TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Oct. 10, 2008 – Real estate ads these days include listing after listing of bargain-basement prices. But those who buy a home in a foreclosure or a pre-foreclosure sale should know that future property bills may be no bargain.
Just because someone snags a home at a low price doesn’t mean the tax [...]
BRADENTON, Fla. – Oct. 10, 2008 – Florida is becoming a hot spot in the global real estate market.
Declining property prices coupled with a desirable climate is making the state an attractive investment and bargain for foreign buyers.
And local real estate professionals are taking advantage of that appeal and doing more to establish international relationships.
“The [...]
LOS ANGELES – Oct. 8, 2008 – The financial squeeze on Americans got tighter over the last decade as housing expenses – everything from mortgage payments and rent, to utilities and insurance – far outpaced the growth in incomes, a new study shows.
Overall, yearly housing costs rose by an average of $5,314, or nearly 65 [...]
BOCA RATON, Fla. – Oct. 8, 2008 – Bank failures, plunging stock prices, mortgage foreclosures, rising unemployment – no wonder the specter of the Great Depression has been invoked repeatedly in the current financial crisis.
But is this economic meltdown anything like the Great Depression?
“No, this is nothing,” said Boca Raton resident Mary Walsh, who at [...]
NEW YORK – Oct. 8, 2008 – Washington’s financial bailout plan is now law. So the credit spigot will start flowing again, banks will resume lending, and an economic recovery can begin, right?
Wrong. Experts say the most important thing that needs to happen before the $700 billion bailout even has a chance of working: Home [...]
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Oct. 7, 2008 – Facing a lawsuit over deceptive mortgage practices, Bank of America Corp. (who now owns Countrywide Financial Corp.) has agreed to modify tens of thousands of loans to keep people in 11 states from losing their homes, the Illinois attorney general’s office said Sunday.
Borrowers stuck with mortgages they can’t [...]
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Oct. 2, 2008 – Long before the debate over a federal bailout of the nation’s financial institutions took center stage, sagging property values and soaring mortgage payments triggered in part by adjustable interest rates and increasing taxes threatened to force thousands of Floridians into foreclosure.
According to RealtyTrac, Florida’s 44,000 foreclosure filings in [...]
WASHINGTON – Oct. 2, 2008 – A new program rolled out by HUD yesterday could help more homeowners avoid foreclosure. Under the program, the lender of an existing subprime mortgage forgives part of the debt as if it’s a short sale, and the balance of the mortgage is rolled into a fixed-rate FHA mortgage. Unlike [...]
The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index, a closely watched gauge of U.S. home prices, showed price declines continued in July. While the pace of decline appeared to slow, experts warned there is still no sign of a bottom. No area experienced year-over-year price gains in July, the fourth straight month that has happened.
Seven of the 20 regions [...]
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. bank by assets, will pay about $2.16 billion for banking operations of Wachovia Corp. after shares of the North Carolina lender collapsed under the weight of overdue mortgages.
While regulators said the Charlotte-based bank hadn’t failed, Wachovia will lose its biggest unit and investors will get only [...]