News about properties and real estate
Some homeowners have had to beef up the amount of property insurance they buy to cover what they say are inflated cost estimates to rebuild their homes. It’s a double whammy for homeowners because for many, rebuilding costs didn’t go down when the economic downturn lowered construction costs over the past few years. Take John …
Continue reading “How much does it really cost to rebuild your home?”
Flush with cash from an oil boom and plentiful jobs, North Dakotans are snapping up homes 1,500 miles away in balmy Arizona, where prices have plunged since the real estate bubble burst. “It boils down to the weather and taking advantage of the market,” says real estate agent Rocky Parra of HomeSmart Realty in Gilbert, …
When Donald Soffer first visited a patch of swampy wetlands just south of the border between Dade and Broward counties, his original intent was simply to build a shopping mall. But after seeing the land, the idea came to him for an upscale community created around an expansive golf course and country club, a vision …
About a five-minute walk from the Ritz-Carlton hotel in south Orange County is a town-home community that has seen its share of hard times. Not that long ago, Whisper Lakes was collecting only about two-thirds of the association dues its owners were supposed to pay to keep the place running. Town homes that had sold …
Continue reading “Townhomes in Orlando: Whisper Lakes townhomes in Orlando renovated”
Several years ago, we were talked into getting what I believe was a predatory loan – a negatively amortizing mortgage for 100 percent of the purchase price of our home. The loan broker assured us we could refinance the following year to a more traditional mortgage. We paid the minimum monthly payment required, which didn’t …
Continue reading “Law exempts forgiven foreclosure debt from income on tax return”
Condominiums, like homes, are selling at a healthy pace in Southwest Florida, but the median sales price continues to give ground — the result of more realistic sellers and a greater mix of units at the low end of the market and distressed properties. Sales during November rose 7 percent in Sarasota-Bradenton and 19 percent …
Continue reading “Condos selling, but prices continue to fall”