{"id":267241,"date":"2026-05-11T22:37:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T22:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/267241\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T22:37:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T22:37:30","slug":"florida-foreclosures-on-the-rise-as-insurance-costs-debt-squeeze-homeowners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/267241\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida foreclosures on the rise as insurance costs, debt squeeze homeowners"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 If you\u2019re struggling to make your mortgage payment, you\u2019re not alone. Foreclosures are climbing across Florida, and the state now ranks third worst in the nation<\/a>, with experts warning the situation could get worse before it gets better.<\/p>\n

News 6 Investigator Pavlina Osta spent weeks combing through the state\u2019s foreclosure data, uncovering warning signs driven by a combination of high insurance rates and mounting household debt.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s pushing homeowners to the edge<\/p>\n

Several factors are fueling the surge, according to the data and experts Osta spoke with:<\/p>\n

Rising housing costs<\/p>\n

Higher insurance premiums, property taxes and living expenses<\/p>\n

High mortgage rates<\/p>\n

The end of COVID-19 mortgage relief programs<\/p>\n

Inflation, slower job growth and more sellers than buyers in the market<\/p>\n

Short sale specialist Jenny Zamora has worked in real estate for 20 years. She took News 6 to one of the many Central Florida homes currently listed as a short sale, a property where the owners had already walked away.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can notice the homeowners got up and left and they left some other stuff and most of it\u2019s gone,\u201d Zamora said.<\/p>\n

What is a short sale?<\/p>\n

A short sale is an alternative to foreclosure. In simple terms, if a homeowner can\u2019t afford the mortgage, they can ask the bank to allow them to sell the home for less than what they owe. Zamora said she sees these listings across property types.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou do see these with single family homes, town homes, mobile homes, mostly where it\u2019s a primary residence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Despite two decades in the industry, Zamora said the current climate stands out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that I don\u2019t have a crystal ball, but I don\u2019t see this like ever stopping. I mean, I\u2019ve been doing this for 20 years and I know there have been ups and downs, but I\u2019ve always kept busy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Jeff Brandes, president of the Florida Policy Project, said solutions exist but they require action at the state level.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best practices we\u2019ve identified in the country are allowing for a lot of sizes, lots of splits, up zoning of homes for traditional single family to maybe duplexes or triplexes, allowing for accessory dwelling units,\u201d Brandes said.<\/p>\n

He added that Florida\u2019s next generation of leaders will need to prioritize housing access.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next leadership of the state is going to have to focus on first-time homebuyers, young families, creating more opportunities to live in their communities,\u201d said Brandes.<\/p>\n

What to do if you\u2019re falling behind<\/p>\n

Zamora\u2019s advice for struggling homeowners is straightforward: don\u2019t wait. If you\u2019re having trouble making mortgage payments, reach out to a legal expert or real estate agent as soon as possible to explore your options before foreclosure becomes the only path forward.<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 If you\u2019re struggling to make your mortgage payment, you\u2019re not alone. Foreclosures are climbing across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[558,28,30,29,1644,9503,2159,1335,139],"class_list":["post-267241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-business","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-housing","tag-insurance","tag-money","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}