According to RealtyTrac, the number of homes across the nation that are facing foreclosure increased 15% in January, during an annual comparison. Just in the month of January alone, 315,000 homeowners across the nation have received some form of foreclosure notice.

Do keep in mind; this number is down nearly 10% from the end of 2009! Although these numbers appear to be declining, economists still believe that these figures indicate another surge of foreclosures that will be hitting the market by the spring of this year.

One drastic change in the market will be the expiration of The Homebuyer Tax Credit, a program that provides an $8,000 tax credit for qualified first time homebuyers as well as a $6,500 tax credit for qualified repeat homebuyers. Scheduled to expire during the spring of this year, the loss of this program could result in a brief surge in home sales by those looking to take advantage of this government program, but it’s not expected to last.

Mortgage rates have managed to remain around 5% due to the FED purchasing $1.25 trillion in mortgage backed securities from Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae. This program is also expected to be expiring by the end of March.

The sequence of these events will leave the troubled market to fend for itself by the end of this year. Do you think the market will be strong enough by then?  Do you think it’s ready to stand on its own two feet?  With all the money the government has been pumping into the real estate market, will it be ready to function on its own?  These are the very questions that many economists are pondering today.

Locally, Florida was one of the last states to recover from the recession, which puts us in a good news/bad news scenario. The bad news is the length of suffering that we’ve endured over the last few years; the good news is that residents of the other states that have recovered will more than likely be vacationing in Florida.

It is forecasted that many visitors will be looking to get in on the tax credit before it expires. And as spring is Florida’s “real estate buying” season, perhaps many will be looking to purchase homes while they are here.