Bankruptcy Attorney Clearwater | Jay Weller http://www.bankruptcyattorneyclearwater.com Tue, 15 Mar 2011 19:30:26 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 Short Sales Are On The Rise http://www.bankruptcyattorneyclearwater.com/index.php/short-sales-are-on-the-rise/ http://www.bankruptcyattorneyclearwater.com/index.php/short-sales-are-on-the-rise/#comments Tue, 15 Mar 2011 19:30:26 +0000 admin http://www.bankruptcyattorneyclearwater.com/?p=103 In Pinellas County, the number of short sale listings was 3829 in November. This is 43% increase from the year before. From the peak of the real estate market, Tampa Bay home values have dropped 46.3%. This has led to many homeowners seeking to sell their homes through a process called a short sale, wherein the bank agrees to accept less than the full balance of the mortgage owed, so that the homeowner may sell his or her home.

There are issues for the homeowner who short sells his property, including potential liability for a deficiency on the mortgage, the possibility of tax liability for “the forgiveness of indebtedness” and the difficulty of dealing with the mortgage company.

Keller Williams Realty in Tampa discloses that if you are dealing with Bank of America or Chase, the process of short sale can take about six months. One problem in consummating a successful short sale is that many loans made during the real estate boom were packaged into securities and sold to investors.

Short sale properties usually sell for less than nondistressed homes and condos. The median sale price for nondistressed homes and condos in Pinellas County in November was $160,000 and in Hillsborough and Pasco County the median price was $175,123. The median sale price for short sale homes and condos in November in Pinellas County was $127,000 and in Hillsborough and Pasco County was $125,000.

]]> http://www.bankruptcyattorneyclearwater.com/index.php/short-sales-are-on-the-rise/feed/ 0 Bankruptcy Filings Are Down http://www.bankruptcyattorneyclearwater.com/index.php/coming-soon/ http://www.bankruptcyattorneyclearwater.com/index.php/coming-soon/#comments Mon, 10 May 2010 18:31:46 +0000 admin http://www.bankruptcyattorneyclearwater.com/?p=62 The number of cases filed in the US Bankruptcy Court in the Middle District of Florida fell about 10% in December and are down 21% in January compared with the numbers of the prior year. Judge Glenn, the Chief Bankruptcy Judge of the District said February will probably be slightly lower than the prior year.

Nationally, there were 90,000 bankruptcy filings. Generally, in recent years, the filings have exceeded 100,000 per month. In Tampa, there were 1405 Bankruptcy filings in January 2011 and 1768 Bankruptcy filings in January 2010.

Bankruptcies fell throughout the United States after Congress passed the 2005 Bankruptcy Law that many thought made it harder to file Bankruptcy. Since 2005, Bankruptcy filings have increased annually.

A number of Bankruptcy observers have opined that Bankruptcy filings should again increase as the Mortgage Companies increase the number of Foreclosure filings against homeowners. A number of Foreclosures were temporarily stopped after it was discovered that banks and their attorneys were filing fraudulent and incomplete paperwork against homeowners, leading to state and federal investigations. Many of these issues have been resolved, and the number of Foreclosures is again increasing.

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