Hot Property

Florida’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund May be Raided again.

Legislators propose raiding state trust funds to balance budget TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – March 31, 2010 – Facing a budget shortfall, Florida’s legislators are proposing raiding a controversial source of cash: trust funds, the accounts used to pay for everything from road building to health care to patching leaky gas pipelines. The funds typically earmark money [...]

Florida Existing Home Sales Rise in February

ORLANDO, Fla. – March 23, 2010 – Florida’s existing home sales rose in February, which means that sales activity has increased in the year-to-year comparison for the past year and a half (18 months), according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®. Existing home sales increased 21 percent last month with a total [...]

Self-employed and 1099er Home Loans Are More Difficult

WASHINGTON – March 22, 2010 – Self-employed and seasonal workers historically have struggled to meet eligibility criteria for loans. Their plight has worsened of late, however, now that changes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rules governing “no doc” and “no ratio” loans have kicked in. Under the revised guidelines, self-employed individuals, 1099 filers, and [...]

Some Lawmakers say NO to Fire Sprinklers in New Homes.

Lawmakers: No sprinklers for new houses TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – March 5, 2010 – A House committee moved Wednesday to block the Florida Building Commission from adopting a provision that would require all newly constructed homes to install fire sprinklers. The proposal (PCB GAP 10-22) was unanimously adopted by the House Governmental Affairs Policy committee, but [...]

Florida Population Growth Expected to Return.

Florida expected to start adding residents again after population decline GAINESVILLE, Fla. – March 3, 2010 – It’s a small bounce, but Florida’s population should rebound this year from its first loss in more than half a century in a hopeful sign for the struggling state economy, new estimates from the University of Florida (UF) [...]

Warren Buffett says Housing Downturn to End in 2011

Buffett predicts downturn will end in 2011 NEW YORK – March 2, 2010 – Billionaire investor Warren Buffett predicted that the real estate market downturn would end by 2011 as the housing inventory declines. “Within a year or so, residential housing problems should largely be behind us,” Buffett wrote in his annual letter to the [...]

Homeowners at risk of Foreclosure are Targets of Scammers

HUD coalition launches online scam reporting tool WASHINGTON – March 1, 2010 – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in partnership with the Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network, today announced the launch of PreventLoanScams.org. ” Homeowners at risk of foreclosure can be easy prey for home loan modification scammers,” said John Trasviña, HUD [...]

Federal Refinance Program Extended One Year

  FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY NEWS RELEASE   FHFA Extends Refinance Program By One Year   Washington, DC — Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Ed DeMarco today announced the extension of the Home Affordable Refinance Program, (HARP), a refinancing program administered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to June 30, 2011.  The program is [...]