News about properties and real estate
Hard times for Merco Group [South Florida] Starting with one earthquake-damaged building in downtown Los Angeles, the Meruelo family spent nearly four decades building a real estate empire stretching from California to Florida. But even as family-owned properties like the Grand Bay hotel in Coconut Grove and high-rise condominiums attest to the family’s success, the …
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Village offers cash so you’ll take Manhattan Not long ago, it was news when builders and home sellers were looking to spice up their deals by dangling, say, a flat-screen television in front of prospective buyers. But that’s sooooo 2007. Take, for example, south suburban Manhattan, where it’s the village government giving the incentives. The …
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Floods expose homeowners to big insurance risk David Spicer gutted his one-story home after a nearby creek flooded last weekend. He and some friends ripped out soggy insulation and removed the ruined furnace. He even carved away a couple feet of flood-damaged drywall to fight mold. Now, he must figure out how he’ll pay to …
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County judge accuses friend of fraud in real estate deal An Allegheny County judge accuses a longtime family friend of defrauding him out of more than $500,000 in phony Florida real estate deals, according to his lawyer and a federal lawsuit made public Friday. Common Pleas Judge Robert P. Horgos, 60, of Sewickley Hills claims …
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Walk the line — or walk away [Northern California] Josefa Ramirez and her husband, Juan Carlos, both 43, spent 10 years moving in and out of San Francisco apartments before buying their two-bedroom, one-bath Antioch home in 2006 for $375,000. “It took almost two years to raise our credit score,” she said, but finally they …
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A bank on life support [South Florida] First Priority Bank is certainly not the only local bank suffering from the popping of the real estate bubble and a meteoric rise in foreclosures. But First Priority has been impacted far more than its Southwest Florida peers. The bank reported $33.8 million in problem loans at the …