News About Properties

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. That combined with a rising number of foreclosure cases led to substantial backlogs for many of the court circuits around the state.

The Supreme Court’s solution was mediation, which it mandated throughout the court system.

via Florida justice shuts down foreclosure mediation program.

An unexpected increase in Chinese property buyers is moving Singapore’s real-estate market, in the latest sign of the effects of Chinese money elsewhere in Asia.

For years, Indonesians and Malaysians were the dominant foreign property buyers in Singapore, a rich Southeast Asian city-state that is widely regarded as one of the safest places in Asia to park capital, thanks to its stable political environment and predictable laws.

Over the past year or so, though, Chinese investors have leapfrogged those and other buyers to become the biggest foreign source of property sales, accounting for 32% of foreign buyers in the first half of 2011, up from just 8% in 2007. Some of the latest residential sales exceeded five million Singapore dollars US$3.8 million, according to agents, including what local media reports say was the S$36 million purchase of a 15,000-square-foot bungalow plot in the city’s posh Sentosa Cove.

via Chinese Property Buyers Boost Role in Singapore.

Netscape founder Jim Clark just scored big in real restate.

He sold last week his penthouse in Miami Beach for what is believed to be a record for a condo south of Manhattan: $21.5 million!

While the sale has yet to show up in public records, SouthBeachCondoBlog.com reports the deal for the 5,803-square-foot, 40th-floor penthouse was consummated last week. The buyer, a U.S. businessman, is not a household name, according to the blog.

via Netscape Founder Jim Clark Makes a Mint on Miami Beach Condo Sale.

A lender-owned beachfront property in Jupiter just sold to a foreign investor for $9.75 million, or $812,500 per unit. 3000 Ocean Dr., a 12-unit condo, was completed in 2010 at a cost of $18 million.CBRE marketed the property for sale on behalf of the lender, West Suburban Bank, after it foreclosed on the property in April 2011.

The buyer, a private investor out of Bahrain, purchased the asset under the capital group MHS Real Estate Capital, LLC. CBRE senior vice president Richard Tarquinio, vice chairman Robert Given and director of operations Calum Weaver, worked together to broker the deal.“We’ve done more than 30 of these fractured deals,” Weaver tells GlobeSt.com. “This one really was different because of the quality, the location and the large-sized units. From a price per unit standpoint, 3000 Ocean Dr. has to be among the highest that we’ve seen out there.”

via Bahrain Buyer Grabs Lender-Owned Condo for Half Price.

Being able to click with people — all kinds of people — can mean success for a homebuilder. From childhood, Christin Cupp has known all kinds. Her mother, she says, was a "bar floozy." Her father, a Jehovah’s Witness.

“During the week, I grew up in a bar,” she said. “On the weekends, I would go door-to-door with my father.”

via Charlotte County builder’s odd road to success.

Q. Please let us know how one can identify a well-managed condominium association when considering purchasing a unit. Please share your top three or four questions to ask as well as tips to look for in the answers.— J.G.

A. I would first sit down and compose a list of thing you want in your new residence. As an example you could list you want to be near the water (lake or gulf, etc.); want a home that allows pets; want tennis courts and certain recreational facilities, maybe social activities and so on. Your list should contain about 20 to 30 items. Rate them as to the most important and those that would be nice to have. This will be of help to make the final selection and give you an idea of what questions you need answered. As for the things you need to know about the condominium: Look at the facilities and common areas. The first test is the way the condominium association looks. Does the landscape have a positive curb appeal? Does the building need painting or other repairs?

via Richard White: Tips on how to identify a well-managed condo association » Naples Daily News.