fishing. There are a number of great golf courses within a few minutes drive. The day continues with taking a walk around the local stores, museums, galleries, and boutiques. Port St Lucie is also a wonderful destination to delve further into sailing and sportfishing, or you can capitalize on miles of wildlife and preserves for bird watching, relaxing strolls or peaceful cycling. What’s even better, this tranquil way of living includes quality amenities along with amazing homes in unbelievable prices in extraordinary developments compared to other coastal towns.

Port St Lucie provides its homeowners with a small-town experience while offering the means to all amenities expected from larger metropolitan areas. Tradition is part of a larger metropolitan area of St Lucie West that features excellent dining establishments, shopping along with other luxury amenities. Additionally, Port St Lucie has maintained a reputation for a safe small-town, with its various parks, beaches, and recreational activities.

Life in Port St Lucie, St Lucie West, and Tradition provides the homeowners and visitors with a wide range of great possibilities. If you happened to be a fan of sports, you possibly know that Port St Lucie is the home of the New York Mets during the spring training. Baseball fans come to Port St Lucie for this annual community get together while experiencing some of Florida’s best-known golf courses. Port St Lucie also features a variety of other growing sports events that attract a diverse number of sports fanatics.

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7 Reasons for Selling Your Florida Home in Winter

by | Port St Lucie Real Estate

7 Reasons for Selling Your Florida Home in Winter

7 Reasons to Sell Your Home in Winter

Port St Lucie Real Estate

Port St Lucie Homes

​For most retirees or retirees-to-be,  downsizing brings the anguish of departing from years of memories in a large home and moving to smaller residences.  Like most home sellers the empty-nesters do not think of selling their homes in winter months and will wait for the selling season of spring.  But, is this a good strategy?  There are pros and cons to downsizing and selling homes in winter, but we think the positive will outweigh the negative.  There are many reasons for that but we think the following pointers should convince the most homeowners:

Buying and  Selling Your Home in Winter

  1. During the winter months, we have many visitors and part-time residences in the area who could also become home buyers looking to buy a second home in Florida or change their current homes.
  2. Traditionally, the people looking to buy homes in winter in Florida are more of a serious buyer type and less of a tire-kicker type.
  3. The number of competing homes is most probably less than homes offered during the Florida home-selling season.  Less competition means a better chance to sell quicker and for a better price.
  4. Downsizing for Florida homeowners also involves purchasing a smaller home or condominium.  These types of properties are generally less expensive, which attracts more buyers.
  5. Most home buyers have a tendency to wait for the selling season when the schools are out, creating a less competitive environment during the winter times.  This suggests for winter also to be a better time for empty-nesters to buy homes in Florida.
  6. Sunny Florida also entices many foreign homebuyers to explore the opportunity to buy a vacation home in Florida.  With today’s internet accessibility, the homes for sale in the winter season have a much larger exposure to foreign home buyers.
  7. The foreign home buyers are ideal because they will either pay cash for the property or have to put a larger down payment to obtain a loan.  This will result in either a quick closing, on cash sales, or a much better chance of obtaining a mortgage for the home buyers with a large down payment.

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Smart Locks Review

by | Home Maintenance

Smart Locks Review

Buying Smart Locks

Smart Locks Review

August Smart Lock

​The popularity of Bluetooth has extended to locks on our front doors, but are they as safe as they sound?  With many consumers, especially the Millennials, love for new gadgets the cell phones have become an integral part of our daily routines.  From adjusting the climate control, turning the lights on or off to locking and unlocking the doors, today’s homeowners could adjust many functions in their homes remotely from anywhere in the world through their mobile devices.  This convenience at times has resulted in the expense of the safety, leaving the properties vulnerable to hack by many hackers.

In a recent hackers convention, Def Con, two researchers from Merculite Security put 16 smart locks to test to try to hack and open them.  Apparently, the weak link is in the Bluetooth transmission of commands and passwords from homeowners to the locks.  Some of the transmissions were in text instead of encryption while passwords were easily stolen through Bluetooth sniffers on others.  The locks communicating through simple texts with the App are proven to be the most vulnerable.  The example of these locks are:

  • Quicklock Doorlock
  • Quicklock Padlock
  • iBlulock Padlock
  • Plantraco Phantomlock

For more details and the list of the locks that the researchers could not hack please visit the Def Con Report on Picking Bluetooth Locks

 

