Archive08

SELLERS NEWS - permanent swaps. With far more home sellers than buyers in the market today, web-based ways of putting sellers together with other sellers in hopes of meeting the needs of both. Due to the recent downturn in the housing market most real estate investors are running around like chickens with their heads cut off not knowing what to do. The biggest private land owner in Florida St. Joe Company chairman and CEO, "The good news is that the bad news isn't getting any worse."

Toll Brothers CFO Says Protracted Slide in Housing is Possible Legislature Set to Revise Condo, Homeowner Association Laws Expect a battle between those hoping to rein in the power of condo and homeowner association boards and those wanting to make sure any changes don't hurt boards' ability to do their jobs. State Again Moves to Suspend New Allstate Policies The new action, which came in the form of an administrative complaint, gives insurance regulators another opportunity to attempt to punish the insurer for what they contend is Allstate's refusal to cooperate with a state investigation into its pricing and business practices. Disney Kids' Spa to Include Hannah Mont Disney Kids' Spa to Include Hannah Montana Makeovers Oh, dear. Get ready for a bunch of 6-year-old girls running around Walt Disney World in blonde wigs.

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SELLER NEWS - Sam Zell predicts housing recovery in spring. He is a Real estate billionaire, chairman of Equity Group Investments, and owner of the Chicago Tribune; and buys a lot of real estate.He said on TV that the housing market will begin its recovery this spring. Many disagree but feel it will be in summer or fall.

South Florida leads the nation in the largest number of self-employed workers in the nation, according to a new study released Tuesday. The state's low business tax rate of 5.5 percent and the big population of seniors still working at age 65 as self-employed. are reasons self-employment is so high in the state,

Dollar Sinks to Record Low $1.50 Against European and British money. Many persons from Europe Britain Canada are buying home in Naples and Ft Myers area due to this. About half of all people who use the Harker family of websites are from abroad.

Despite the many programs gearing up or in place to help homeowners resolve problems with their mortgages, foreclosure related activities continued to increase in January. But, perhaps partially because of these programs, the rate of increase appears to be slowing from the pace of previous months

Foreclosure filings which include default notices, auction sales notices, and bank repossessions increased 8 percent in January from the December numbers. One year ago the January figure was 19 percent higher than that for December.

"Marry a Princess Lost in America," Trabosh wrote in the ads she posted on eBay and Craigslist last week. She describes a life of romance and travel and a home decorated with vaulted ceilings, upgraded tile and a soaking tub in a gated community with a pool and tennis courts.

PENDING SALES NAR's Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in April, rose 6.3 percent to stand at 88.2 from a reading of 83.0 in March - the highest index since last October. According to NAR's latest forecast, a modest gain in home sales is possible over the next couple months, and the second half of this year should see some improvement as more buyers are able to access affordable mortgages. READ ARTICLE

Pending Home Sales Up Month over Month CNBC Jun 9, 2008. 10:00 AM EST A look at the latest pending home sales numbers. "BARGAIN HUNTERS HAVE ENTERED THE MARKET EN MASSE" SEE VIDEO

We can all breathe a sigh of relief. The housing BUST is over.
Mortgage News Daily - from Wall Street Journal - The Housing Bust is Over Mon, 19 May 2008

At least that was the headline on the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal earlier this month when Cyril Moulle-Berteaux, a managing partner of Traxis Partners LP, a hedge fund firm based in New York made his case that the housing market is hitting bottom right now. (which is what Chris sees here in Ft Myers & Naples) READ ARTICLE

House Committee Aproves FHA "Short Pay" Loans Mortgage Nnews Daily, Saturday May 3, 2008

A key committee in the House of Representatives late Thursday passed legislation that would make up to $300 billion in federally insured mortgages available to borrowers facing foreclosure.The bill, H.R. 5830, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Housing and Homeowner Retention Act was passed out of the House Financial Services Committee and on to the full house by a bipartisan vote of 46 to 21.Under the principle provision in the bill, the FHA will guarantee a new loan to a troubled borrower if the existing lender will agree to accept a short payment (i.e. less than the outstanding balance of the loan) in full payment of the old loan. READ ARTICLE

