Law exempts forgiven foreclosure debt from income on tax return

Several years ago, we were talked into getting what I believe was a predatory loan – a negatively amortizing mortgage for 100 percent of the purchase price of our home. The loan broker assured us we could refinance the following year to a more traditional mortgage.

We paid the minimum monthly payment required, which didn’t cover all the interest owed, so that amount was added to our mortgage balance. Like others, we have experienced the nightmare of the current housing market, and with the negative amortization adding on even more debt, we are severely underwater.

We’ve worked with two companies trying to get a workable loan modification but to no avail. The bank is not cooperating at all.

via Law exempts forgiven foreclosure debt from income on tax return.

Condos selling, but prices continue to fall

Condominiums, like homes, are selling at a healthy pace in Southwest Florida, but the median sales price continues to give ground — the result of more realistic sellers and a greater mix of units at the low end of the market and distressed properties.

Sales during November rose 7 percent in Sarasota-Bradenton and 19 percent in Charlotte County-North Port.

Meanwhile prices fell 16 percent to $110,000 in Sarasota-Bradenton from a year ago and 7.6 percent from just the previous month.

via Condos selling, but prices continue to fall.

Florida justice shuts down foreclosure mediation program

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.

Chinese Property Buyers Boost Role in Singapore

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.

Do You Really Want to Be a Landlord?

Jeannette Boccini thought she had found a great renter, someone who would take extra good care of her townhouse. Then the nightmare began.

The tenant repeatedly harassed the neighbors, complained that the wood chips in the community playground were toxic, and informed Ms. Boccini on Christmas morning that someone was playing Christmas carols too loudly.

But the final straw was the night the tenant showed up at Ms. Boccini’s door to report there was dust all over the mailbox. “I absolutely flipped,”; Ms. Boccini says. "I was like, ‘You don’t like it? Get the hell out of my house.”;

via Do You Really Want to Be a Landlord?.

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

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.