Short sales, foreclosures and bank-owned homes, what the MLS actually shows.
Most “foreclosure” inventory advertised online is court-record data about homes nobody is selling. This page counts the distressed homes that are actually for sale through a broker in Duval, St. Johns, Nassau and Clay counties, straight from the one MLS field that records it, and explains how each kind is bought.
The live count
Of the 11,433 homes for sale in the four counties right now, 213 say in their MLS remarks that they are a short sale, bank-owned, in foreclosure, HUD-owned, at auction or in probate (1.9%). The MLS has a dedicated field for these conditions; the IDX feed this site receives masks it, so the remarks are the record.
| Condition | Homes for sale | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Short sale | 186 | Remarks say short sale or lender/third-party approval; the lender must approve the price. |
| Foreclosure (filed or completed) | 11 | Remarks mention foreclosure; the owner may still hold title or the home may be REO. |
| Auction terms | 9 | Usually an online auction platform with a buyer premium; not a courthouse sale. |
| Probate / estate sale | 6 | A court-supervised estate sale with its own timeline. |
| Bank-owned / lender-owned (REO) | 3 | Remarks say bank-owned, lender-owned, REO or corporate-owned; the lender holds title. |
| County | For sale | Distressed |
|---|---|---|
| Duval | 6,276 | 142 |
| St. Johns | 2,810 | 26 |
| Clay | 1,623 | 39 |
| Nassau | 724 | 6 |
Live from current MLS inventory, refreshed hourly, read from each listing’s public remarks. A home can be distressed without saying so; a listing that says so is counted once per kind it mentions.
Four different purchases under one word
Short sale. The owner sells for less than the mortgage balance and the lender must approve the price and the shortfall in writing. The listing is marketed first, a contract is signed subject to approval, and the lender’s review runs weeks to months. The buyer’s leverage is patience and a clean file; the discount is usually smaller than hoped because the lender orders its own valuation.
In foreclosure. A case has been filed but the owner still holds title and is trying to sell before the courthouse sale. It is bought like a normal listing with a deadline attached, and it often turns into a short sale when the numbers do not clear.
Bank-owned (REO) and HUD-owned. The lender, or HUD for an FHA-insured loan, took the home back and sells it through a listing agent, as-is, on its own forms, with limited disclosure. Financing is usually allowed; HUD homes bid through a registered broker on HUD’s own system. The inspection period is the one term worth protecting.
Auction and probate. An Auction flag on a listing usually means an online platform with its own terms and a buyer premium; the courthouse sale itself is cash and is not a listing. Probate sales are court-supervised estate sales with their own timeline and, sometimes, court confirmation of the price.
The part nobody tells you
The distressed share of this market is small and has been for years, and the sites that advertise thousands of local “foreclosures” are selling court-record subscriptions, not homes. The homes on these pages are the real, buyable part: a few dozen at a time, each with a process that rewards a prepared buyer and punishes an impatient one. Set an alert on the list page that fits you and let the feed do the watching.
The live lists
This is the work I do every week. Watching the distressed market? Tell me the counties and the budget and I will set the alert, read the remarks on anything that posts, and tell you which kind of purchase it actually is before you drive to it.
Work with Krista (904) 333-8595 Text
Broker Associate · Christie's International Real Estate First Coast · 20+ years · 500+ closings
Common questions
How many foreclosures and short sales are there in Northeast Florida right now?
The live table on this page counts them from the MLS feed every hour: every on-market home whose listing carries a special condition (short sale, in foreclosure, bank-owned, auction, HUD, probate, notice of default, bankruptcy). In this market cycle the share is small; most of the distressed inventory the subscription sites advertise is pre-foreclosure data scraped from court records, not homes you can buy.
What does the IDX feed actually tell us about a distressed listing?
Less than the MLS knows. The MLS has a dedicated field (SpecialListingConditions) that names short sale, REO, in foreclosure, auction, HUD and probate, but the IDX feed this site receives masks that field. What the feed does carry is the listing agent’s public remarks, and agents name the condition there because buyers ask. These pages read the remarks, word-bounded and with the obvious negations excluded, and show exactly what they say, nothing inferred beyond that.
Can I buy a pre-foreclosure or a home at the courthouse sale through this site?
No, and no site can. A pre-foreclosure is a filed case against an owner who has not listed the home; the courthouse sale is a cash auction run by the Clerk of Court. Neither is a listing. What this site shows is the part of the distressed market that is actually for sale through a broker: short sales, bank-owned homes, HUD homes, listed auctions and probate sales.
Are distressed homes a good deal?
Sometimes, with patience and an inspection. Short sales trade near the lender’s own value and take months; bank-owned homes sell as-is on the bank’s forms, usually with financing allowed; auctions add a buyer premium and strict terms. The discount is usually smaller than the word suggests and the process longer. The two guides linked below walk through each.
How short sales work here →
The approval, the timeline, the offer terms that survive it.
Buying a bank-owned home →
REO and HUD: the forms, the as-is clause, the inspection period.
Want the distressed market watched for you?
Counties, budget, kind of purchase. I set the alert and read every remark before you do.