Sarasota Foreclosures Up Sharply

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One of every 19 homeowners in Manatee and Sarasota counties received a foreclosure notice last year, a total that pushed Florida to third in the nation for its distressed property rate.

It was even worse in Charlotte County: One in every 15 homeowners fell behind in their payments.

Collectively, Southwest Florida finished 2009 with 27,129 properties in some stage of foreclosure, a 20 percent increase from 2008.

The year also ended with a pair of other ominous indicators: the number of homes repossessed by banks spiked at the same time that December's foreclosure filings in Sarasota County were up 42 percent from November and 49 percent from a year ago, California-based RealtyTrac Inc. reported Wednesday.

There were 447 Sarasota County homes repossessed by their lenders in December, compared with 97 in November. The December figure was the fourth highest in the state.

Those repossessions went through the courts run by 12th Circuit Chief Judge Lee Haworth, who has been dealing with the crisis through a "rocket docket," in which up to 300 cases move through the courts each day.