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Housing Nightmare Haunting Tampa Bay

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By SHANNON BEHNKEN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 19, 2007

TAMPA - Florida's foreclosure activity jumped 77 percent in August, compared with July, boosting its foreclosure rate to the third highest among all states. It was even worse in Tampa Bay, where foreclosure filings more than doubled. Both are further signs that homeowners are having trouble paying their mortgages and selling their homes amid a national housing slump.

'This gets back to issues that have been brewing for quite some time,' said Daren Blomquist, communications manager for Irving, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosures. 'The large inventory of homes, home prices dipping and the generous lending practices in recent years all combine to create this problem.'

Across the state, foreclosures show no sign of slowing down:

•In Florida, 33,932 foreclosures were filed in August. That's one for every 243 households and a 106 percent increase from August 2006.

•Florida's third-place ranking in August is up seven notches from July. The Sunshine State ranks only behind No. 1 Nevada and No. 2 California.

•In Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Hernando counties, there were a combined 5,904 filings in August, up from 2,871 in July, RealtyTrac said.

The mortgage industry has been rocked by a surge in defaults, particularly among borrowers with subprime loans and adjustable rate mortgages that initially had attractive 'teaser' interest rates but can adjust upward, resulting in payment shock. Many loans, some of which adjust in as little as two years, were issued in 2005 and 2006 during the height of the housing boom.

Most homeowners who enter the foreclosure process don't end up turning their keys over to the lender, experts say. Other outcomes can range from selling the property to reaching an agreement with the lender, avoiding foreclosure as a final solution.

Big Jump In Those Losing Homes

Still, there's been a large jump in the number of people losing their homes. In the Bay area in August, 770 properties were taken over by lenders. That compared with 266 in July and just 38 during August 2006, according to RealtyTrac. Statewide, 2,364 properties were repossessed by lenders.

'It's alarming that number of properties are making it that far in the process,' Blomquist said. 'I think this shows that some people in danger of foreclosure now have fewer options to get rid of their homes.'

Nationwide, there were more foreclosure filings in August than any other month since the company began tracking monthly filings two years ago. The total, 243,947 filings, is up 36 percent from July and 115 percent from August 2006.

Nevada reported one foreclosure filing for every 165 households, more than three times the national average. It had 6,197 filings in August, an increase of 21 percent from July and more than triple the year-ago figure. California's foreclosure rate was one filing for every 224 households. It reported the most foreclosure filings of any state with 57,875, up 48 percent from July and more than 300 percent from August 2006. Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Indiana round out the 10 states with highest foreclosure rates.

Next Foreclosure Wave Looms

'The jump in foreclosure filings this month might be the beginning of the next wave of increased foreclosure activity, as a large number of subprime adjustable rate loans are beginning to reset now,' said RealtyTrac Chief Executive James J. Saccacio.

RealtyTrac's monthly data includes default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. The company counts the raw number of foreclosure filings and does not single-out individual properties. As a property works through the foreclosure process, it can receive multiple filings. Because of this and the fact that some properties with multiple mortgages receive several filings, RealtyTrac could count some properties more than once.

Blomquist said this is unlikely to affect monthly data because properties typically don't have more than one foreclosure filing in a month.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804 or sbehnken@tampatrib.com.

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