News About Properties

Harold Allen thought he’d live in his single-wide mobile home forever. He added so many flourishes — marble floors, multi-colored driveway, a new deck, an elaborate outdoor waterfall — he’d poured $150,000 into it by the time he was finished.

Now Broward County wants to tear it down.

Allen and his neighbors at Ocean Waterway Mobile Home Park found out about a month ago that their Dania Beach community will be in a high-noise zone when the new airport runway opens. Their manufactured homes cannot be soundproofed. So Broward County airport officials want them gone.

via Broward hopes to buy the Ocean Waterway Mobile Home Park in Dania Beach, to tear it down because of noise from the new runway

Q. I have two questions in regards to rental properties. On June 30, 2010, I moved out of my primary residence that I owned and rented it out July 1, 2010.

First question is, how do I determine the value of the home to calculate the depreciation? I purchased the property in 2007 for $192,000 and lived in it until June 30, 2010. Of course the value has dropped, since it’s a Florida property. But what does the IRS use to determine the value?

Second question is, since I lived in the property for six months and rented it out for six months in 2010, can I only depreciate and write off expenses for six months? I’m assuming that is how it’s done, but cannot find anything to detail that for me.

via Figuring tax deductions on rental property

Is housing headed for a dreaded double-dip? Or are signs finally pointing to a long-awaited rally?

Despite the glum statistics recently, well-heeled buyers in many markets should feel comfortable betting on the latter.

Home prices nationwide in December were down more than 31% from their 2006 peak, according to the latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index, including a 4.1% fall in 2010. And some economists see more weakness ahead, based on the so-called shadow inventory of foreclosures that haven’t yet been put up for sale.

via Housing: Is It Time to Buy?

Fabiana Pimenta, a real estate agent for Fortune International, is sitting on a white leather sofa in the model apartment at Jade Ocean with the expansive ocean views and the Fendi décor, waiting to begin a tour of the Sunny Isles Beach building.

Pimenta, a Brazilian who moved to Florida to attend college, is entitled to a little breather. In January, she and her team, which includes her brother in Sao Paulo, sold 15 high-end South Florida condos — all to Brazilians.

At 2,100 square feet with three bedrooms and both ocean and city views, this is the type of unit that is particularly popular with Brazilian buyers, she says. Seven months ago, Pimenta sold the last Jade Ocean penthouse, a 5,000-square-foot unit, to a Brazilian for $4 million.

via Brazilian buyers put the luxe in real estate – Business Monday – MiamiHerald.com.

Florida’s Supreme Court sought a foreclosure lifeline in forcing banks and borrowers to mediation. It was hoped a judicial referee could help unclog court dockets and free struggling borrowers.

But in documents obtained by The Palm Beach Post and described in a recent court order, mediators complain lenders and their attorneys are stifling the system by pressuring negotiations to end in a stalemate.

In some cases, mediators report that deals were struck for trial payment plans or to seek a loan modification, but that banks or their attorneys asked for the meeting to be recorded as an impasse.

via Foreclosure mediators: Banks pushed us to fail.

In especially troubled housing markets such as Florida, foreclosures are down, four years into the housing crash.

But that’s thought to be just temporary. Sales are up in Florida, but in some areas more than half of those sales involve foreclosures.

There’s one group of homebuyers, however, for whom market conditions couldn’t be better: Canadians.

via In Florida, It’s A Great Time For Canadian Homebuyers