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 [...]

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 [...]

If the program nicknamed “Cash for Caulkers” passes, homeowners will be eligible for a tax credit.

Cash for caulkers: Appealing to home shoppers? WASHINGTON – Feb. 8, 2010 – Congress is about to approve a program to put contractors back to work doing energy retrofits. If the program nicknamed “Cash for Caulkers” passes, homeowners will be eligible for a tax credit worth up to $12,000 or half the cost of the [...]

Military Sellers Reimbursed for Real Estate Losses.

Military sellers reimbursed for losses WASHINGTON – Feb. 8, 2010 – Using $555 million in Recovery Act funds, the Department of Defense has expanded a program that can reimburse employees up to 90 percent of the price they paid for a primary residence to avoid a loss when they go to sell. The Department identified [...]

Proposals to Extend the Tax Credit for 1st Time Home Buyers and MORE.

Many economists support a bi-partisan Senate bill (S. 1678) recently introduced that would create a six-month extension of the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers and move the current expiration date forward to June 1, 2010.  This is an important next step for maintaining positive momentum toward a recovery in the housing markets and the overall [...]

Strong Signs Real Estate is Recovering on ALL Fronts.

Office prices rise for the first time in two years NEW YORK – Aug. 24, 2009 – The sale prices of U.S. office properties rose 4.3 percent in the second quarter, the first increase since the second quarter of 2007, according to a report from ratings agency Moody’s. The second-quarter increase is significantly different from [...]

Florida is Offering Bridge Loans for Down Payment

Team Sumberg with Keller Williams Realty would like to share the long awaited guidelines for the bridge loans offered by the The City of Tampa and the State of Florida to help you become a homeowner. For a very short period, funds are available to help you take advantage of a special federal income tax refund [...]

Welcome Back New Home Construction.

Nationally, construction of single-family homes rose in July for the fifth straight month, edging up almost 2 percent to the highest level since last October, the government said Tuesday. Building permits climbed nearly 6 percent. Yay, the overall economy is actually getting a small boost as more buyers walk into model houses ready to sign [...]

U.S. House Price Index – 0.9 Percent Price Increase

NEWS RELEASE   For Immediate Release    July 22, 2009 U.S. Monthly House Price Index Estimates 0.9 Percent Price Increase from April to May WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. home prices rose 0.9 percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis from April to May, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s monthly House Price Index. The previously reported 0.1 percent [...]

Real Estate Markets Improving All Across the Nation

FINALLY! “The pace of decline in residential real estate slowed in April,” says David Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s. “Thirteen of the 20 metro areas also saw improvement in their annual return compared to that of March.  While one month’s data cannot determine if a turnaround has begun, it seems [...]