Under Water Homes – Under Water Mortgages
Every once in a while someone has a litter of kittens and sends me an email with a link to something, a story, a graph or some other parlor trick get’s their attention. The latest email questions was about the Zillow feature: The U.S. Housing Crisis: Where are home loans underwater?
This feature allows a person to put in their zip code to see the quantity of properties “under water” in the area. Bonita Springs Florida 34134 – 19%, Bonita Springs Florida 34135 – 33%, Estero Florida 33928 – 30%. I can’t even begin to guess how accurate or inaccurate
First things first, “under water” is far different than a foreclosure, pre-foreclosure or even “distressed”. Under water simply means a home is worth less than the current mortgage on the property. Homes being “under water” in Florida is not surprising given the circumstances with the housing market across the country, especially Florida.
The number or percentage of home owners being “under water'” isn’t an indicator of future foreclosures. There are many people who are under water making their mortgage payments and not in default.
On top of that, in Bonita Springs and Estero the market has corrected. We’ve hit bottom and even passed it in most areas. The absolute worst of the worst happened years ago when the market turned and the “investors” were up to their eyes in shady loans. Those real estate investors walked away and flooded the market with excess real estate inventory. The market has leveled off and prices have already started to inch up in some sectors so today’s information on “under water real estate” will be short lived.
Anywho, the May 2012 real estate market reports will be posted soon, until then you can look at our inventory, rates of short sales and foreclosures for yourself here: