I was checking the Duval County Clerk of Court Foreclosure Auction website today and counted up the number of Jacksonville foreclosures scheduled just for Duval County for the month of September.  I was astounded that 906 foreclosure sales have been scheduled by lenders.

To put things in perspective, in the past 30 days, only 874 homes (non-condo) have sold in the whole metro area (including Duval, St Johns and Clay county).

Far from being at a standstill, we need to curb the number of Jacksonville foreclosures to see any marked improvement in the real estate market.

Jacksonville area homes that are priced well are selling, but we are not seeing an improvement in the sales prices, nor should we expect to until the number of foreclosures go down. 

When homes are priced well relative to their competition we are used to seeing multiple offers.  For example, we had three offers within a couple of weeks on our last short sale we listed in Bartram Springs.  On another one of our oceanfront short sales we have under contract, we have several buyers waiting, hoping things fall out. 

The buyers who are out there are hungry for bargains in the Jacksonville real estate market.  Unfortunately for sellers, many times it is only the short sales and foreclosures that meet that criterion.