Jacksonville mortgage delinquencies rise above 10%

Mortgage delinquencies of 60 days or more are now above 10 percent.

The number of Jacksonville homeowners who have fallen behind on mortgage payments rose steadily over the past three years and today stands at more than 10 percent, according to a national credit monitoring company.

Mortgage delinquencies of 60 days or more were 2.2 percent at the end of 2006 - a figure that grew to 10.3 percent by the close of 2009, according to TransUnion LLC, a company that maintains credit histories on about 500 million people internationally.

Although that's lower than the percentages of mortgage delinquencies in the state's other metropolitan areas and the state as a whole, it's likely to continue rising through 2010, Jacksonville foreclosure specialists said.

Scott Lehmbeck, real estate agent for Real Estate Asset Disposition Corp. in Jacksonville, sells homes that already have been foreclosed against and appear on the market as bank-owned properties, or REOs. He said business has been picking up in recent months.

Dmitry Mikhaylov, owner of Jacksonville investment company Komelot Real Estate Solutions Group, agrees with Lehmbeck in saying that the number of Jacksonville mortgage delinquencies likely will grow in coming months.

His company, which used to attract home sellers with "we buy houses" signs, has retooled its business model to accommodate the realities in the current market, he said.

"We've been buying cheap, renovating and putting houses back on the market," he said. "But business has changed dramatically. There are a lot of properties available, but not so many qualified buyers."

His company's efforts have turned in recent months to targeting buyers as it renovates and resells foreclosed properties. In cases when a homeowner wants to stay in their home, his company works to help through mortgage renegotiations, he said. But as layoffs continue, he said, he expects more people will "walk away" from homes worth less than their mortgages, moving somewhere else and simply letting the abandoned homes fall into foreclosure.

Michael Linkenauger, short sale Realtor for First Coast Realty Associates, said he wasn't surprised to hear of the upswing in mortgage delinquencies since 2006. He said the climb in delinquencies is part of a larger crossing of trends that have conspired to punish the real estate industry in Florida. And unemployment - at 11.8 percent statewide and 11.3 percent in Jacksonville - is only partly to blame, he said.

"Other factors, such as over-development, high-risk loans and the economy in general, have all created the perfect storm," he said. "As long as we see the continuing decline in pricing, we are likely to see an increase in mortgage defaults."

Although reduced prices have spurred higher sales volume, it's bargain-hunters snapping up good deals, he said.

Other Florida cities have more widespread mortgage delinquency issues, Trans-Union data shows. Miami's delinquency rate, for example, has climbed from 1.73 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006 to 22.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009. Statewide, the rate has risen from 1.73 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006 to 14.93 at the end of 2009.