Only 8 Distressed Properties For Sale In Tallahassee Today

Why Are There So Few Distressed Properties For Sale

For those readers who are fairly new to Tallahassee, the number of distressed properties for sale is pretty much “back to normal” for Tallahassee. The huge numbers seen in recent years were highly unusual for Tallahassee, so having just a handful or so is pretty much what I saw for the first 15 years of my career.

When the market tanked in 2006, home values fell so far that all the equity in the market went away. Prior to that, if a homeowner got behind on their mortgage payments, they could usually sell the house and pay-off all the debt because the house had gone up in value since it was purchased.

But the huge loss of values left property owners unable to sell for what was owed their homes. This meant distressed properties really had to be foreclosed upon (or sold short with lender approval). Those were unusual and different times.

Homes last year appreciated 9.38% and this year’s appreciation rate has accelerated. People who purchase even two years ago have ample equity to satisfy existing liens.

On top of the rising equity, we see the declining inventory of homes for sale, so even a big rush of distressed properties would not bring down home prices. Demand is still far ahead of today’s historic low inventory levels.

We should expect to find distressed homes as few and far between for the foreseeable future.