Foreclosure Filings Sink 21% In South Florida In 1st Quarter 2010

MIAMI, FL--Foreclosure filings in South Florida slipped by 21 percent to less than 20,000 actions initiated the tricounty region in the first quarter of 2010 on a year-over-year basis compared to more than 25,000 filings during the same period in 2009, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.

The quarterly drop was exacerbated by a 20 percent decrease in foreclosure filings in March 2010 following a 19 percent drop in February and a seven percent drop in January, according to the report.

All three South Florida counties experienced a decrease in foreclosure filings - also known as a Lis Pendens or a Notice of Default - between January and March of 2010 with actions tumbling by 33 percent Miami-Dade County, 22 percent in Palm Beach County, and 12 percent in Broward County, according to the report based on the Condo Vultures® Foreclosure Database™.

The Foreclosure Database™ is updated every business day with the latest foreclosure filings initiated with the clerks of court in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.

"The federal government programs coupled with the pure financial feasibility of working with troubled borrowers to keep them in their homes is translating into lenders filing fewer foreclosure actions in South Florida," said Peter Zalewski, (middle right photo) a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures® LLC. "Lenders now know that a foreclosure action will take 18 months and at least $100,000 to complete in South Florida, which is three times longer and twice as expensive as back in 2007 when the crisis first began.

Once the bank owns a troubled property, the residence usually sells for about the same amount as a comparable short sale, which can be completed in a fraction of the time.

"Bankers are smart people so it is no surprise to see a change in strategy and the drop in foreclosure filings given the pure economics of the situation."

Contact:  Peter Zalewski,  800-750-0517,  peter@condovultures.com