Rise and fall of Jacksonville Foreclosures

Jacksonville is Florida’s largest city with over one million people residing in the metropolis due to its diverse commercial features that attract a lot of

retirees and tourists. It has considerably increasing number of properties that are now being re-possessed by lenders with foreclosures. Jacksonville

foreclosures have the highest rates in the nation and constitute the bulk of total national foreclosures at 3rd place on the national scale. These

foreclosures have increased due to a rise in adjustable rate mortgages and thus their increase has led to change in price ranges of houses.
Jacksonville foreclosures were so high that their rate was a cause for alarm for present day homeowners but a benefit for new and first time buyers. In

November last, the rate of foreclosures rose to forty nine percent. The rise in Jacksonville foreclosures is causing serious concern to home owners, lenders

and banks primarily because greater numbers of people are tempted to take loans and failing to payback.
Considering the size of the problem and predictive increases in rates of Jacksonville foreclosures these changes have been occurring also due to fall in home

prices and rising job loss. However, people are being given assistance in following areas:
•    Relocation assistance to help people with losses in income
•    Buying property that is foreclosed to avoid glut in certain areas with high foreclosures
•    To create a system of mediation services by lawyers between lenders and home owners
•    Increasing court filing fees to enable accumulating money to finance intervention plans
•    Advice to home owners to stay away from quick profit firms that collect upfront payments for remedies that only cause more harm
•    Assigning one or more local judges to specialize in providing people with quick help on foreclosure risks
•    Requesting heads of charity organizations to give financial aid
Most home owners facing foreclosure do not put up a fight. This is because they lack the knowledge about their own rights and of methods of solving the

problem. Jacksonville state council held a campaign to educate and increase awareness of resources available to home owners. The different methods used for

creating awareness are:
•    Local media as in newspapers, radio and television
•    Provision of information by hotlines and local lines
•    Conducting seminars
•    Providing dedicated web sites
In April this year the real estate markets looked up as Jacksonville foreclosures began to fall. The broker sales fell and median selling prices rose.

However, there are spiky heights in Jacksonville foreclosures due to fluctuating news about the government assistance programs. People are unsure if they

were going to be rescued at all. Some people decided to default on their payments so that they could claim assistance from the government. Despite all these

causes, a turnaround in Jacksonville foreclosures could be seen in January coming year.