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As the Florida’s real estate market is showing some inklings of life, industry observers fear another key wave of foreclosures is poised to inundate the state, according to an article by the News Service of Florida. With unemployment rising to 11 percent, home prices on the decline, and adjustable rate mortgages issued during the 2006 housing bubble set to move upward, the stage is set for more late payments, creating an excellent opportunity for first time home buyers. With the help of an Orlando mortgage broker who can establish a potential home buyers credit worthiness, first time Orlando home buyers can get some real home buying deals.

“We think there are a lot of foreclosures that are just starting to make their way into the pipeline here,” said Amy Baker, coordinator of the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research. “They really haven’t hit yet.” A new report by the independent LPS Mortgage Monitor shows that 10 percent of Florida mortgages were in foreclosure in August – the highest rate in the country and almost three times the national average. A steadily rising number of delinquent loans also have not yet plunged into foreclosure nationally, the report showed – hinting that plenty more homes could be headed that way in coming months. LPS termed these troubled loans the “shadow foreclosure inventory,” and pointed out that it is double the number of actual of foreclosure starts. In Florida, one-in-five mortgages are in foreclosure or delinquency – almost twice the national average and the highest level in the U.S. “Housing sales are rising,” said Tim Becker, director of the University of Florida’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies. “But foreclosures just put more homes back into the inventory of unsold homes. You’re not going to get Florida’s economy going again until you cut down this inventory.”