News about properties and real estate
Slowdown halts condo conversions [South Florida]
Tenants at 210 Watermark recently learned their apartment complex in downtown Bradenton won’t be going condo afterall.
And 210 Watermark is not the only member of the condo-conversion craze sidetracked by the real estate slowdown.
Turnbury Park at Palm-Aire is also staying rental for now, Peter Wenzel, managing member of Turnbury Park Acquisitions, confirmed Friday.
Business: Developer to cut ties with snake-bit center [South Florida]
Developer Ken Morin has made millions on other local projects. But he’s lost millions on Walter’s Crossing.
Walter’s Crossing shopping center owns an enviable location at Interstate 275 and Dale Mabry Highway and has strong sales at its anchor stores, Target and the Wild Oats health food emporium.
So why isn’t developer and owner Ken Morin leaping for joy?
For all its success as a model of urban redevelopment — ripping down the former Walter Industries headquarters to build one of Tampa’s popular shopping destinations — the project has turned out to be a geyser of red ink for Morin.
Consequences to co-signing mortgage catch some by surprise
DEAR BOB: My parents divorced in 1995. The judge gave the house to my mom, but she had to either sell it or keep it and refinance the mortgage. She wanted to keep the house. But she couldn’t refinance because her debt-to-income ratio was too high. So my mother gave me a quitclaim deed, signing the house over to me, and I helped her refinance with a new mortgage. Now I want to get my name off the title and put my mother back as sole owner, as she desires. If I do that and my mother dies, am I responsible for the mortgage payments although I don’t hold title? What do I need to do to quitclaim the house title back to my mom? Do I need to go through a title company? –David P.
DEAR DAVID: If you are now on the title alone, you can sign a quitclaim deed to your mother. However, you will still remain liable to make sure the mortgage payments are made even when you don’t hold title to the property.
Goodbye, MetroWest — Hello, Veranda Park? [Central Florida]
It is 20 years old and one of the most recognizable communities in Orlando, but MetroWest may soon get a new name.
The 1,800-acre planned community will be renamed Veranda Park once a lavish $400 million town center of the same name is completed, according to developer Kevin Azzouz.
“We did a brand study and asked people what they thought of the name MetroWest. They said it sounded like an industrial park,” he said.
Housing sellers, buyers deadlock [Central Florida]
There is a glut of homes on the cooling market, which is no longer seeing the high-speed sales of red-hot 2005.
Home buyers and home sellers are in a virtual stalemate in Central Florida, with housing prices holding at lofty 2005 levels while more properties are hitting the market and lingering longer.
Who will blink first?
Renters say they’re forgotten Katrina victims
Like thousands of low-income people trying to stay in New Orleans, Russell Frays is worried about how he’s going to pay the rent.
“We’re trying to figure it out, but we’ll have to make some adjustments,” he said.
Congress has approved billions of dollars to help Louisiana homeowners who suffered uninsured losses from Hurricane Katrina, but little money has been allocated to replace the city’s storm-damaged rental units, pushing up the cost of rent.