According to the national tracking firm RealtyTrac, the totalnumber of homeowner foreclosures rose nationally by 75 percent in2007. At 280,000 foreclosure filings, Florida ranked second amongall states, eclipsed only by California's 480,000 filings.

The Sunshine State is home of five of the top 25 metro areasaffected by home foreclosures. Leading the way in Florida was Ft.Lauderdale, ranked eigth, with one in every 73 homes receiving somesort of foreclosure filing. Orlando ranked 13th, Miami 14th, andSarasota-Bradenton 15th. The Tampa-St Petersburg-Clearwater areacame in at 21st.

This situation is not expected to improve anytime soon.According to RealtyTrac, in the first quarter of this year, 66,000Florida homes underwent some form of foreclosure action — a 178percent increase from last year. “We really don't see anyindication that the rate of activity will come down soon,” saidRealtyTrac Vice President Rick Sharga.

Crist and Sink Take Notice

Florida's leaders are not standing idly by as the housing marketcontinues its downward spiral. Chief Financial Officer Alex Sinksaid Florida needs to respond to the housing crisis in order tolimit the possible impact on the economy. “Our work is justbeginning,” she said. “We need to strengthen our state's role ineducating consumers, implement greater consumer protections, andhelp hard-working families keep their homes.”

Governor Charlie Crist created the Florida Home OwnershipPromotes the Economy task force to bring together experts in theinsurance, banking, and mortgage fields to study the impact of thefinancial markets on homeowners around the state. Headed by Lt.Gov. Jeff Kottcamp, the task force has made a number ofrecommendations, including:

?Urge loan services and investors to pursue all workout optionsand dedicate resources to prevent foreclosures.

?Establish the Home Ownership Preservation Center to provide acentralized location for the distribution of foreclosure preventioninformation.

?Encourage the creation of programs in schools to increasefinancial literacy.

?Require mortgage lenders to disclose when borrowers may qualifyfor a mortgage other than subprime, high-cost, or non-traditionalloans.

?Create the HOPE Council and Mortgage Fraud Task Force toprovide continued guidance of legislation, regulations, education,and foreclosure prevention efforts.

Boosting the state's effort is a $1.3 million federal grant thatwill help the state operate 50 counseling agencies to assisthomeowners facing a potential foreclosure. The grant is provided bythe National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program, which isadministered through a competitive application process byNeighborWorks America. Crist said the grant would help the state'soutreach programs and inform the public about their mortgageoptions.

“We know that most homeowners never talk to their mortgagelender, even as they face foreclosure,” said Crist. “By making morecounseling and education about foreclosure alternatives availableto homeowners, it is our hope that more homeowners will be able toavoid the financial devastation of foreclosure.”

Agents Caught in the Middle

From an agent's perspective, foreclosures are definitely havingan effect on the market and their bottomline. That's without evenmentioning the impact of foreclosures on banks that must take stepsto insure a property that is no longer covered under the previoushomeowner.

Tom Enright, president of surplus lines brokerage Enright &Wilson in Hollywood, said that the housing and condominium marketis certainly feeling the effects of the downturn in valuations,which is leaving many owners holding properties that are worth farless than when they were purchased. “People definitely boughtproperties with the expectations that the price would go up and infact the prices have dropped,” he said. “Now they have mortgagesthat are in excess of what they can sell the property for and theycan't even rent it at a suitable price to cover the mortgage.”

As a result, Enright said that some homeowners and condominiumare just “giving the property back to the bank.” This trend isforcing banks to assume a defensive posture. Normally, the cost ofa homeowner's premium is included in the owner's mortgage payment.In the case of a foreclosure, however, banks are having to reachinto their own pockets to pay the cost of a policy in order toprotect their investment.

Florida Association of Insurance Agents Vice President ScottJohnson said that agents are also feeling the effects offoreclosures in the form of policy changes. For example, he said,every time a bank sells a mortgage to another lender or broker thepolicy must be updated to reflect the new mortgage holder. Such achange can also require agents to provide additional material,including photos of the property and changes in deductibles. Incases where the information is required for an existing policy or arenewal, agents receive no extra commission.

“This is what we are paid to do as part of servicing a policy,”said Johnson, who added that policy renewals require the sameamount of work as issuing a new policy. “What we are seeing isinflated activity where the agents are not being paid more money,”he said.

Johnson warned that the pressure of foreclosure is just one morefactor that is hurting agents around the state. He said thatcommissions are down across the board as workers' compensationrates have dropped by more than 50 percent since the 2003 reforms,and auto rates have dropped to their lowest level in decades.Another factor hurting agents is the decision by the legislature tofreeze Citizens' Property Insurance Corporation rates while newstart-up companies are offering rates at 20 percent to 30 percentbelow Citizens. Add to that fact the rising cost of gasoline errorsand omission coverage, and it spells trouble for agents.

“Small agents are barely keeping their head above water and Iimagine some of them won't,” Johnson said.

