Foreclosed Houses Offer Opportunities For Affordable Housing

July 28th, 2008 | Tags: Foreclosed Homes · Real Estate

In Orlando there are hundreds of houses and condos lying vacant – thanks to the foreclosure crisis. These foreclosed houses offer opportunities for affordable housing as never before. Banks are eager to get rid of the innumerable houses weighing them down and are eager to sell off for even less than $100,000.

Into this vacuum, government subsidized housing plans can start off by joining hands with the private sector. There is a strong need for housing said Robert E. Smith of Smith Equities Real Estate Investment Advisors of Orlando. He is experienced in the field of housing industry.

The price rise is leading to a shooting up of construction costs. Many older houses that were being converted to condos and apartments have come to a halt half way because of the foreclosure crisis. Orlando and Tampa have the largest number of vacant properties in USA. These houses and condos are relatively less costly and they are not placed in one spot. Thus the question of integration of subsidized housing into the community (as in the case of most of the new constructions) does not arise.

The problem is that the government agencies are being harangued by a weak bond market, fall in tax collections and the weak economy in general. It is preventing the government from coming forward to partner in the affordable housing scheme. Yet such an opportunity does not come everyday. Moreover if operations in affordable housing picks up it will have a positive impact on the real estate market and cause a turn around in the foreclosure crisis.

There is a lot of talk but no concrete solutions are coming forth complains Jeff Kiss a member of Florida Housing Coalition. He finds the situation frustrating, viewing the inaction despite the fall of the real estate to practical affordable levels. Many more properties continue to be foreclosed and sit empty.

A recent survey shows that in Orlando proper there are about dozen units that are being offered for price tags below $99,000. These were Fannie Mae houses that were foreclosed upon when the owners stumbled in mortgage payments. The houses under HUD sell for even less. They hardly hang around as rental pool investors snap them up, renovate them and put them back into the market. One such unit of HUD was being offered for $36,100. Manyof these need extensive repair work. Days are so bad that some of the houses on the MLS lists are being offered for less than $100,000.