Foreclosures climb again
Online foreclosure website Realtytrac reported the Cape Coral/Fort Myers area saw a 21 percent jump in foreclosure filings between June and July this year, and a 10 percent increase between July and August, despite a 9 percent decrease year over year.
Lee County Clerk of Courts Charlie Green said the data is not entirely accurate nor does it tell the entire story, as foreclosure filings as a whole have been “trending downward” steadily over the last year.
While slight increases might be seen month to month, he said, overall, Lee County’s foreclosure inventory isn’t the behemoth it once was.
“We’re getting them out of the pipeline,” Green said. “January of this year is the only month so far that we’ve taken in more then we’ve disposed of.”
According to Green, 929 foreclosures were filed in June of this year, 778 in July, 865 in August.
June 2009 there were 1,653 foreclosure filings, 1,903 for July, and 1,626 for August.
Though the county had 865 foreclosure filings in August, Green said, they were able to dispose of 2,610.
“It’s going to go up and down some month to month, but thank God it’s trending down,” Green said.
Homestead foreclosures are on the rise, Green said, though he did not have the exact figures.
He called homestead foreclosures “heartbreaking”, as homeowners who have tried to do the right thing by staying with their payments despite being upside down are now facing the loss of their investments.
“It’s very discouraging,” he said.
According to Realtytrac, Florida still ranks in the top five nationwide for foreclosure filings, as one in every 155 houses are currently in foreclosure, and is 2.5 times the national average.