Move to new state, update the wills

Move to new state, update the wills

Q:My elderly parents (dad is 90, mom is 86) had been living in Florida for the past 20 years, but due to bad health, I moved them to California. Do they need to change their wills or do the provisions still apply “as is?” I have power of attorney but would like to leave things as they are, if possible.

A: Wills should be updated periodically, even if you live in the same state. But since your parents have moved to California – where the laws may be quite different – I believe it is best that your parents contact a local attorney and have them sign new wills.

In my opinion, everyone over the age of majority should have at least four legal documents: a last will and testament, a durable power of attorney, a power of attorney for health, and a living will (also known as an advanced health care directive). Some people also have a separate power of attorney for financial matters.

You didn’t buy in ’07

You didn’t buy in ’07

As revelers bring in the new year, the residential real estate scene looks more like the day after, with sellers suffering from a bad case of overindulgence and regrets that usually follow a really good party.

The question is whether that will make 2008 the year of opportunity for buyers, with sellers accepting low-ball offers, just in time for new owners to start feeling richer from the much vaunted arrival of the baby boomers in 2010-11.

Still, inventories of existing homes and condos remain depressingly high. Sellers are begging for traffic and the sign-here mortgages of yesteryear have vanished.

“The peak on our pricing was July 2005,” said Steve DuToit of Keller-Williams Realty. “Everybody was fighting to buy.”

Real estate projection called doom d’jour

Real estate projection called doom d’jour

Local agents disagree with gloomy report

The Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte/North Port area will see the greatest decline in home prices in the nation before its real estate market turns around in the spring of 2009.

At least, that prediction was cited in a Wall Street Journal article published Thursday. The article listed the Punta Gorda metropolitan statistical area, which includes Charlotte County, at the top of a list of 10 “Danger Zones.”

Those were the cities projected to experience the greatest decline in home prices before they hit bottom in 2009.

Like the housing market, the commercial market is waning

Like the housing market, the commercial market is waning

The commercial real estate market follows the residential market by 12 to 18 months, according to conventional wisdom.

Those 12 to 18 months ended in early 2007. And like the residential market, Southwest Florida’s commercial real estate market has begun to slide.

Both the total number of deals and the total dollar volume in the three-county region were down 30 percent over the 12 months ended Nov. 30 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to county property appraiser data.

“This summer was dreadful,” said John Swart, vice president of commercial sales for Schroeder-Manatee Ranch.

The Court House: How One Family Fought Foreclosure

The Court House: How One Family Fought Foreclosure

Faced with the threat of foreclosure, many homeowners give up and abandon their homes.

Then there’s Richard Davet.

He and his wife, Lynn, lived in a six-bedroom home in this Cleveland suburb for nearly 20 years when, in 1996, he was served with a foreclosure lawsuit. Rather than turn over the keys, he hit the law books. Flooding the courts with papers, Mr. Davet staved off foreclosure for 11 years, until this past January, when a county sheriff’s deputy evicted the couple and changed the locks. They didn’t make a mortgage payment the entire time.

“Our four Scottish terriers are buried there,” says the 63-year-old Mr. Davet. “It was heaven on earth, an unbelievable property, and they took it from us like candy from a baby.”

Palmer Crossing sold for $57 million [South Florida]

Palmer Crossing sold for $57 million [South Florida]

Sarasota developers William Saba and Thomas F. Kelly closed a whopper of a commercial real estate deal last week when they sold the Palmer Crossing Shopping Center to a Tampa investment group for $57 million.

The price comes to $300 per square foot for the 147,000 square feet of existing retail space and the 43,000 square feet that Saba and Kelly have promised to build within the next 18 to 24 months.

“It was a very strong sale for our economic times,” said Sue Ault, a Sarasota commercial real estate agent, who specializes in retail properties.

“The price speaks well for our retail market. The buyers obviously think there is future value here.”