Homeowners lose equity, title to foreclosure `rescuers’

Homeowners lose equity, title to foreclosure `rescuers’

After Ivan Eicher lost his job, he and his wife Delores fell several months behind on their house payments. Facing foreclosure, they accepted an offer from a company that promised to help them keep the home where they’d lived for more than 20 years.

Without realizing what they were doing, the couple ended up surrendering ownership of their home.

“It was just a really nice song and dance,” Delores Eicher said.

The Eichers are among the thousands of people who fall each year for offers that promise to help them avoid foreclosure but that leave them with none of the equity they had built up in their property. Their situation matches one of the three common models of foreclosure fraud the National Consumer Law Center has described in a report on the growing problem.

Tringali lenders acting on his debts [South Florida]

Tringali lenders acting on his debts [South Florida]

Three more banks have foreclosed on property or forced him to sell.

The house of cards that Neil Mohamad Husani and Michael Tringali built during the height of the real estate boom has finally been flattened.

Three more banks that lent Tringali $28.5 million between June 2005 and March 2006 have either foreclosed on the underlying property or forced the 45-year-old businessman to sell to more credit-worthy developers.

One of the properties that changed hands is a parcel on Tamiami Trail in the heart of downtown Sarasota where Tringali, Husani and a third partner, Robert Martin, had planned to build a $125 million condo tower.

Apt. Market In Flux: After Strong 2006, Competition’s Rising

Apt. Market In Flux: After Strong 2006, Competition’s Rising

Apartment owners just enjoyed one of their best years in recent memory. But growing competition for renters could inflict short-term pain on the industry.

Rents rose 4% last year nationwide, the biggest jump since 2000, when the dot-com boom’s job-creation juggernaut contributed to an 8% increase in rents. But vacancies unexpectedly climbed in the fourth quarter, bringing the vacancy rate for all of 2006 to 5.9%, says property data firm Reis.

The tepid news continued into January: Apartment industry executives who responded to the National Multi Housing Council’s quarterly survey of apartment market conditions indicated that market tightness — a measure of lower vacancy rates and higher rents — slipped from 70 in October to 54 at the end of January. A reading above 50 indicates strengthening fundamentals, while a reading below 50 suggests weakening fundamentals.

3 paths to take when facing foreclosure

3 paths to take when facing foreclosure

DEAR BOB: I’m behind on my mortgage payments and probably will be foreclosed. People have told me to (1) do a “short sale” of the property, (2) give it back to the lender with a deed in lieu of foreclosure, or (3) proceed to foreclosure and then file bankruptcy. Please explain the pros and cons of each. Do I have to have a short sale before I can do a deed in lieu of foreclosure? What if I sell the property at market value, but that’s not enough to pay all the debts? –Napin E.

DEAR NAPIN: A “short sale” means you sell the property for less than the mortgage balance at its market value and the mortgage lender agrees, in advance, to accept the net amount as payment in full to satisfy the mortgage.

Lenders can be very difficult about agreeing to a short sale. You need a listing agent experienced with short sales who can deal with your lender and who will insist you receive absolutely nothing from the sale.

South Beach’s National gets new owner

South Beach’s National gets new owner

The National Hotel changes hands, but don’t expect any rooms to go condo, a source says. But remodeling is planned.

A French real estate investor has purchased South Beach’s National Hotel for an undisclosed sum, offering a glimpse of the lodging sector’s increasing popularity at the expense of condominium projects.

Claude Dray, the French developer who is a partner in the massive Plaza at Brickell condominium complex being built by the Related Group in Miami, closed the deal on the 151-room Art Deco building on Wednesday. Dray and his wife, Simone, are Art Deco aficionados and recently sold a $75 million collection of Art Deco pieces in a Paris auction.

A top National executive said Dray has no plans to convert any of the oceanfront building into condominiums — a strategy that would have been practically unheard of in recent years as developers sold off hotel rooms to investors amid a condo-hotel market.

Builders mimicked CCI and survived [South Florida]

Builders mimicked CCI and survived [South Florida]

A Fort Myers builder got loans from many banks; CCI only tapped Coast.

The idea of buying houses in Southwest Florida with no money down and making tens of thousands of dollars by selling them before construction was even done obviously appealed to a lot of investors nationwide.

Hundreds of investors from California to New Jersey jumped at the opportunity to sign contracts with St. Petersburg-based Construction Compliance Inc. and Enchanted Homes and Advantage Builders of America in Fort Myers.