A Venice builder’s problems … and their ripples

A Venice builder’s problems … and their ripples

Florida Community Bank, the bank that had $21 million in loans to Venice home builder Jacques Cloutier, was closed by state and federal regulators on Friday.

The Immokalee-based bank was taken over by Miami’s Premier American Bank, which is assuming all its $795.5 million in deposits.

The bank will maintain its name.

Since September 2006, Cloutier has defaulted on 20 loans totaling $115.5 million from nearly a dozen lenders. The $21 million from Florida Community was in six different loans.

Skiers Buy Vacation Homes as Prices Melt

Skiers Buy Vacation Homes as Prices Melt

OVER the holiday season all was snowy and bright at ski areas across the country, with a festive jingle in the air. It wasn’t sleigh bells — it was the sound of money. Vacation-home seekers who saw recessionary opportunities were looking to buy.

Many were ready to pay in cash, and they wanted great deals, like a $900,000 slope-side condominium for $500,000 or a studio in town for half the asking price. They were getting what they wanted because it is the best buyers’ market in 20 years, real estate agents said, with inventory at levels not seen since 2001.

Home-loan aid altered

Home-loan aid altered

Facing mounting criticism about the effectiveness of the government’s foreclosure prevention efforts, the Obama administration announced Thursday that it will tighten the documentation requirements for borrowers applying for its marquee mortgage relief program.

Starting June 1, borrowers must prove they qualify for the mortgage help upfront, providing two pay stubs and other paperwork, before their payments can be lowered.

The change attempts to prevent a repeat of the current backlog of borrowers who received mortgage relief after a phone conversation with their lender but didn’t satisfy the government’s documentation requirements within three months.

More than 300,000 borrowers were at risk of losing their aid under the Making Home Affordable program by the end of January because they had not submitted required paperwork. But lenders were given new flexibility Thursday to make these loan modifications permanent despite the lack of documentation, Treasury officials said.

Despite names, condos operate the same

Despite names, condos operate the same

We have never lived in association type housing, but recently moved into a large complex of condominiums and detached homes. We have been told that our association is a POA but we can find no reference to POAs in the Florida statutes, only to HOA (homeowners associations). What is the difference between a POA and an HOA? Do Florida statutes treat both the same? Can POA/HOA assess proportionately for lawn replacement/maintenance since lot sizes vary considerably? Does the liability exposure of a POA/HOA differ from those of a condominium owners association with respect to foreclosures or other exposures?

We know of condo associations dealing with multiple foreclosures costing thousands of dollars. Should POAs and COAs have a reserve fund for this, and can you provide a rule of thumb for determining the fund’s cap?

Foreclosed homes leave remaining owners to pick up the tab [Central Florida]

Foreclosed homes leave remaining owners to pick up the tab [Central Florida]

Tom Beard knew that he would be paying homeowners association dues when his family moved into a new Tivoli Village town house in east Orlando.

But he never thought he would be footing the dues owed on dozens of empty homes, most in the process of foreclosure.

“Our dues have spiked up by 15 percent,” said Beard, 43, a Winter Park High School teacher. “The reason is that so many of the other homes are in arrears, those of us who are left have to carry the burden for the whole. It’s not right, and it’s not fair.”

Beard, and thousands of other Floridians like him, is suffering from an unexpected consequence of the housing bubble that burst

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Boca Raton 34-year-old charged with mortgage scam has to give up Rolls Royce, Ferrari and more

Boca Raton 34-year-old charged with mortgage scam has to give up Rolls Royce, Ferrari and more

A U.S. Secret Service investigation into an alleged mortgage scam run by a 34-year-old Boca Raton man has led to his arrest and seizure of assets including a Rolls Royce Phantom, Lamborghini, Ferrari and 42-foot Fountain racing boat.

Jason Vitulano, who worked for TopDot Mortgage Company in Boca Raton in 2006 and 2007 and later formed his own loan modification firm, is facing federal charges of mail and wire fraud, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida.

The complaint claims Vitulano, and a handful of unnamed co-conspirators, falsified bank deposit forms to inflate loan applicants’ income and obtain million-dollar home loans with commissions of tens of thousands of dollars going to TopDot and Vitulano.

In one example, Vitulano is alleged to have signed documents saying a client had a $67,000-a-month income in order to obtain a $1.1 million loan for a home at 887 Parkside Circle North, Boca Raton.