As you celebrate New Year's Eve there's a lot to be thankful for and in the same note a lot of hope and perhaps wishful thinking that 2015 will be a better year than 2014 was. According to the economic indicators reported to us “average people” for example the DOW things don't look too rosy! As a matter of fact Wall Street closed down on news of lower gas prices. This makes you wonder of what economy is Wall Street indicator off. For example during the New Year's Eve celebration I was talking to a prominent Miami foreclosure attorney who was telling me that although foreclosures are down about 9% at a national level there are still a lot of foreclosures filings going on. In Florida for example, 1 in every 462 homes receive foreclosure notices this past December. This is not only a Florida issue all the places throughout the country are in the same situation. For example in New Jersey is 1 in every 478, in Maryland is 1 in 581. Other places such as Delaware, Utah, Nevada and Illinois are still in the red despite the Obama administration assurance that the economy is growing.
The way I see it, at least in the Miami market, is that international investors from Brazil, China and Australia have had a field day buying distressed properties at pennies on the dollar. The fact is that if you're an average Joe like me, there still a lot of uncertainty as we look forward to 2015. If you don't believe that all you have to do is pick up a local newspaper, listen to the radio or watch TV doing the local news to see the number of ads by Miami bankruptcy law firms. I just hope that in the 2016 election those at the bottom of the food chain exercised their right to vote based on what is better for our nation rather than voting the party, a race, or a gender!
