whyme2016

🦔 Private lenders have started foreclosure on 7.4% of the properties they financed in Cape Coral, Florida in 2023. That's nearly four times the rate of typical mortgages. Last year, initial foreclosure filings on these loans quadrupled from two years earlier. Nationally, they spiked 82% during that period. Home prices in Cape Coral dropped 11% year over year, the biggest decline of any large US metro. My Take This is what happens when Wall Street financing meets speculative real estate. A decade ago, private credit firms started offering small investors short-term loans to flip houses or build rentals. They'd finance up to 90% of a project at 8% interest, betting on the home's projected value after completion. The old hard-money lenders required 40% down and charged 13% because they knew these deals were risky. The new model was built on the assumption that home prices only go up. Cape Coral was the perfect petri dish. Covid brought a flood of out-of-state buyers. Investors followed. Doctors, tech workers, and physical therapists bought lots sight unseen, borrowed hundreds of thousands to build, and planned to flip or rent. Then rates spiked, insurance costs exploded, and the market turned. Now there are unfinished homes on every block, borrowers underwater by $75,000 or more, and lenders scrambling to foreclose on properties worth less than the debt. One builder down there told Bloomberg his average client will lose $75,000 even if they finish and sell. The lenders are calling him now, asking if he can complete their abandoned projects so they can dump them. When the people who made the loans are looking for a "make-it-go-away guy," that tells you where this is headed. The small investors took the risk. The private credit firms will move on to the next thing. Hedgie🤗