Citizens Property rates headed up, or maybe down, depending on where you live

Homeowners in much of St. Petersburg and Hillsborough County can expect refreshingly deep cuts in their Citizens Property Insurance premiums. It's another story for their fellow Citizens policyholders in inland Pasco County. They can brace for a 10.4 percent rate hike. Statewide, Citizens' homeowners insurance rates are slated to rise 5.4 percent on average effective Jan. 1 under an order approved this week by Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Senate Now Likely To Extend Homebuyer's Tax Credit

With blessings from the Obama administration, the Senate now appears likely to pass a bipartisan compromise extending and expanding a tax credit for homebuyers. The deal would extend the $8,000 credit for first-time homebuyers for sales contracts entered into by April 30, 2010, and closed within 60 days. It would also add a $6,500 credit for some owners of existing homes as long as they have been in their homes for five consecutive years in the past eight. The income cap would be raised to $125,000 for individuals and $225,000 for married couples, up from $75,000 and $150,000, respectively. An earlier version of the compromise would have increased the cap to $250,000 for married couples.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Homeowners Choice of Clearwater approved to take over 60,000 Citizens policies

Homeowners Choice Inc., a 3-year-old property insurer based in Clearwater, has received regulatory approval to assume 60,000 home­owners policies from state-run Citizens Property Insurance Co. The decision represents one of the biggest steps by the state this year to "depopulate" policies from Citizens, which has more than a million property insurance policies. As State Farm and other major insurers shed thousands of Florida policies, Citizens is at risk of expanding further. That places greater risk on all insured Floridians, who can be assessed to pay for any claims Citizens cannot cover after a major hurricane. Under authorization by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, Homeowners Choice can take a maximum of 30,000 policies out of Citizens in December. OIR spokesman Tom Zutell said the company would be re-evaluated next year before it could take out the balance of policies approved.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Mortgage Rates Nearly Flat In Latest Weekly Survey

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.03 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending October 29, 2009, up from last week when it averaged 5.00 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.46 percent.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Existing condominium sales skyrocket in Tampa Bay area

Condominiums may be fashionable again, at least compared to how they were selling just a year ago. Existing condo sales nearly doubled from September 2008 in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater market as 787 units sold, well ahead of the statewide average, according to Florida Realtors and the University of Florida’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies. That trend continued into other parts of the Bay area as well with Sarasota-Bradenton doubling its condo sales from 119 to 247 year-over-year while Lakeland-Winter Haven increased sales from five in September 2008 to 18 last month.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

First-time home buyers program boosts Tampa sales

Tampa area house hunters – led mostly by first-time homebuyers -- continued to purchase in September, edging up home sales, as the median sales price continued to drop. Nationally, it was the largest jump in resales in more than a quarter century. There were 2,410 existing homes sold in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro are, up 11 percent from 2,174 during the same month a year ago, according to data released Friday by the Florida Association of Realtors. Prices, though, fell 14 percent from the same month last year. The median sales price dropped from $160,500 last year to $137,800. Sales prices have been a moving target this year, consistently dropping each month when compared to the previous year, but month-to-month, prices have fluctuated. September's price was below August's $144,600 median. Prices haven't been lower since April when the median hit $135,200.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

September Home Sales In Tampa Up 11%, Prices Down 14%

The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA reported a total of 2,410 homes sold in September compared to 2,174 homes a year ago for a 11 percent increase. The existing home median sales price was $137,800; a year ago, it was $160,500 for a 14 percent decrease. The average home price is up 13% from the low point in January 2009 of $122,400. In the year-to-year comparison for the existing condo market, a total of 787 units sold in the MSA last month, up 98% from a year ago when 398 condos sold. The market’s existing condo median price was $106,700; a year ago, it was $139,800 for a 24 percent decrease.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Long Term Mortage Rates Rise Back To 5%

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.00 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending October 22, 2009, up from last week when it averaged 4.92 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.04 percent.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Wachovia Buys Water's Edge Condo Project For $137,000/Unit

The winning bidder on unsold condominiums in two high-end Pinellas residential towers — Water’s Edge in downtown Clearwater and 400 Beach Drive in downtown St. Petersburg — is the lender, Wachovia Corp. The bank, now part of Wells Fargo & Co., agreed to pay $30.6 million for the condos, plus undeveloped land adjacent to the $100 million Water’s Edge, in a deal expected to be complete by Oct. 16. Wachovia, which holds an $82 million mortgage on the properties, was the highest bidder at an Oct. 1 auction in the District of Delaware, where developer Opus South Florida is liquidating through the bankruptcy court. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary F. Walmath approved the sales at an Oct. 7 hearing. Three limited liability companies that have the same Charlotte, N.C., address as Wachovia Bank won the bids. Water’s Edge Clearwater LLC agreed to pay $20 million for Water’s Edge where only 10 of the 156 units have previously sold, records show. The bank paid about $137,000 per unit.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Newcomers, nonresidents challenge Save Our Homes basis

Retired Florida State University President Talbot "Sandy" D'Alemberte regaled an appellate court with a "magic potion" tale and invited the judges to a "house of mirrors" as he challenged homeowner tax breaks in two cases today. D'Alemberte, now a law professor at the school, represented recently arrived Florida residents in one argument to the 1st District Court of Appeal and out-of-state owners of second homes in another. They are challenging the 1992 Save Our Homes Amendment that limits assessment increases on primary homes to 3 percent annually and a "portability" provision voters added to the Florida Constitution last year. The latter lets homeowners take at least part of their Save Our Homes benefit with them when they move. D'Alemberte also argued the tax breaks impair interstate commerce by discouraging Floridians from moving to other states that don't offer a similar incentive.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Ventana and Kensington Park SoHo To Be Auctioned November 14 in Tampa

