Foreclosure cases eased in 2009

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By MIKE SEEMUTH

The number of new foreclosure cases involving property in South Florida leveled off last year, according to a market report.

Default Research, a data collection firm based near Pittsburgh, Pa., found that the initiation of foreclosure cases in South Florida decreased last year after soaring for two years.

"What we deal with is the initial foreclosure proceedings, which is the lis pendens," or notices that litigation is pending, said Serdar Bankaci, CEO of Default Research. "We basically track properties that are initially being foreclosed upon."

Default Research found a 13.6 percent decline last year in the number of foreclosure cases initiated by mortgage lenders in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties last year, following comparable year-over-year increases of 195 percent in 2008 and 177 percent in 2007.

"For years, we kept seeing 100 percent increases, or even higher, and last year we didn't have that. So that's definitely a good sign," Bankaci said. His firm tracks "how many people are entering foreclosure, versus how many houses are being sold at auction, so it's a more forward indicator" of the pace of foreclosure activity.

But because so many South Florida foreclosure cases already are under way, "I don't think the actual number of people losing their homes has peaked," Bankaci said. In a Florida foreclosure, "it takes at least seven to nine months to go from the lis pendens stage to an actual sale."

Peter Zalewski, a principal at Bal Harbour, Fla.-based Condo Vultures, expects mortgage lenders to repossess at least 33,000 properties in South Florida this year, up from an estimated 30,000 last year. ...CONTINUED

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