Ft. Lauderdale Foreclosures| Broward Foreclosures

Foreclosures Sold in Broward County
in the 1st 6 months of 2010

Within the first 6 months of 2010, purchases of 2,100 Bank Owned Single Family Homes have been recorded in the MLS*. Within the same period of time, there were 3,387 purchases of non Distressed Properties and 1,402 purchases of properties listed as Short Sales. So, purchases of distressed properties continue to account for ~50% of purchases in our current local market (and if you’re thinking about how 50% distressed properties is a lot, then you also need to take into consideration that there’s also 50% of properties that ARE NOT distressed–ALL sides of an issue must be considered).

Let’s drill down and take a closer look at the Stats for Bank Owned Foreclosure Purchases

Purchase price range and other details for Single Family Homes Sold

1,288 of the 2,100 purchases are indicated to have been Cash purchases

1,013 of the Homes were purchased for prices under $100,000 and 888 of the 1,013 purchases are indicated to have been Cash purchases. This segment of the market continues to be very Investor driven and IS NOT full of First Time Home Buyers as many often think. The average number of days on the Market was 40. The average List Price to Purchase Price Ratio was 102.73%.

561 were purchased in a range of $100,000 – $199,999 and 228 of the purchases are indicated to have been Cash purchases. The average number of days on the Market was 39.24 and the average List Price to Purchase Price Ratio was 99.79%.

345 were purchased in a range of $200,000 – $299,999 and 103 of the purchases are indicated to have been Cash purchases. The average number of days on the Market was 46.83 and average List Price to Purchase Price Ratio was 99.21%.

115 were purchased in a range of $300,000 – $399,999 and 41 of the purchases are indicated to have been Cash purchases. The average number of days on the Market was 40.83 and average List Price to Purchase Price Ratio was 99.49%.

36 were purchased in a range of $400,000 – $499,999 and 16 of the purchases are indicated to have been Cash purchases. The average number of days on the Market was 37.69 and average List Price to Purchase Price Ratio was 98.3%.

13 were purchased in a range of $500,000 – $599,999 and 6 of the purchases are indicated to have been Cash purchases. The average number of days on the Market was 28 and average List Price to Purchase Price Ratio was 102.54%.

17 were purchased in a range of $600,000 – $1,500,000 and 6 of the purchases are indicated to have been Cash purchases. The average number of days on the Market was 49.41 and average List Price to Purchase Price Ratio was 96.29%.

Of the 2,100 Foreclosures purchased, 31 are Waterfront Homes

Location, location, location!

Where are the Foreclosures located?

I’m contacted by many Buyers who live Abroad and in the U.S. who are interested in Waterfront Foreclosures and Luxury Foreclosures. After all, they’ve heard that “everything is in Foreclosure, Million Dollar Houses are being given away, all Owners are desperate, the Houses are dark at night save the glow of a few Candles because the Lights have been cut off, Garage Sales line the Streets of Las Olas Isles, and new Maseratis are being sold for $30,000.” Okay, I added the last 3 for effect (LOL), but you get the point.

When touring Luxury Neighborhoods with Buyers when viewing Homes, many have been quite surprised to see that most of the Homes are occupied, not in Foreclosure or Pre-Foreclosure, that there are plenty of Vendors visiting the Homes providing services (Lawn and Pool Maintenance, Maid Service, Pet Sitters, Caterers, and others), and that on a number of Streets, there are Luxury Homes that are actively under Construction (not stalled Construction).

I feel like I say this 10 times a day, but you must understand that Market conditions, prices, and inventory vary significantly in various Neighborhoods and Cities. Here in Broward County, the majority of Land is West of I-95 and West of U.S. 1 (to those not familiar with the area, West of I-95 and West of U.S. 1 are more distant from the Beach and the majority of Ocean Access Waterfront Properties are located East of I-95).

Areas that are located West have the largest amount of Foreclosure Inventory.

Because of higher concentration of Land and purchases West, there’s far less Inventory of Properties available that are East and Waterfront and far less Foreclosure Inventory in East and Waterfront Neighborhoods (when I refer to Waterfront, I mean Ocean Access Waterfront, not Property located on Lakes and other Bodies of Water that don’t connect to the Ocean).

So you say, “I don’t mind waiting until there are more East and Waterfront Foreclosures listed for Sale”. While we know that there will definitely be more Foreclosures listed for sale since the Banks haven’t released all of them and since there are more Owners going into Foreclosure, just keep in mind that East and Waterfront Foreclosures will remain the smallest part of Foreclosure inventory.

Luxury vs. non-Luxury Foreclosures

You’ve read that there are lots of $100,000 Foreclosures that are being purchased and now you’re excited about the possibility of getting a fabulous Home for a very low price. Well, think again. “You get what you pay for” is very true in this situation. Sure you can buy a House for $100,000, but first understand that, in almost all cases, these Homes are in need of significant repair and/or cosmetic updates, aren’t located in beautiful Neighborhoods, or are undesireable to the “Fabulous Only Buyer” in some other aspect. Though prices have declined significantly in the last 5 years, $100,000 isn’t the average price range for a move-in ready Home with all the “Bells and Whistles” in our local area (there are areas where that’s the case, but not here in Broward County).

