The first disaster for Ron Benitez was losing his DeBary home to the massive flooding caused by Tropical Storm Fay in 2008. Now, the retiree is facing a financial calamity: paying far more for flood insurance because of newly revised federal maps that have made his rebuilt home part of a high-risk flood zone. Benitez, …
Author Archives: Administrator
Fannie Mae ignored robo-signing abuses in Florida foreclosures, investigation finds
Federal mortgage giant Fannie Mae was told in 2006 about faulty court documents filed by Florida foreclosure attorneys acting on its behalf but did nothing to correct the practices, an inspector general found. A report issued Friday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General said an outside law firm Fannie Mae hired …
Housing market is terrific, if you are rich
It’s starting to feel as if there are two housing markets. One for the rich — and international buyers — and one for everyone else. Consider foreclosure-ravaged Detroit. In the historic Green Acres district, a haven for hipsters, a pristine, three-bedroom brick Tudor recently sold for $6,000 — about what a buyer would have paid …
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Apartment construction set to sweep Broward and Palm Beach counties
South Florida is about to go from condo bust to apartment boom.Developers are set to kick off a new round of housing construction with plans to build more than 4,000 rental apartments. Five years have passed since the collapse of the housing market brought an end to the condo construction craze that swept the region.Two …
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As data shows more Americans in poverty, Belle Glade looks for ideas from eastern Palm Beach County
Start at the east end of Southern Boulevard – at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, one of the country’s poshest private clubs – drive west 38.8 miles on the same road and you reach Belle Glade, a city with some of the worst unemployment and poverty in the country. Without using your blinker, you go from a …
Urban Luxury Homes Are Making a Comeback
The market for luxury goods is in full-fledged revival mode, and that includes high-end city real estate — apartments and townhouses in the $5 million-plus range. After plunging 30% from peak to trough, luxury-home prices in many big urban markets are back on the rise. Unit sales in Manhattan, Miami and San Francisco are up …