News about properties and real estate
Banks auction homes at fire-sale prices [South Florida] Another sign of desperation in the South Florida housing market: banks tired of paying taxes and upkeep on foreclosed homes put 200 up for auction Saturday in Fort Lauderdale. Ranging from the most modest one-bedroom efficiency condos to five-bedroom houses worth close to a million dollars at …
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Mortgage payoff on steroids When Stockton resident Kevin Byrd refinanced his mortgage a couple of years ago, he figured he’d need the full 30 years to pay off more than $300,000 in debt. Now he expects to get it done in just 10 years. Or less. Byrd, 50, is employing a system called an accelerated …
Call this home loan the last resort, not a ticket to a resort Seniors don’t have to look farther than the TV or their own mailboxes to find somebody selling a way to dig out of trouble, or foreclosure, with a reverse mortgage. And the marketing is going to get more intense. Big players like …
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Property auction had a lot of silence The crowd filed in to the large white tent behind the Bahia Mar resort for Friday’s real estate auction organized by Sotheby’s and Daniel DeCaro Auctions as a four-piece jazz band played a peppy rendition of “I Feel Good.” But as auctioneer Daniel DeCaro stood and watched from …
Real estate investment trusts prove disappointing in 2007 Since January 2001, I have regularly suggested that investors consider adding real estate investment trusts, or REITs, to their portfolios. In that time, the total return from REITs through 2007 has been about 273 percent. Thus, investors who followed the suggestion did quite well. However, 2007 was …
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Qualified borrowers face credit squeeze Lenders are rejecting more loan applicants with strong credit scores, the latest indication the nation’s credit crunch is deepening and further depressing the housing market and the economy. Mortgage companies are growing more cautious and tightening lending standards for some of their most credit-worthy customers – from increasing down payments …