Foreclosed Property for Sale in Hillsborough, Fla Tracked

Every foreclosed property for sale in Hillsborough County, Florida is now being tracked by county officials to prevent foreclosures from causing blight and from pushing down home values in communities in the area.

This week, county officials started implementing an ordinance requiring mortgage lenders to pay the county $100 every time they file a foreclosure action. The money would help the county handle its expenses for managing vacant foreclosures.

According to Jim Blinck, head of code enforcement for Hillsborough County, the county has been overwhelmed with costs in maintaining vacant foreclosed properties because of the large number of foreclosures in the county.

Since January, nearly 2,000 new foreclosure actions were being filed by mortgage lenders each month. With the ordinance, the county can collect around $200,000 every month to be used for maintaining vacant foreclosures.

According to Blinck, much of the money would be used to monitor and maintain residential properties that are still in the foreclosure process but are not yet repossessed by banks. He added that it has been difficult to require foreclosure-bound homeowners to maintain their properties because oftentimes they no longer have interest or the money to continue caring for their properties.

According to law, the homeowner is the one responsible for maintaining a housing unit until it is repossessed by the bank and becomes a foreclosed property for sale, but oftentimes, distressed homeowners just stay in the houses and no longer do anything to maintain the properties while waiting for the eviction notice.

Another thing that has pushed the county to take over and maintain foreclosure properties for mortgage lenders and charge them for maintenance is the slow housing market in the area and the lengthy foreclosure procedure in Florida. In some cases, residential foreclosure actions are not being pursued immediately by lenders because of costs that they need to pay regularly after foreclosure, such as real estate taxes and homeowner association dues.

Blinck said that the task of cutting grasses in an abandoned foreclosed property may look simple, but it needs cutting equipment and a skilled lawn mowing operator.

According to Blinck, some mortgage lenders have been cooperative and supportive of the ordinance because they recognize the value of maintaining their properties and the positive impact of complying with ordinances in communities where they operate. They know that a maintained repossessed property for sale will attract better purchase offers.

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