
Miami hugs the Mexican Gulf on the eastern coast of Florida State. It is located in Miami-Dade County – the most populous in Florida. Amongst the metro zones it is the 7th largest. It is the 4th biggest urban region ranking behind New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. Miami is a global city.
This very prosperity of the region brought upon it the wrath of the gods – Repo homes in Miami or bank repossessed units are dotting the landscape like a scourge. It is part of the foreclosure rage raging across USA. Repo homes in Miami indicate the intensity with which Florida has been hit.
Some say that the phenomenal increase in Repo homes in Miami is because of racial discrimination. Whites make up 67% of the population. 66% are Hispanics and the Blacks comprise 22%. The sub-prime mortgages peddled by predatory lenders targeted the minorities who were not conversant either with the language or with legal terms. They took on loans that initially had low teaser rates but when the monthly repayment amount increased the borrowers began to default and this ultimately led to thousands of Repo homes in Miami.
There are so many Repo homes in Miami because the real estate market is choked and there are hardly any buyers because of the credit freeze. However this provides a great opportunity for new nest builders and those looking for affordable units to purchase Repo homes in Miami. The banks are offering huge discounts for Repo homes in Miami. Unless these Repo homes in Miami are sold the market will not turn and in turn the overall health of the economy will not improve.
The government at all levels and private bodies have been trying to contain the foreclosure menace. This has led to a jump by 72% in the sale of houses during the first quarter of 2009. It may tentatively be read as a sign of recovery.
The Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches (RAMB) noted that the sale of single family units had gone up by 72% from what it was during the first quarter of 2008. No other single-family market has shown such a scale of recovery elsewhere in the country. The sale of condos went up by 51% while across the nation it is only 19%. Rick Burch of RAMB said, “Miami has been one of the strongest comeback markets in the state of Florida.”