Foreclosures are selling at bargain prices in Miami-Dade. By Geniusofdespair & gimleteye

After a year or two of holding their foreclosed properties, lenders are finally selling them off in South Florida.

Hearing about foreclosures seems like an abstract exercise on the financial page of the newspapers. What does it really mean that the nation's financial institutions don't have enough capital to meet the requirements of financial regulators?

To answer these questions, I took a look at 22 random samples in Miami-Dade County where suburban sprawl has been the formula for political and economic power for decades. Most people will easily recognize what these foreclosures look like: they look like someone's crushed dream. But whose?

I got an aerial photo of each one so you could see the subdivisions starkly contrasted with the open space. I tried to include a photo of the neighborhood from the street on each, however, many of the foreclosures in Southern Miami Dade are in such NEW subdivisions they aren’t even available on Google Maps: With the lag time, the developments still appear as farms and open space that citizens tried to protect but couldn't, because of the power of lobbyists and "environmental" engineers, transportation planners, land use lawyers and bankers, some of whom are laughing from the Bahamas looking back at what they left behind.

As you can see, what has been happening here is that much of our sub-tropical farmland has been gobbled up by ugly sprawl subdivisions. But I'll bet the same view can be seen outside Las Vegas or in California's Central Valley or in the suburbs so far outside Los Angeles and San Francisco that you need your head examined to pay for commuting costs and a mortgage at the same time.

To me, this is what the national economic crisis looks like, mostly for people who do not necessarily read the opinion page of the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times (not to mention, The Miami Herald which won't touch the story because it is so scary to their advertisers.)

25524 SW 134th Court just sold for $242,900, by Impac Secured Assets, Corp., a far cry from the 2006 price of $372,000. It is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 2,322 square foot home. (Hit images to enlarge them)

17504 SW 245th Terrace is a house in the farm belt. It sold for $380,000 in 2004. US Bank NA recently sold it for $310,000. It has 4 bedrooms, 2 baths and it is 3,089 square feet.

10751 SW 244 Terrace just sold for $259,900. The previous sale was for $395,000 in 2007. This one is a 5 bedroom 3 bath, and it is 2,328 square feet. Aurora Loan Services was the seller.

19800 Lenaire Drive sold for $127,000 by Deutsche Bank Indb 2006-1. The previous sale of this 3 bedroom 2 bath home was for $330,000 in 2006. It is 1,922 square feet.

10918 SW 240th Lane recently sold for $110,000. It last sold for $325,000 in 2006. It is a 3 bedroom 2 bath and is 1,447 square feet. This is another with plenty of surrounding vacant land.

15502 SW 274 Street sold for $452,000 by Terwin Mtg. Trust 2006-7. The last sale in 2006 was for $578,000. This is a 5 bedroom with 4 baths. Total square footage is 3,578.

2276 NE 42nd Circle is a townhome. It first sold for $295,000 in 2007. Federal National Mortgage Assn. just sold it for $123,900. It is 3 bedrooms, 3 baths and it is 1,428 square feet.

3323 NE 11th Drive is another townhome, this time 2 bedrooms 2 baths and it is 1,258 square feet. It sold for $107,500 by Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. Previous sale was for $229,300 in 2005.

1016 NE 41 Terrace sold for $300,000 in 2006. Argent Mortgage Services sold it recently for $179,900. This is a 1,469 square foot house and it has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.

2226 NE 41 Street sold for $188,900. The previous sale was for $332,500 in 2006. Cwabs Inc. Series 2006-Bc2 (typo?) was the seller. The previous sale was for $332,500 in 2006. The home is 1,979 square feet and has 4 bedrooms and 3 baths.

29731 SW 164 Court was sold by HSBC Mortgage Services, Inc. for $230,000. Previously the home sold for $335,000 in 2005. It is 2,150 square feet and has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.

3729 NE 15th Street sold for $440,000 in 2006. U.S. Bank Na sold this large 2,792 square foot home recently, with 5 bedrooms and 3 baths, for $265,000.

1260 SE 27th Street is a Townhome and it sold for $53,500 by Deuts Itf Indx 2006-Ar19. Previous sale was for $174,900 in 2006. It is a 2 bedroom 2 bath and it is 822 square feet.

1302 SE 17th Avenue sold for $190,000 by Citigroup Global Markets Realty. The last sale was in 2006 for $338,000, quite a drop in price. The home is 1,814 square feet and has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.

23103 SW 113 Avenue is a townhome. Aurora Loan Services LLC sold it for $151,900, down from $265,000 in a sale in 2006. This is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath and it is 1,560 square feet.

18760 Lenaire Drive sold for $200,000 by Homesales Inc. of Delaware. The previous sale was for $345,000 in 2006. It is a 3 bedroom 1 bath and it is 1,426 square feet.

14702 SW 82nd Court was sold by Saxon Mortgage Services Inc. for $330,000, registering a big loss from its previous selling price of $655,000 in 2006. This is a 3 bedroom 2 bath and it is 1,690 square feet.

20025 Ranch Road sold for $178,700 by Hsbc Mortgage Services, Inc. The previous sale was for $217,000 in 2004 before prices sky rocketed. This is a 3 bedroom 2 bath and is 1,520 square feet.

8526 SW 211 Terrace was sold by Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. for $165,000. It previous price was $219,000 in 2005. It is a 3 bedroom 2 bath and it is 1,180 square feet.

9851 Caribbean Blvd. sold for $170,000 by HomeQ Servicing Corp. at a big loss from it previous sale of $315,000 in 2006. This 1,414 square foot home has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.

On these last two I moved out of Southern Miami Dade into a more urban center:

In Turnberry on the Green, on 2 private golf courses, Deutsche Bank National 2006-2 sold a 2 bedroom 2 bath condo, 1,245 square feet for $231,000 ($185 a square foot). In 2006 this 5th floor property sold for $510,000 ($409 a square foot). The building is relatively new, showing a built year of 2002.

Coronado condo is in a popular established building, built in 1975. The condo has unobstructed views of two golf courses. The 12th floor 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo, with 1,157 square feet, sold for $135,000 (about $117 a square foot). Deutsche Bank National 2006-Sd3 took the hit. In 2006 this same condo went for $310,000 (about $268 a square foot).

Someone is getting a bargain at the expense of lenders losing their shirts (or shareholders' shirts) on these foreclosure sales. But if you really want to know why consumer confidence is in the pits, and why retail sales are falling off the cliff, just imagine the neighbors who live next door or down the block from these subdivisions and think what it feels like to lay out monthly mortgages far in excess of what these houses are now apparently valued to be worth.

Lots of people are underwater, or treading water, or wishing they had rented and not owned. So much for the ownership society; you don't hear much of that anymore or the critics of sprawl they used to call "elitists". Now the big housing developers are calling for government bailouts. Personally, I think they should be in jail or, at least, that business interests with zoning or permits before local government should be prohibited from making campaign contributions.

Gimleteye added to the commentary on this post.