News about properties and real estate
Homeowner fees ‘like extortion,’ homeowner says. Two days before closing on a house, Eugene Vrooman got bad news: If he didn’t come up with $14,000, the homeowners association wouldn’t allow his deal to go through. In addition to unpaid assessments, the Bridgewater Community Association demanded money for cosmetic repairs to the home, which had been …
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Dolphin Tower’s troubles stack up [South Florida] Amid the discovery of still more concrete problems at Dolphin Tower, it appears that more money and more time will be needed to repair the damaged 15-story condo building. Just as vexing to displaced residents, though, are signals that Great American Insurance Co., of Ohio, intends to deny …
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Commercial Real Estate Borrowers Joint the Ranks of Strategic Defaulters I can understand why the REITs like this–free cash flow! But I can’t understand how it’s a good strategy for the borrowers. Commercial mortgages are a highly leveraged business, and if one of these guys came to me asking for more loans, after he stuck …
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Unit owners’ deaths raise many questions Q:A senior-citizen couple purchased a unit in our 24-unit condominium in 2004 using a $213,000 mortgage and a very small down payment. In 2005, the husband died. In the period 2006 to 2008, the widow secured a total of $50,000 in home-equity loans (mortgages) on the unit. She died …
New state law might help reclaim fees [South Florida] Many community associations throughout Broward have been struggling during the recession after foreclosed homes were left vacant and some financially strapped property owners quit paying their maintenance fees. Now the state has stepped in to try to help; a new law allows both homeowner’s and condominium …
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Vacation condo deals not risk-free I want to buy a vacation condo and rent it out as an investment. What are the pros and cons? I want to start small and buy with cash. Is this the time to do it? Rock-bottom pricing in many resort areas suggests this is a pretty good time to …