News About Properties

Q: I live in a “55 and over” condominium. Presently, we have a couple who is expecting a baby. This couple was grandfathered when we became a “55 and over” community. What is the law governing this situation?

- R.A. (via email)

A: It is generally unlawful to discriminate in any activities relating to the sale or rental of a dwelling because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin.

Familial status is defined as one or more individuals who have not yet attained the age of 18 years being domiciled with a parent or guardian or a designee of such parent. Therefore, a housing provider (which includes condominium and homeowners associations) cannot prohibit the sale, rental or occupancy of a unit simply because one or more of the occupants may be children, nor otherwise discriminate in the terms and conditions of housing against families with children.

via Joe Adams: CondoIt may be best to ‘grandfather’ baby into condo.

Three years into the foreclosure epidemic, desperate condominium and homeowner associations are now beginning to employ aggressive law firms and collection agencies in a new tactic aimed at recovering delinquent fees.

The debt collectors working for these associations are asking the courts to use more extreme measures. In a few cases, they have gotten judges to help them freeze and confiscate the bank account of a former owner.

Florida is gliding quietly into a new and potentially painful part of the boom-bust cycle, where stacked-up “deficiency judgments”; for unpaid condo fees and unsatisfied mortgages could come back to haunt past owners. Many of them thought they had escaped further costs when they handed their home over to their lender.

via Foreclosure fees haunt homeowner associations.

Residents of Volusia and Flagler counties well know that in order to build wealth, they can no longer simply rely on buying a house.

That ship sailed in 2007, with the housing collapse dislodging its anchor. Financial planners say their clients — who skew to upper-middle class — have realized this and begun focusing more on building up their 401(k) retirement plans and savings.

But not before most everyone’s personal wealth plunged in the recession. Americans are less wealthy by nearly $8 trillion since 2007, according to the Federal Reserve. That huge number can boil down to major headaches for homeowners.

via Financial planners: Home no longer reliable tool to build personal wealth.

Pat Neal is an oddity among Florida developers: He still builds and sells lots of new homes. The financial crisis that shattered many of his competitors only slowed Neal. His edge? He paid cash for land before the boom drove up prices. “I didn’t owe anybody any money,” said Neal, whose Neal Communities builds mostly in the Lakewood Ranch area east of Interstate 75 in Manatee and Sarasota counties. “I don’t like to take on debt and work hard to buy at the right price.”

Neal Communities’ housing starts peaked in 2005 at 386, fell to 121 in 2007 and should hit 397 this year. Neal expects to exceed 500 in 2012.

Earlier boom-and-bust cycles taught Neal a lesson in changing to meet the times. In postbust Florida, that meant building homes that are smaller, less expensive to build and thus more affordable.

via Developer Pat Neal made the best of the real estate bust.

Scattered across 540 acres of San Diego County hills and ravines, the 235 opulent homes of the Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe flank a private golf course and country club with tile-roofed towers inspired by Tuscan villages.The placid panorama belies decades of bruising battles among the project’s developers. The cast includes home-building titan Lennar Corp., a bankrupt La Jolla deal maker and, in an improbable late entry, con man-turned-preacher Barry Minkow.

The dispute ultimately led to a federal criminal conviction against Minkow and a continuing investigation by the Justice Department. But it all began here, at a classic Southern California home development that promised riches for its partners but ended up exacting a high price on the key players.

via Inside a high-end real estate deal gone bad.

As if the love bugs weren’t enough. There’s something a lot more destructive than bugs splattering across car windshields: termites.

The winged insects cause an estimated $5 billion damage each year in the United States, and Florida’s warm and humid weather makes the state a prime breeding ground.

“The warmer and wetter the climate, the more termites we see,” said Jim Fredericks, director of technical services for the National Pest Management Association in Fairfax, Va. The International Residential Code has a termite infestation probability map and Florida falls into the very heavy area.

via Tiny terrorists at home in Florida.