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, …
Category Archives: General
Family & Fortune
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 …
Townhomes in Orlando: Whisper Lakes townhomes in Orlando renovated
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 …
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Law exempts forgiven foreclosure debt from income on tax return
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 …
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Condos selling, but prices continue to fall
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 …
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Florida justice shuts down foreclosure mediation program
Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady shut down the state’s 2-year-old foreclosure mediation program Monday, after low success rates and criticism from both lenders and borrowers deemed the program unsustainable. The court system, which has faced a torrent of foreclosure cases in the past several years, has seen its budgets cut and staff reduced. …
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