Foreclosures in Tampa Florida; Short Sales and REO Houses Counted for 2009
According to the recently released Top 25 Core-Based Statistical Areas survey from September 2009, the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Florida area, which ranked No. 20, listed 375 houses that were sold under a short sale agreement out of 3,980 houses for sale at that time.
A short sales Tampa agreement is where a homeowner, usually facing foreclosure or simply unable to sell their home for a long period of time, will choose to list their house for sale at a lesser amount or shorter than the amount due to the bank or lending institution. This accomplishes several things, it helps the homeowner out from under a sometimes ‘crushing’ financial burden when they may be facing a crisis such as a job loss or mounting medical bills. A short sale also gives the bank or lending facility some funds from the sale of the house because they would rather receive some money than repossessing the house, and it puts a family or individual in the home because no one benefits from an empty house. Empty houses could become neighborhood eyesores, gathering places for gangs and drug activities and public health hazards.
Also on the 2009 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Florida area survey were REO or Real Estate Owned properties. The REO count was a whopping 757 out of the total houses sold during that time period. Many REOs come from foreclosures in Tampa, Florida because a real estate company, brokerage firm or agent often knows of the foreclosed property before the general public and is able to make a winning bid. Several REO properties are multi-family units like apartment complexes or duplexes which are harder to sell to the general public. Some agents hold on to the REO properties as money making opportunities.
Tampa short sales are also being purchased by real estate professionals for the purpose of reselling when the market regains it footing or for money making opportunities in rental properties. Many people who have been forced out of their homes due to a foreclosure or short sale will want to rent property and real estate brokers are poised to help them.