According to a report from RealtyTrac, a California-based company that tracks foreclosed properties, one in every 155 Florida housing units received a foreclosure filing in October. The state's foreclosure rate was second only to Nevada, which had a one in 79 rate for the month. It was the third month in a row Florida has had the second highest foreclosure rate.
Florida's foreclosures dipped 4.5 percent from September, slightly more than the 4 percent national decrease from the previous month, due largely to the voluntary moratorium some banks placed on foreclosures for part of October. The controversy surrounding the foreclosure practices of some banks which filed faulty or fraudulent paperwork -- some used "robo signers" to authorize documents without reviewing them -- led some mortgage lenders, like Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase, to halt foreclosure proceedings. Those moratoriums have since been lifted by the financial institutions, but foreclosures are getting reviewed more carefully by the lenders and also by defendants in court who are more apt to protest the proceedings.
"The numbers probably would have been higher except for the fallout from the recent 'robo-signing' controversy -- which is the most likely the reason for the 9 percent monthly drop in REOs (bank repossessions) we saw from September to October and which may result in further decreases in November," said James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac.
Three Florida metro areas ranked in the top 10 foreclosure rates for October: Cape Coral-Fort Myers (ranked second), Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach (ranked seventh), and Orlando-Kissimmee (ranked tenth).