According to the national tracking firm RealtyTrac, the totalnumber of homeowner foreclosures rose nationally by 75 percent in2007. At 280,000 foreclosure filings, Florida ranked second amongall states, eclipsed only by California's 480,000 filings.

The Sunshine State is home of five of the top 25 metro areasaffected by home foreclosures. Leading the way in Florida was Ft.Lauderdale, ranked eigth, with one in every 73 homes receiving somesort of foreclosure filing. Orlando ranked 13th, Miami 14th, andSarasota-Bradenton 15th. The Tampa-St Petersburg-Clearwater areacame in at 21st.

This situation is not expected to improve anytime soon.According to RealtyTrac, in the first quarter of this year, 66,000Florida homes underwent some form of foreclosure action — a 178percent increase from last year. “We really don't see anyindication that the rate of activity will come down soon,” saidRealtyTrac Vice President Rick Sharga.

Crist and Sink Take Notice

Florida's leaders are not standing idly by as the housing marketcontinues its downward spiral. Chief Financial Officer Alex Sinksaid Florida needs to respond to the housing crisis in order tolimit the possible impact on the economy. “Our work is justbeginning,” she said. “We need to strengthen our state's role ineducating consumers, implement greater consumer protections, andhelp hard-working families keep their homes.”

Governor Charlie Crist created the Florida Home OwnershipPromotes the Economy task force to bring together experts in theinsurance, banking, and mortgage fields to study the impact of thefinancial markets on homeowners around the state. Headed by Lt.Gov. Jeff Kottcamp, the task force has made a number ofrecommendations, including:

?Urge loan services and investors to pursue all workout optionsand dedicate resources to prevent foreclosures.

?Establish the Home Ownership Preservation Center to provide acentralized location for the distribution of foreclosure preventioninformation.

?Encourage the creation of programs in schools to increasefinancial literacy.

?Require mortgage lenders to disclose when borrowers may qualifyfor a mortgage other than subprime, high-cost, or non-traditionalloans.

?Create the HOPE Council and Mortgage Fraud Task Force toprovide continued guidance of legislation, regulations, education,and foreclosure prevention efforts.

Boosting the state's effort is a $1.3 million federal grant thatwill help the state operate 50 counseling agencies to assisthomeowners facing a potential foreclosure. The grant is provided bythe National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program, which isadministered through a competitive application process byNeighborWorks America. Crist said the grant would help the state'soutreach programs and inform the public about their mortgageoptions.

“We know that most homeowners never talk to their mortgagelender, even as they face foreclosure,” said Crist. “By making morecounseling and education about foreclosure alternatives availableto homeowners, it is our hope that more homeowners will be able toavoid the financial devastation of foreclosure.”

Agents Caught in the Middle

From an agent's perspective, foreclosures are definitely havingan effect on the market and their bottomline. That's without evenmentioning the impact of foreclosures on banks that must take stepsto insure a property that is no longer covered under the previoushomeowner.

Tom Enright, president of surplus lines brokerage Enright &Wilson in Hollywood, said that the housing and condominium marketis certainly feeling the effects of the downturn in valuations,which is leaving many owners holding properties that are worth farless than when they were purchased. “People definitely boughtproperties with the expectations that the price would go up and infact the prices have dropped,” he said. “Now they have mortgagesthat are in excess of what they can sell the property for and theycan't even rent it at a suitable price to cover the mortgage.”

As a result, Enright said that some homeowners and condominiumare just “giving the property back to the bank.” This trend isforcing banks to assume a defensive posture. Normally, the cost ofa homeowner's premium is included in the owner's mortgage payment.In the case of a foreclosure, however, banks are having to reachinto their own pockets to pay the cost of a policy in order toprotect their investment.

Florida Association of Insurance Agents Vice President ScottJohnson said that agents are also feeling the effects offoreclosures in the form of policy changes. For example, he said,every time a bank sells a mortgage to another lender or broker thepolicy must be updated to reflect the new mortgage holder. Such achange can also require agents to provide additional material,including photos of the property and changes in deductibles. Incases where the information is required for an existing policy or arenewal, agents receive no extra commission.

“This is what we are paid to do as part of servicing a policy,”said Johnson, who added that policy renewals require the sameamount of work as issuing a new policy. “What we are seeing isinflated activity where the agents are not being paid more money,”he said.

Johnson warned that the pressure of foreclosure is just one morefactor that is hurting agents around the state. He said thatcommissions are down across the board as workers' compensationrates have dropped by more than 50 percent since the 2003 reforms,and auto rates have dropped to their lowest level in decades.Another factor hurting agents is the decision by the legislature tofreeze Citizens' Property Insurance Corporation rates while newstart-up companies are offering rates at 20 percent to 30 percentbelow Citizens. Add to that fact the rising cost of gasoline errorsand omission coverage, and it spells trouble for agents.

“Small agents are barely keeping their head above water and Iimagine some of them won't,” Johnson said.