So being in real estate for a while now, I’m familiar with the positive spin. But I’m also familiar with how the media tends to rely on the negative spin to sell papers or increase website traffic. I tend to try to stay in the middle and just look at the facts. Having done that, I have to say that the Tampa Bay area is definitely not out of the foreclosure woods quite yet.

Some local media outlets both online and offline have tried to put a positive spin on the situation over the last several months. They have told people to look at the state or national level to say “Hey, we’re not as bad as places in California. Or even worse, they pit Tampa Bay and against other Florida cities to make it look like it’s not as bad there.

But if we cut through all the noise, it’s bad. Even though Florida had a foreclosure in one in every 73 households, you’re trying to tell me that the Tampa Bay area lifted the Florida average a tad because they ONLY had one in every 80 households. Come on, we can do the math. Let’s just call a spade a spade…Florida as a whole is seeing the foreclosure monster rear its’ ugly head more than any one state should (with the exception of maybe California). But relying on the small percentage differences between states or neighboring cities just to somehow make an area look better seems like reaching to me. I mean the Tampa Bay area still had 16,464 foreclosed homes in Q1 of 2009 and that can’t be good and anyone’s book.

I think it would be a much better use of energy if cities pulled together and tried to do something about the foreclosure crisis rather than comparing how bad one area is than the other.

For more information on Tampa foreclosures, click here.