Joann - Lehigh Acres

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I have a question, prompted by the Prez's recent trip to your neck o' the swamp.

Has there been any indication where all the people who used to own the abandoned houses in Lehigh Acres, Cape Coral, Rotonda, et al, are living now?

Where have they all gone?

[Marti Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Marti]

Lehigh Acres

Why did so many people abandoned
their houses in Lehigh Acres Florida

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Same as elsewhere, except there is a much larger number of them in LA, Cape Coral, et al.

Unqualified by prudent standards, over borrowing, ARMs, collapsing home values.

Bursting bubble.

Why did so many people abandoned
their houses in Lehigh Acres Florida

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

a friend of mine bought a condo in Naples for $94,000 in 2003. She refininaced in 2005 when prices were high and now owes $160,000. a foreclosed one just like hers sold for $43,000 and 7 in her building are on the market for $85,000. she had been trying to sell hers for two years, but has taken it off the market and is thinking of walking away from it.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I was googling around the other day and found some really nice, brand new condos in a gated community not far from Disney, for $49K.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Keep in mind that even if you are keeping current, if your lender fails because others weren't, and you cannot pay off your balance or refinance, you're as screwed as those who weren't making payments.

[JoAnn Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JoAnn]

I have a question, prompted by the Prez's recent trip to your neck o' the swamp.

Has there been any indication where all the people who used to own the abandoned houses in Lehigh Acres, Cape Coral, Rotonda, et al, are living now?

Where have they all gone?

Sorry it's taken me so long to answer...SIL & DH are here from cold Illinois.

As far as I know, Jim, they just leave. I haven't known any to ask where they are headed. They may be moving into something cheaper, or somewhere else. All I see around us is that they move out. Some because they are renting and can't pay the rent any more, or because of foreclosure.

We are seeing more and more Auction signs and For Rent/For Sale signs in front of homes. It's sad.

If I find out any more, I'll let you know....lots of the homes are going cheap though...even duplexes.

[beanie Member Find all posts View Profile Close beanie]

in our development we have had 2 couples wak away from their townhouse and rent in the development next door .

[longtimer Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close longtimer]

Keep in mind that even if you are keeping current, if your lender fails because others weren't, and you cannot pay off your balance or refinance, you're as screwed as those who weren't making payments.

OMG I hadn't realized that! It's very scary if you've been working like a dog to keep up with the payments and still may run into trouble. Sounds like the only ones who are truly safe are those who have paid off their homes - as long as they can still afford the skyrocketing property taxes.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Yeah, that's a point people miss, plus the fact that you don't know who owns your loan unless you check. Many are sold, packaged, and resold to investors. Just because whoever gave you the services it, doesn't mean they own it.

That is why the housing failure is so wide-reaching, and this was warned about long before it happened, that it was a house of cards waiting to fall, and start the dominoes falling.

If we did not own our house outright, I would be checking. I am doing some things to protect ourselves against bank failures.

There are several abandoned projects here in the Branson area. Google Indian Ridge for the worst of them . . . several unfinished condo buildings . . . lots of gougy excavating done. An ugly mess.

Their lender went belly-up cuz of other bad loans. The FDIC now holds Indian Ridge notes, threatening to auction it. The County Commission gave IR until March 2 to come up with new financing, or the County will activate the peformance bond, take the project over, and pay off as much as they can to contractors.

Two more gougy condo projects at the Kimberling City bridge . . . abandoned after messing up Mother Nature.

When we were in SW FL in January, the first night at the resort in Englewood we were talking to a guy who actually lives in North Port but owns at the resort. He said the same is true of down there, that builders have just walked away from uncompleted houses/buildings.

OMG I hadn't realized that! It's very scary if you've been working like a dog to keep up with the payments and still may run into trouble. Sounds like the only ones who are truly safe are those who have paid off their homes - as long as they can still afford the skyrocketing property taxes.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Foreclosure Avenue in Lehigh Acres was just on the Early Show, with a small group who have all lost their homes. Their stories were the same . . . they paid $270K, $280 and now their homes are worth $50.

One lady bought a house for $190K and the lender turned down a sale at $120K. The lender now has it on the market for $40K.

JMHO . . . no one can or should have to try to survive a situation like that, let alone everyone in an entire area.

[short Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close short]

Mortgage transfer

Keep in mind that even if you are keeping current, if your lender fails because others weren't, and you cannot pay off your balance or refinance, you're as screwed as those who weren't making payments.

JLB

This is misleading. If you have a 30 year mortgage and are current, the failure of your lender will not accelerate your loan. Your loan will be taken over by FDIC or some other bank and held to term.

Maybe I misunderstood your comment. Please clerify. Thanks.

Short

[Marti Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Marti]

What went wrong - Lehigh Acres, Fla - NY Times


LEHIGH ACRES, Florida.

Desperation has moved into this once-middle-class exurb of Fort Myers,

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/us/08lehigh.html

[pranas Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pranas]

JLB

This is misleading. If you have a 30 year mortgage and are current, the failure of your lender will not accelerate your loan. Your loan will be taken over by FDIC or some other bank and held to term.

Maybe I misunderstood your comment. Please clerify. Thanks.

Short

Short,

Thanks for clarifying this. I had gotten nervous after JLB's post. Thought he was referring to some new change in regulations that I did not know about.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Or that I didn't know about!!!

Here's why I said what I said:

There is a HUGE development here called Indian Ridge. It kicked off in 2007 and has a few ugly, tacky faux tudor condos in various stages of incompletion. The sit in a gouged out ditch, with no roads or other infrastucture.

The project has been stagnant for several months.

What I said in this thread was just repeating what that developer has said to the County Commission, that he is current but his lender has gone belly-up, and yes, the FDIC is holding the paper, secured by the 1000's of acres of land in the development. He/whoever says the FDIC is talking about auctioning the mortgage. The County is threatening to call the performance bands and take over the project.

The Presiding Commissioner says that would be a battle, but if they had to do that, they would complete the infrastructure. I can see that getting very complicated.

Here is the way the developer said it:

“When the FDIC has a property in receivership, we don’t have a first mortgage anymore,” Shirato said.

“We can’t get other lenders to put up money because that first mortgage is in the hands of the FDIC.”

Anyway, his $1.6 Billion project is in jeopardy because his lender failed, not because he failed.

Reading it all again, I stand by what I said, at least as it pertains to Indian Ridge & I don't see any reason why the same thing could not happen to an individual regarding their house.

So, maybe you should worry, maybe you shouldn't. :cool

Branson Daily News :: News :: Deadline set for Indian Ridge

Now that I read another, fuller version of the story, the FDIC was in attendance at the County Commission meeting. They said they are considering auctioning the mortgage, and that process could take 30 days to a year. In the mean time, the development is tied up.

http://www.bransondailynews.com/story.php?storyID=10173