The majority of active Foreclosure Inventory is in the under $200,000 price range, so most aren’t Luxury Properties and most aren’t in Luxury Neighborhoods. Far more Homeowners in the lower price range have gone into Foreclosure than in the higher price range, however, sources currently indicate that there has been an increase in Foreclosures in the upper price range, so it appears that we’ll eventually have a few more of those to choose from. Sure, lots of people are financially hurting, but on different levels, and there are those who have suffered financial losses, but not to the extent that they can’t continue to lead luxury Lifestyles or at least very comfortable Lifestyles (look at all the Cash Buyers of Real Estate in the current market, for example–I really don’t think the $500,000 Cash they spent to purchase property came anywhere close to depleting their Financial resources).

A great example of a Luxury Foreclosure is the one pictured below, which is located in Southwest Ranches, was purchased as a Foreclosure for $1,060,000, built in 2005, and located on 2 Acres of Land (the East vs. West thing again…you can find Houses with large Acreage in areas West in the County whereas many East Properties have an average Lot size of 1/4 Acre or less and you get more House for your money in West locations since Land value is such a large part of the price with East properties). It has 5 Bedrooms, 4.5 Baths, 2-Car Garage, 6,228 Total Square Feet, an Infinity Pool with Waterfall, Marble Floors, and more. The purchase price by the original Buyer in 2004 was $1,575,000.

Are there great deals available? Yes, great great deals are available and prices today are significantly less than they were 5 years ago. Just because a property isn’t a Foreclosure doesn’t mean that it isn’t a great deal. There are many motivated Homeowners who have priced their properties at or below current market values.

Condos, Townhouses, and Villas that were sold

Within the first 6 months of 2010, purchases of 3,219 Bank owned Condos, Townhouses, and Villas were recorded in the MLS. Within the same period of time, there were 4,239 purchases of non Distressed Properties and 1,774 purchases of properties listed as Short Sales. So, sales of distressed properties were slightly more than half of all properties purchased.

Purchase price range and other details for Condos, Villas, and Townhouses Sold

2,708 of the 3,219 purchases are indicated to have been Cash purchases! Besides issues of condition and the simple preference to pay Cash rather than Finance, many Condo purchases are Cash purchases because of prohibitive Lending criteria for Condos
2,488 were purchased under $100,000
600 were purchased from $100,000 – $199,999
90 were purchased from $200,000 – $299,999
18 were purchased from $300,000 – $399,999
6 were purchased from $400,000 – $499,999
17 were purchased from $500,000 – $990,000
Of the 3,219 purchases, 258 are Waterfront properties

Key Points for the overall Foreclosure Purchase Report include the following:

More than half of the purchases were Cash purchases, so Cash Buyers have lots of competition from other Cash Buyers when placing Offers. Cash purchases continue to account for ~50% of ALL SALES (both distressed and non-distressed) in the current market
Luxury and Waterfront (Ocean Access) Foreclosures are not the majority of Foreclosure purchases
Most Foreclosure inventory is located West
Most Bank owned Foreclosure Properties are purchased very quickly
Most are purchased at or above List Price
Purchases of distressed properties continue to account for ~50% of purchases in our current local Market
Many Investors are purchasing Homes in the lower price range
Real Estate is very local. Every market is very different and there are even significant differences from one Neighborhood to the next and from one Building to the next

Current Foreclosure Inventory

Currently, there are 735 active listings of Bank owned Single Family Homes for Sale and 1,079 Condos, Townhouses and Villas for Sale. But, you say, “I know there are more Foreclosures available than that.” Of course there are! Several issues cause low inventory of Foreclosures listed for sale. These issues include, but aren’t limited to:

Banks don’t release all of their available Inventory at one time
A lengthy process is required to be completed before Homes are made available for purchase and the large number of Foreclosures contributes to the length of time for processing
Some Forecloures are never listed for sale on the MLS* and are, instead, purchased in bulk from Banks by Investment groups or Corporations, sold “on the Courthouse steps”, or sold through Auction
Because most Bank Owned Foreclosures are purchased quickly, the available inventory of properties actively listed for sale diminishes quickly

There’s significant confusion that exists among interested Buyers who view non-MLS listings of Foreclosures on websites that list properties that are stated to be in Foreclosure. Many such properties are not Bank owned yet (the Owners are simply delinquent on Mortgage payments and have been marked in Property Tax Records as being in pre-Foreclosure) or the properties are indeed Bank owned, but not accessible for purchase yet. Additionally, some sites categorize Short Sales as Foreclosures, which is totally incorrect. When I refer to Foreclosures, I strictly mean Bank owned Foreclosures.

If you’re interested in Foreclosures in Ft. Lauderdale or surrounding areas, you can contact me to customize your search or view Foreclosure listings here. In addition to Foreclosure listings, the Foreclosure page of my website also includes information about the Foreclosure Offer process and I’ve represented Buyers who have purchased Bank owned Foreclosures.

Related Information

*MLS= Multiple Listing Service (the database where Real Estate Brokers input Listings of properties for sale and sold). Properties sold through the MLS comprise the vast majority of properties that are purchased. Property purchase information can also be verified through searching Property Tax Records.