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Eric Snider | Tampa Bay Business Journal | “We’re not out of this foreclosure/short sale mess yet. More than a quarter of homes sales in December in 10 of the country’s largest metro areas were processed as either foreclosures or short sales, a new report says. Tampa ranked fourth, with such transactions making up 30.1 percent ofRead more

Franco Fernandez | CBS 12 News | “Banks pay FL homeowners as part of settlement.” Watch Video Here

Josh Salman | Herald-Tribune | “Foreclosure rates in Southwest Florida fell in November from the same time last year, continuing a trend of home loan delinquencies that have slowly waned throughout the past year. The rate of foreclosures among all outstanding mortgage loans in the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton area was 6.04 percent in November, the latest dataRead more

ALEX VEIGA | AP Real Estate Writer | “The number of U.S. homes that got started on the path to foreclosure fell last year to a low not seen since before the high-flying days of the housing boom, the latest evidence that the threat of foreclosures continues to diminish. Lenders also took back the fewestRead more

Drew Harwell | Tampa Bay Times | “Florida ended 2013 once again as America’s reigning foreclosure king, though amid the housing recovery new cases plunged, RealtyTrac data released Thursday shows. About 107,000 new foreclosures began last year in Florida, a 31 percent drop from 2012, as banks continued to tussle with homeowners in the aftermathRead more

Christine DiGangi | Credit.com | “There are fewer than 2 million mortgages in serious delinquency as of November, a 26 percent decline from the previous year and a 5-year low, according to the monthly CoreLogic Foreclosure Report. A seriously delinquent mortgage means the homeowner is more than 90 days past-due on payments and is in danger of defaultRead more

Christopher O’Donnell | Tampa Tribune | “Two years ago, Shanoah Washington’s home on Preston Street in the Melrose Mercy neighborhood was a gutted shell. Thieves had ripped out the air handler and plumbing. Gone, too, were windows, electrical wiring and most of the kitchen. The home attracted the attention of St. Petersburg City Council ChairmanRead more

By Josh Salman | Herald-Tribune “New home defaults throughout Southwest Florida have returned to the pace experienced before the market’s crash. Although the local court system continue to grapple with a backlog of 11,880 old foreclosure cases, the flow of loans becoming delinquent has slowed to a point that recalls 2006 — the height of last decade’sRead more

“Realty Trac has released new data from July showing the Florida counties with the highest foreclosure rate.” See slideshow here

By John Hielscher | Herald-Tribune | “A popular tax break that has saved struggling Southwest Florida homeowners millions of dollars is slated to expire at the end of this year. The tax deduction on forgiven mortgage debt has been available for the past seven years, one of a number of measures intended to ease financial pressure broughtRead more