News about properties and real estate
Mortgage rates dip, but cash is still king The drop in mortgage rates during the past week is bringing out fresh buyers to a tired real estate market, but only a few of them are scoring. Rates hovering at 5.38 percent are drawing some fence-sitters with good credit who figure rates are not likely to …
Continue reading “Mortgage rates dip, but cash is still king”
Even luxury real estate projects falling into foreclosure The rains fall on the just and the unjust. And foreclosures happen to the high end and mid-range of the real estate market. Earlier this month, Regions Bank filed a foreclosure lawsuit against Polo Field Estates LLC, developer of the luxury Azura community in suburban Boca Raton. …
Continue reading “Even luxury real estate projects falling into foreclosure”
New Florida condo law is about to take effect In a situation that might qualify as a “be careful what you wish for” tale, several new Florida laws related to condominium insurance policies are slated to go into effect Jan. 1. The problem is they are essentially unworkable as currently written — leaving many condo …
Continue reading “New Florida condo law is about to take effect”
Scheme gives distressed properties to squatters Law enforcement investigators in San Diego and Riverside counties have uncovered a brazen real estate scheme in which individuals are claiming ownership of distressed homes by filing official-looking grant deeds with county recorder offices. The perpetrators then move people into the vacant homes, in some cases, by hiring a …
Continue reading “Scheme gives distressed properties to squatters”
Meet the competition Shielded from the equatorial sun beneath an umbrella, Jim and Carol Lynch reflect on their unusual decision to move from the small town of Fayetteville, Tenn., to a suburb of this Costa Rican capital. “Look around you, man,” Jim Lynch says. “This place is beautiful.” They are among a small but growing …
New lender rules on ‘buy-and-bail’ to help, and hurt A crackdown by mortgage lenders on a fraudulent practice known as “buy-and-bail” could make it more difficult for law-abiding homeowners to take advantage of today’s depressed market. The scheme involves owners telling the lender on a new home that they plan to keep their old one …
Continue reading “New lender rules on ‘buy-and-bail’ to help, and hurt”