Where Has Ft. Lauderdale Gone?

Well, it is official. Ft. Lauderdale is becoming a modern day ghost town (but not for long). Ok... not so much a ghost town, but there are a lot of empty houses. Why is that you ask? Well, the new numbers are showing that Ft. Lauderdale (AKA Ft. Liquordale to locals and spring breakers that still go there) has the 2nd highest number of foreclosures in the nation.

Analysts appear to be blaming investors. They are claiming that a plethera of investors bought too late into the market to flip the houses and still make a profit. Here are those figures according to msn.com's real estate section: 8,431 homes are in foreclosure for the third quarter of 2006 (that is up 86.53% from the second quarter.) That means that 1 out of every 88 households is in foreclosure. The foreclosure rate is about 4.132 times higher than the national average.

But there is good news amongst this tragedy. You see lenders are going to want to do fire sales to get these properties off their books. What this means is that you could, in theory, pick up a house below market and appraised value. In some cases, even below the current outstanding mortgage. There is some speculation (not sure if I agree) that one could get deals as good as 50 cents on the dollar. Even though these quick sales will drive down area prices, it will bring people back to the area.

Miami... Miami... Miami... Hold on to your hats because that is about all that you are going to have. You are quickly moving up the ranks. Maimi is currently ranked 4th in the nation with 9,380 homes in foreclosure for the third quarter (up 97.18% from last quarter. Miami is seeing 1 out of every 91 households in foreclosure (a rate of 3.997 times higher than the national average.)

To see where you city ranks check out MSN.com's real estate section.