News about properties and real estate
Walking away from your mortgage isn’t risk free For underwater homeowners who think they’ve found a solution to their predicament–stop paying the mortgage and remain in the house until they are forced out by foreclosure–the consequences of such a decision are not as simple as they may seem. The short-term advantages of a “strategic default” …
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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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Governments, community groups to get first crack at foreclosed homes. Cash investors hunting for abandoned and foreclosed properties will take a back seat to buyers using federal housing money under an "unprecedented" agreement with the nation’s largest private lenders. The "First Look" program, announced Wednesday, gives local governments and community groups using Neighborhood Stabilization money …
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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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Bulk buyer’s condo coup busts small-time investors In early 2008, with the real estate market well into meltdown, a deal to sell more than 100 condominium units in Royal Palm Beach was struck. Considered one of South Florida’s first bulk condo buys, it was called “savvy” by market analysts and heralded as a sweetheart deal …
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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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