From Florida Realtors
Ghouls aren’t just in the movies and on television these days. They’re out there in the real estate market.
Florida has a lot of REOs – properties owned by a bank after foreclosure – but slightly more than half (an estimated 53 percent) aren’t for sale. In those cases, the owners who lost the property still live there. These are the “vampires” and “zombies.”
In a report released this month, RealtyTrac calls the homes “vampire homes,” perhaps in deference to Halloween. However, it also identifies “zombie homes” as ones where a bank has not yet foreclosed but the owner has already moved out. While vampire homes can look like any other home on the block, zombie homes tend to have overgrown grass and sometimes maintenance issues.
Nationwide, an estimated 47 percent of bank-owned homes fall into the vampire category. An additional 20 percent of homes somewhere in the foreclosure process have been abandoned by the owner.
Vampire homes “represent a shadow inventory that is becoming more imminent as rising home prices motivate banks to sell off these homes to try to recoup their losses on soured loans,” says Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac vice president. Zombie homes “often represent a threat to the quality of the surrounding neighborhood, dragging down home values.”
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach – 64 percent
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater – 46 percent
Orlando-Kissimmee – 50 percent
Jacksonville – 39 percent
Cape Coral-Fort Myers – 54 percent
Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice – 48 percent
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville – 38 percent
Port St. Lucie – 34 percent
Lakeland – 63 percent
Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach – 33 percent
Ocala – 36 percent
Naples-Marco Island – 62 percent
Tallahassee – 49 percent
Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent – 47 percent
Gainesville – 55 percent
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach – 16 percent
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater – 27 percent
Orlando-Kissimmee – 20 percent
Jacksonville – 30 percent
Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice – 25 percent
Cape Coral-Fort Myers – 26 percent
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville – 28 percent
Port St. Lucie – 31 percent
Lakeland – 27 percent
Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach – 30 percent
Ocala – 38 percent
Naples-Marco Island – 21 percent
Tallahassee – 28 percent
Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent – 26 percent
Gainesville – 28 percent