Milwaukee Foreclosures to be Sold; Orlando Foreclosures Dip

Milwaukee Foreclosures to be Sold; Orlando Foreclosures Dip

Across the country, foreclosures are on the decline. In some markets, they have continued to decline for over a year straight. Even in harsher markets, foreclosures are dipping with each passing month, evidence that the real estate market across the nation is improving.

Two cities in particular – Milwaukee and Orlando – are examples of what the foreclosure market is doing across the nation as we advance deeper into spring.

City Plans to Sell Milwaukee Foreclosures
Milwaukee is one example of a city that has been hit reasonably hard by the foreclosure crisis. The city has numerous properties in its foreclosure inventory and is coming up with plans for dealing with them. One plan is to sell close to 350 foreclosures owned by the city, while demolishing another 300 homes that are unsafe or deemed blighted. This would leave close to 600 homes left in the city’s inventory if all goes to plan, and another 1,400 homes that are bank foreclosures.

One part of the plan was recently approved. A nonprofit, ACTS Housing, will create a loan program with the city to help buyers renovate or rehab foreclosures. ACTS hopes to sell at least 156 homes through 2016 using this new initiative.

With any luck, Milwaukee will be able to unload its foreclosures to buyers willing to take them off the city’s hands, which could create a mini-surge in home prices eventually if all goes to plan. Fewer foreclosures is a formula for success that other cities have used when it comes to raising home prices, and hopefully Milwaukee will be no different.

Fewer Orlando Foreclosures Entered the Market
Orlando, one of Florida’s premier destinations for tourist, might also become one of the state’s premier destinations for real estate – namely because foreclosures are falling and the market is improving.

According to the latest stats, Orlando’s foreclosure inventory fell by six percent in February, down by four percent from February 2013. The area reported 12,159 completed home foreclosures from February 2013 to February 2014, which helped to make up the 118,000 completed foreclosures in Florida during that same time period – a stat that led the nation.

Orlando, however, is experiencing growth in its real estate market, growth that starts with fewer foreclosures to clog up the inventory and drag down prices.

As areas like Orlando improve, Florida’s status as one of the nation’s leaders in foreclosures could improve as well. All signs indicate more improvement in local, state, and national foreclosure markets.

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