News About Properties

In Hard Times, Houses of God Turn to Chapter 11 in Book of Bankruptcy

The auctioneer told the small crowd huddled outside the Talbot County Courthouse that the property would be sold “as is” — rectory, bell tower, oak pews and rose-tinted stained glass windows included.

“Who gives $700,000, 700, 700?” he called out. One man, a representative for a local bank, raised his finger. The auctioneer tried in vain to nudge the price up. “Sold!” he cried. St. Andrew Anglican Church had just been bought by the bank that had started foreclosure proceedings against it.

“It’s probably good for my soul to be taken down a notch,” said the Right Rev. Joel Marcus Johnson, the rector of St. Andrew, after the auction.

During this holiday season of hard times, not even houses of God have been spared. Some lenders believe more churches than ever have fallen behind on loans or defaulted this year. Some churches, and at least one company that specialized in church lending, have filed for bankruptcy. Church giving is down as much as 15% in some places, pastors and lenders report

Homeowners share tale of struggles with Alan Grayson

Among the 49,190 Florida homes in foreclosure last month was the cozy ranch house of Cheyenne Bowers and David Paxton, who wonder where they will go when it’s sold at auction in March.

The couple refinanced their mortgage a few years ago to pay off other debts, then fell behind on the payments when Bowers became ill. Now Bowers and Paxton, who both have severe health problems, owe $225,000 on a house worth $128,000.

“We paid our bills before. I’m unfortunately in such a situation, my health just went bad. Nobody can predict that,” said Bowers, 47, who works part-time for Disney as a supervisor in guest relations.

Bowers and Paxton shared their home and their story Monday evening with U.S. Rep.-elect Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, and members of the community activist group ACORN, as part of a national campaign to keep more families from losing their homes. The nonprofit held dinners with members of Congress and families on the verge of being evicted in New York, Texas, Maryland and Connecticut.

Commercial property forclosures expected to be next wave in recession

South Florida’s residential and commercial real estate markets suffered in 2008, and the new year doesn’t figure to offer much relief.

Although home sales started picking up this summer, the beleaguered housing market has been hammered by foreclosures and falling prices. Both trends are expected to continue.

Meanwhile, the sputtering economy has local businesses retrenching and cutting jobs, dealing a blow to the retail, office and industrial sectors.

What follows is an outlook of the region’s residential and commercial markets as 2009 approaches:

Can you afford it now? [Southern California]

We’ve pretty much blown through the first couple of stages of grief with regard to the Southern California housing bust.

There’s no room left for denial now that home prices in the Southland are down 44% from their peak in 2007, and there’s not much use for anger.

Now we’re bargaining.

Previously stubborn sellers are dropping listing prices and banks are increasingly agreeing to “short sales,” in which a home is sold for less than the amount of its mortgage.

Northwest Florida gets a break on taxes | pnj.com | Pensacola News Journal

Try living in New Jersey.

Homeowners in Passaic County, N.J., spend more than 8 percent of their $81,684 annual median income on real-estate taxes.

That gives the county 43 miles northwest of New York City the distinction of being tops in the nation for income spent on property taxes, according to a recently released study from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Beverly Davis, who moved from Pensacola to her home state of New Jersey for work in 2001, said the difference in property taxes is astounding

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Homeowners refinance, put savings under mattress

Chicago-area mortgage broker Steve Molitor had knee replacement surgery a few weeks ago, purposely scheduling it around the holidays because it’s typically a slow time of year in his business. But as he and other can attest, it’s been anything but slow.

Since the Federal Reserve’s announcement during Thanksgiving week that it would invest $600 billion in mortgage-backed securities, mortgage rates haven’t exactly been in a free-fall but they’ve sure gotten attractive. The Mortgage Bankers Association on Wednesday said that for the week ended Dec. 12, the average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages was 5.18 percent for loans carrying an 80 percent loan-to-value ratio.

It has led to a refinancing boom, but one that’s much different from those of years past, when everybody who stood in line for a lower rate got one and the savings generated turned into spending.