Is 2014 Reminiscent of the Bygone Era of Lee County Foreclosures in 2006?

After a long drought in the real estate industry, the past couple of years have been huge for Lee county real estate.

According to this Fort Myers News Press article, Lee county foreclosures fell to 216, the lowest they’ve been since 2006.

“We’re right on case for what a normal market has,” said Jeff Tumbarello, director of the association and owner/broker of North Fort Myers-based Steelbridge Realty.

2006 was an era when foreclosures were rare because property values were climbing so fast it was hard to lose money on a house.

And the good news is that January’s low number takes the rate of foreclosure lawsuits in Lee county back to that long forgotten era of real estate goodness.

Unfortunately, however, 2006 was followed by a period where foreclosures quickly spiked up to more than a thousand a month before slowly drifting back down to the current low level.

In January 2013 there were 530 foreclosures; in January 2012 there were 612; in January 2011 there were 423; and in January 2010 there were 1,973, according to the association’s report.

Foreclosures reached their peak in October 2008, when 2,665 were filed.