Online foreclosure auctions: Broward County will move foreclosure auctions online Tuesday to help reduce backlog of cases - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

 Broward County begins online foreclosure auctions Tuesday, a move expected to clear the backlog of cases and attract people worldwide who can now bid on properties from home.

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The First Thing to Do With Your Short Sale Clients

Short sales require patience , persistence and perseverance….but as a Realtor or Professional handling short sale negotiations for clients, it also requires CYA (Cover your ASSETS)!!!!!

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IN  a lot of short sales there can be a “taxable gain” on the sale. That’s right your client lost money, and owes the IRS money, it goes on their tax return as income!.

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Big Expansion in Effort to Aid Homeowners Is Proposed - NYTimes.com

The Obama administration on Friday will announce broad new initiatives to help troubled homeowners, potentially refinancing several million of them into fresh government-backed mortgages with lower payments.

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Bank of America has new 'forgiveness' program to help struggling homeowners starting May 1

Bank of America Corp. will permanently cut up to 30 percent from home loan balances for tens of thousands of struggling borrowers under a new program that some predict will become industry norm.

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S. Fla. existing home, condo sales rise - South Florida Business Journal:

Existing home and condo sales rose across the tri-county area and statewide in February, but prices continued to be depressed by foreclosures and short sales, according to the latest figures from Florida Realtors.

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Credit scores can drop after getting loan help

WASHINGTON – March 22, 2010 – Some homeowners who sign up for the government’s mortgage assistance program are getting a nasty surprise: Lower credit scores.

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Failed loan mod? Try again

From Inman News:

While the Making Home Affordable Plan was promising at the outset, unfortunately it has not yet manifested the projected results. Many borrowers are having their permanent modifications rejected after successfully completing their trial modifications

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New life in the big city as condos filling up--Miami

Out of the ashes of the downtown Miami condo collapse, a bright spot is emerging: a community of full-time residents slowly starting to turn the area into a 24/7 city.

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Giant bank, giant struggle: Foreclosure-assistance pipeline clogged for Bank of America

Two years after swallowing the troubled mortgage giant Countrywide Financial, Bank of America trails other major U.S. lenders in resolving troubled home loans through short sales or modified loan terms.  The lender, one of the nation’s biggest banks, holds more than a million mortgages that are months behind on their payments –

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Condo Vultures Reports........

Condo Vultures reports:

Under $250,000 Condos Flood South Florida Market
More than two-thirds of the 41,000 condominium units and townhouses available for resale in the tricounty South Florida region have an asking price below $250,000, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.

By comparison, only 40 percent of the nearly 27,000 single-family houses for resale in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties have an asking price below $250,000, according to the report based on Florida Association of Realtors data.
Overall, 56 percent of the residential properties for resale in South Florida are priced below $250,000, which is a dramatic difference from the peak of the market. In 2005, the median sales price for a residence was $351,000 in Miami, $361,000 in Fort Lauderdale, and $390,000 in Boca Raton-West Palm Beach, according to CondoVultures.com.
"Residential real estate prices have tumbled significantly since the peak of the market in the fourth quarter of 2005," said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures® LLC. "The challenge for many buyers is the under-$250,000 properties are increasingly located west of Interstate 95 in the suburban areas of South Florida. Prices east of Interstate 95 in the coastal areas have continuously crept up as buyers have associated the proximity of water with quality."
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Africa Israel Group Unloads Miami Condo Sites At 56% Discount
The Florida subsidiary of Africa Israel Investments, or AFI Group, has unloaded two prime condominium development sites in Greater Downtown Miami and Miami Beach at a combined discount of 56 percent off of the original purchase price of nearly $30 million, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.

Africa Israel's Florida subsidiary, AI Florida Holdings Inc., sold the site for the proposed Vitri condominium at 500 Alton Road in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach for $5 million, or $73 per square foot. Some five years earlier in July 2004, AI Florida Holdings purchased the land for $11.7 million, or $170 per square foot, according to the report based on Miami-Dade County records.
AI Florida Holdings also unloaded the site for the proposed Soleil condominium at 3050 Biscayne Blvd. in Greater Downtown Miami for $8 million, or $53 per square foot, for land and an existing 90,500-square-foot office tower built in 1972. AI Florida Holdings originally acquired the land in October 2004 for $17.9 million, or $119 per square foot, according to the report based on Miami-Dade County records.

Former WCI Restructuring Officer To Discuss Distressed Real Estate
More than 40 bulk condo deals for 3,000 units at a combined price in excess of $900 million have closed in South Florida since July 2008, but many more prospective buyers have failed in their attempts to close a big deal.
The upcoming Condo Vultures® seminar entitled "An Insider's Look At Closing A Bulk Deal" will examine what it takes to actually complete a large distressed transaction.
Jonathan M. Pertchik, the former chief restructuring officer for luxury home builder and condo developer WCI Communities, will share his insight into what it takes to get a bulk deal closed on both sides of the transaction.
Before resigning in January, Pertchik was instrumental in facilitating WCI's emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2009. In his last nine months with WCI, Pertchik successfully sold off $112 million of assets.
Anyone involved in the cottage industry of bulk transactions cannot afford to miss this event from 5.30 pm to 8 pm on Tuesday, March 23, at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay Hotel just north of Greater Downtown Miami.

New Threshold: Resale Contracts Top 20,000 In South Florida
Purchase contracts on residential resale product in the tricounty South Florida region surpassed the 20,000 threshold on Monday, Feb. 22, marking the first time in at least 15 months that pending sales reached that level, according to a new report by CondoVultures.com.
Buyers have gone under contract on nearly 9,100 single-family houses and 11,100 condominium units and townhouses in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, according to the report prepared based on the Florida Association of Realtors.

Foreclosure Filings Drop 19% In February In South Florida
Lenders filed 19 percent fewer foreclosure actions in South Florida in February than compared to a year earlier, yet the current pace of defaults for the month still averages out to 239 filings per day in the tricounty area, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.
Lenders filed 6,680 foreclosure actions in February 2010 compared to 8,200 actions in 2009 and 5,500 actions in 2008, according to the report based on the Condo Vultures® Foreclosure Database™.


Peter Zalewski of Condo Vultures® can be reached at 800-750-0517 or by email at peter@condovultures.com

Feds Help Speed Up Your Mortgage Modification

The latest spin on government-sponsored mortgage modifications, demands that home owners provide an initial package of documents before the first phase of a modification can begin.

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Florida population expected to rebound - South Florida Business Journal:

After losing residents for the first time in more than a half century in the last year, Florida is on target to add about 23,000 residents between April 1, 2009, and this April, according to population projections released today by the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

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Real Estate Outlook: Reading the Numbers

When it comes to the current housing recovery, never assume the path leads straight up. That's just not the way it's playing out.

As the economic and real estate numbers this week suggest, it's more like two steps forward, one step back, one step sideways.

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HAFA home sale rules impact some commissions

WASHINGTON – Feb. 26, 2010 – A federal program designed to help owners losing their homes – those owners who cannot hold onto their property even with existing federal aid – also impacts allowable commissions for Realtors and a licensee’s ability to offer commission rebates to buyers and sellers.

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