Homeowners in southwest Florida are beginning to pay their mortgages on time once again. In Sarasota and Manatee counties, 3.6 percent of mortgages were at least 30 days late in April, down from 4.5 percent one year earlier. In Charlotte County, 3.5 percent of home loans were more than a month past due, better than last year’s 4.6 percent rate. Both are far under the state average, which still sees about five and half percent of all mortgages running 30 days past due. The foreclosure rate is also way down. Less than one percent of all mortgages in Sarasota, Manatee, and Charlotte Counties are in some sort of foreclosure process, right around the national average.
