Filed under: Brevard County, Foreclosure The number of Florida home mortgage foreclosure filings has continued to rise in Brevard County - a sign of the financial hardship in a growing portion of the local Florida housing market. There were 423 foreclosure filings in Brevard in July,the highest monthly total in at least 7½ years, according to the Brevard County Clerk of Courts, which records foreclosure cases. July’s total surpassed the previous high of 385 foreclosure filings in June. From January through July, there were 2,398 foreclosure filings in Brevard, surpassing the total of 1,868 for all of last year, records show. The filings are not actual foreclosures, but they are the beginning of the process.

The number of Florida mortgage defaults filings in Brevard has been steadily increasing for more than a year, coinciding with the downturn of the housing market. A foreclosure filing generally occurs when people with a home mortgage fall three months behind in their Florida mortgage payments, and it could take several weeks or months after that before a foreclosure becomes final. In the meantime, they may be able to save their homes by working with their mortgage companies, or selling their homes to pay off the debt. For those unable to do that, the Clerk of Courts office eventually auctions off the property. The mortgage-holder has the first offer of taking the property for the amount of the debt, which has been happening most of the time, said Brevard Clerk of Courts Scott Ellis. “My belief is this rise in foreclosures is not a spike, but a long-term trend upwards, as we wring out the massive speculations, poor [Florida mortgage loans] and oversupply” of housing, Ellis said.

SOURCE: Florida Today