A Cape Coral couple charged with swindling banks by falsely obtaining mortgages pleaded guilty Wednesday. Maria Arantegui-Vasconez, 36, and Alfredo Arantegui, 40, each entered guilty pleas to one count of scheming to defraud a financial institution in exchange for sentences of five years probation. Arantegui-Vasconez also was sentenced to two years of prison, suspended, meaning …
Author Archives: Administrator
Miami’s ‘Condo King’ Perez Perseveres After Losses
Early this year, as Jorge Perez struggled to restructure more than $1.5 billion of debt on mostly vacant Florida condominium projects, doctors discovered a golf ball-sized tumor on his pancreas. “You understand how vulnerable you are,” Perez, 61, said while sitting in his Miami waterfront office, with a view of the skyline shaped by Related …
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Homebuyers get creative to close deal
When Efrain Hernandez couldn’t seal a deal before the first-time homebuyer tax credit expired earlier this year, he lost faith he would ever own a house in a market where investors and all-cash buyers are snapping up bargains and mortgages seem hard to come by. But waiting — even though it wasn’t by choice — …
Survey: Iowa farmland values rise 13 percent
Iowa farmland rose in value by 13 percent in the year ending Oct. 1, stimulated by rising corn and soybean prices, according to a survey of bankers by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Iowa farm values rose by 6 percent in the period from July to October, as corn prices shot up from $3.50 …
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Tour a Modern Mercer Island Home
Avid fliers who love cars, airplanes, hangars and barns, Shawn and Sherrie Parry are no shrinking violets. "We’re both the kind of kids who were described as bulls in a china shop," said Mrs. Parry.The culmination of their interests, vision and nonconformity is a house that doesn’t look anything like the others in this quiet, …
Foreclosure battle depletes ex-Wachovia employee
For two years, Barry Lancett’s effort to get a loan modification from Wachovia, then Wells Fargo, has consumed him. The 55-year-old father of two physically shakes when he discusses his case and says the effort has distracted him when he should be focused on his job. In his crusade, he has accumulated mounds of paperwork …
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