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Fort Pierce Rental

by | Port St Lucie Real Estate, St Lucie County Rentals

Fort Pierce Rental

  • Fort Pierce Homes

    2311 St Lucie Blvd Fort Pierce, FL 34946

  • St Lucie Rentals

    2311 St Lucie Blvd Fort Pierce, FL 34946

  • Homes for Sale Fort Pierce

    2311 St Lucie Blvd Fort Pierce, For Rent

  • Duplex For Sale

    2311 St Lucie Blvd Fort Pierce, FL 34946

Duplex Rental in Fort Pierce $975

Beautiful and super clean 3 bedrooms, 2 baths apartment in a duplex with washer/dryer inside the unit, open kitchen, central A/C and large fenced backyard. Located few short blocks west of US-1 and within few minutes to beaches, fishing, boat ramp, and Inlet State Park Ft. Pierce.  Water/sewer and trash pick up included in $975 a month.

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Florida Supreme Court Ruling on Foreclosure

by | Housing Market

Florida Supreme Court Ruling on Foreclosure

Florida Foreclosure Homes

Foreclosure Homes Port St Lucie

Foreclosure News

​Florida Supreme Court’s latest ruling is destined to influence the Florida foreclosure homes and real estate market. The Court’s bank-friendly ruling on Bartram v. US Bank National Association has made many lenders happy while creating a new sense of uncertainty for homeowners.  The ruling allows lenders to simply circumvent the statute of limitations rules set by the State and refile on some dismissed cases from years back.  In the past, the banks had 5 years to foreclose on homeowners who defaulted on their mortgages but the new ruling is giving another lifeline to the lenders to refile the foreclosure process on the delinquent homeowners.  This is regardless of the possibility that the cases began over five years ago, passing the statute of limitations.

Although, it is difficult to predict the exact effects of this ruling on the number of the new Florida foreclosure homes, but experts believe the outcome could introduce noticeable new cases to the courts.  The spokesman for the Florida Supreme Court has pointed to the possibility of only a minimal increase in the number of the foreclosure filings, while the real estate experts think otherwise.  Most real estate attorneys and other professionals think the Bartram ruling will eventually result in a massive increase in foreclosed homes through refilling of the old cases by the lenders.

The problem started in aftermath of the 2006 real estate crash, which resulted in the hundreds of thousands of delinquent mortgages.  Banks struggled to process the unexpected workload caused by the widespread number of unpaid loans.  Since lenders weren’t prepared to face such a huge problems, the cases dragged out and some thrown out of courts.  After the 5 years of the statute of limitations expired, the delinquent cases fell into a black hole of uncertainty.  The homeowners occupied their homes, most without making their mortgage payments and banks could not refile the dismissed cases because of the statute of limitations.

Effects of The Supreme Court Ruling on Florida Real Estate Market

In our opinion, since the Florida real estate market facing a constant shortage of inventory, the Florida Supreme Court ruling and its aftermath will not have any negative effects but perhaps it will even help the market.   Most of Florida real estate markets have been facing rising prices and lack of homes for sale, creating a solid sellers’ market.  Adding foreclosed properties will only fuel the market and bring more buyers to the State.  The number of the new inventory is unpredictable at this time pending the lenders’ position on modifying the loans and homeowners ability on repaying the unpaid balance.  So far, the signals from lenders indicate their willingness to negotiate instead of going through the costly and time-consuming foreclosure process.  But, it is very difficult to predict what the homeowners will do since each has their own financial challenges and cannot be analyzed as a group.  Our understanding is that the lenders, due to the statute of limitations, could only demand the unpaid balance of the last 5 years, which could be beneficial for homeowners whose foreclosure cases were dismissed prior to 2011.  The question remains if those homeowners will be able to pay the delinquent amount even if a big chunk is dismissed.

The number of the new inventory is unpredictable at this time pending the lenders’ position on modifying the loans as well as the homeowners’ ability on repaying the unpaid balance.  So far, the signals from the lenders indicate their willingness to negotiate instead of going through the costly and time-consuming foreclosure process.  But, it is very difficult to predict what the homeowners will do since each person faces their own financial challenges and cannot be analyzed as a group.  Our understanding is that the lenders could only demand the unpaid balance of the last 5 years, due to the statute of limitations, which could be beneficial for homeowners whose foreclosure cases were dismissed prior to 2011.  The question remains if those homeowners will be able to pay the delinquent amount even if a big chunk is dismissed.

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