Loan forgiveness - After the Short Sale: Taxing What Isn't There BY LANCE CHURCHILL
Too often, real estate practitioners are unaware of the tax liabilities arising from the cancellation of debt and fail to advise their clients accordingly ...... Whenever real estate is sold, whether in a standard transaction, a short sale or a foreclosure auction, there are potential tax consequences for the seller READ ARTICLE

In 1982 mortgage interest were sky high at 14 to 18 percent. But it did not matter. Every agent knew that many persons did not want to buy a home. In 2008 mortgage interest are low at 4 to 6 percent and it still does not matter. Nobody wants to buy a home. People who feel powerless like this can find buyers when they accept yet lower prices - or they can wait until the public desire to buy a home returns to normal levels. It did in 1982 and CHRIS REMEMBERS.

Mortgage foreclosures / delinquencies are skyrocketing, and millions of American home owners owe more to the bank than their homes are worth. Persons are mailing keys to their lenders (CNN Money says it is called "jingle mail") and abandoning homes. In Chris and Deane’s part of town this is happening. Very unpleasant for us as these homes sit empty and are taken over by weeds dead plants / trees, bugs, green slime, peeling paint.

And now these abandoned homes have claimed a life. On March 11, 2008 the drowned body of a young child was found in the half filled swimming pool of a Southwest Florida ABANDONED home. One week ago the trucks pulled up and a yet another home in Chris and Deane’s neighborhood was abandoned.

Current Florida law requires HOME SELLERS to disclose most everything about the home to prospective buyers. But not if the home is haunted, or had a murder committed in it, or is next door to an official convicted sexual offender. A law suit now is asking court to require disclosure of official convicted sexual offender. Many of Chris and Deane’s acquaintances feel it should be required to disclose if you have any rotten neighbors in area.

Lee county gave the OK for the creation of a bioscience and technology research park at our Southwest Florida International Airport. This will create upto a 1000 jobs for our Ft Myers and Naples area.

A typical purchase was the house at 213 Leeward Island. Listed for $998,000 by an investor who'd bought it two years earlier for $530,000, Donovan bought the 50-year-old, 1,900-square-foot house for the recorded price of $1.3-million.

M&T Bank foreclosed and marked down the house for quick sale this year. The sale price: $451,000.

READ ON......

[EDMUND D. FOUNTAIN | Times photo]

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Under the new Rescue Laws (aka bail-out, deliverance, disentanglement, extrication, salvation) banks and other mortgage note holders, who can only choose between foreclure or foreclosure, will have a new better choice they can take. The new HUD program will make a Federal quarantee of the loan-going-bad to the bank.

First, the bank must have the home appraised for it new lower market value. Second, they adjust the loan amount down to 90% of that new market value. If the loan-with-new-lower-payments defaults, HUD issues a check for the 90% to the bank and HUD owns the home, to be auctioned off.

In most cases, this is a far less expensive choice for the bank than foreclosure. It ought to do several important things. The banks will not have to go through expensive and slow foreclosure. The banks will not have to carry worthless loans on their books because the new loan is back paying on time. The effect of these first two will be to stabalize declining home values. Also banks will have money to loan once again as payments are made by home owners.

Finally, while it is too late for the millions of foreclosures already made in 2006, 2007, and 2008, perhaps tens of millions of additional families can be spared from the lasting scars of the foreclosures that would have occurred in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012.

has many pro-taxpayer, pro-borrower and pro-bank provisions. Everyone who is a home buyer or seller or borrower will want to know a little about the Rescue efforts. Chris and Deane have assembled a collection of real estate related recent articles, with excepts and links to them, that help you

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