News About Properties

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 during the Great Depression.

Yet just 15 miles away, in the posh suburban enclave of Birmingham, bidding wars are back. Multimillion-dollar mansions are selling quickly. Sales this August were up 21% from the previous year. The country club has ended its stealth discounts on new memberships. And Main Street’s retail storefronts are full.

via Housing market is terrific, if you are rich – USATODAY.com.

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 20,000-square-foot Louis XIV ballroom, gilded ceilings and a $100,000 fee just to join the club to overflowing soup kitchens, child poverty at twice the national rate and people capturing rain in buckets because their water was turned off for nonpayment.

Last week, the Census Bureau announced that poverty in the U.S. has spread to 46 million people and that the gap between the wealthiest and the poorest continues to grow.

via As data shows more Americans in poverty, Belle Glade looks for ideas from eastern Palm Beach County.

A lender has filed foreclosure against CityPlace, the high-profile shopping complex that’s facing financial woes in spite of its high occupancy.CityPlace fell behind on its $150 million loan in March, and an entity affiliated with LNR Partners of Miami Beach on Thursday filed a foreclosure suit in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.

When contacted, CityPlace Partners said: “CityPlace Partners continues to work closely with the special servicer to realign the loan and ensure the continued long-term success of CityPlace. Those talks are ongoing.” Real estate experts say it’s unclear whether the lender would seek to take back the property.

via West Palm Beach’s CityPlace is target of foreclosure suit.

After experiencing one of the worst housing market crises, Miami is making a strong comeback — above other major cities in the US — fueled by international investors buying local real estate with cash.

   The coastal and desert regions in the US, including South Florida, are seeing significant sales activity compared to the rest of the nation, with foreign buyers representing the primary group actively scooping up homes and condos at discounted prices.

   Regions like Southern California, Tucson, Miami and Las Vegas are seeing an increase in the number of units sold, said Ron Shuffield, president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors, part of HomeServices of America, a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate that owns a network of 23 realty firms nationally.

via Miami residential sales recovery rockets past rest of nation.

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.

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.