In an unusual move, condos and townhomes in the downtown area are set to be auctioned, one by one. There have been relatively few downtown units auctioned so far. When they have been, they've sold for a lump sum. This auction gives regular folks a chance to buy. Some units have minimum bids that are up to 63 percent off original sales prices. Thirty-three condos at downtown's Ventana, at the corner of Kennedy Boulevard and Channelside Drive, and eight townhomes at Kensington Park SoHo in south Tampa are to expected to sell. The auction is set for 1 p.m., Nov. 14 at the Embassy Suites in downtown. Minimum bids range depending on the unit.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Some Housing Analysts Predict Declines in 2010

A new housing price forecast predicts that home values will drop an average of 11.3 percent in 342 out of 381 markets by June 30, 2010. Financial information and analysis firm Fiserv also predict that prices will stabilize and rise 3.6 percent in 2011. Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody’s Economy.com, agrees with Fiserv. "I think more price declines are coming because the foreclosure crisis is not over," he says. Fiserv called Miami the biggest loser, predicting a decline of 29.9 percent by next June. It also predicts large declines in Orlando, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

IRS probing home-buyer tax credit claims

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is probing more than 100,000 doubtful claims of a tax credit meant for first-time home buyers, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website on Tuesday. The $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was passed in February to help prod the U.S. economy back to life. Lawmakers have expressed concern that significant number of claims might turn out to be fraudulent, the paper said. The IRS was investigating 167 "criminal schemes" involving the credit, according to the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, the paper said.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Housing Rebound Already Under Way In London

London home sellers raised asking prices to a record high this month and led gains across the U.K. as the shortage of properties for sale intensified. The average cost of a home in the capital rose 6.5 percent, the most since records began in 2002, to 416,157 pounds ($680,000), the owner of the U.K.’s biggest residential property Web site said today in a statement. Prices climbed 2.8 percent across Britain as transaction levels dropped by half from 2007.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Renewed Attention to Halting Foreclosures

With foreclosures continuing to rise, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) hopes to spark interest in a bill that would give borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth new FHA mortgages. The Homeownership Vesting Plan Act—which received little attention when first introduced in March—would pay original lenders the difference between the old and new loans over the next five years, and pay mortgage servicers $1,000 for each loans they agree to convert, while borrowers would get a lower rate on a smaller loan. Crafted to reduce foreclosures and help keep home prices from sinking further, the legislation seeks to pay for the $50 billion initiative largely with unused TARP money that was set aside for less successful home-loan workout programs.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Florida's unemployment rate jumps to 11 percent; Tampa Bay area hits 11.7

Florida's unemployment rate jumped to 11 percent in September, pushing the total number of jobless above 1 million and matching a modern-era high set in October 1975. In the Tampa Bay area, the news was even more grim: a jobless rate of 11.7 percent, up from an upwardly revised rate of 11.4 percent in August. Among bay area counties, Hernando continued to be hardest hit, with its unemployment rate reaching 13.8 percent. Hillsborough County was at 11.5 percent, Pinellas at 11.2 percent, Pasco at 12.5 percent and Citrus at 12.1 percent.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Congress Debating the Tax Credit

Congress is considering expanding and extending the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit, which expires Nov. 30. More than 1.8 million home buyers will have used the credit by the end of November, including an estimated 355,000 who wouldn’t have bought a home without it, according to the National Association of REALTORS® and other analysts. Opponents argue that the tax credit is too expensive and doesn’t help enough people. Extending the credit through the end of 2010 and making it available to single filers earning up to $150,000 and joint filers earning up to $300,000 would cost an estimated $16.7 million. Some in Congress propose using unspent money from the $787 billion stimulus bill to pay for it.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Stop paying, foreclosure lawyer advises

You have to give lawyer Mark Stopa points for bluntness. He's one of a number of Tampa Bay foreclosure defense attorneys who have been marketing a simple strategy: If you suspect foreclosure is imminent, stop making your monthly house payments. Hire a lawyer to frustrate the bank. Use the yearlong delay to build a nest egg with the deferred house payments. Enjoy living in the house mortgage-free. "The biggest mistake homeowners make is to keep paying when they know they're in trouble," Stopa said this week.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

While Still Near Record Lows, Mortgage Rates Rise Slightly In Latest Weekly Survey

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.92 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending October 15, 2009, up from last week when it averaged 4.87 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.46 percent.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Foreclosure rates drop in Hillsborough, Sarasota, Manatee

For the third quarter, Hillsborough’s foreclosure rates is down nearly 20 percent compared to the year before, and down 9 percent from the quarter before. Sarasota also was down for the quarter, dropping 9.1 percent from the year before and 6.5 percent from the quarter before while Manatee County was down 3.4 percent from the previous year, but up 9 percent from the previous quarter. No other county in the region had similar numbers, although Pasco County was up only 3.3 percent year-over-year, but down 10.5 percent from the previous quarter. Pinellas County was up 14 percent from last year, but flat from the previous quarter while Hernando was up 6.4 percent from a year ago but down 6 percent from the previous quarter. Across Florida, foreclosures were up 23.3 percent from a year ago but were mostly flat from the previous quarter.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Insurers Drop Chinese Drywall Victims

Florida home owner policyholders who made claims related to defective Chinese drywall are being told by their insurers that if the damage to their homes isn’t repaired in six months, their policies won’t be renewed. Insurers sending out those notices include Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-owned nonprofit, which is Florida's largest home insurer. Citizens says it hasn’t paid any drywall-related claims because there are policy exclusions for pollution and builder defects, but the corrosion apparently caused by the drywall could lead to future claims for fire or water leaks. Replacing the defective drywall and the damaged electrical wires and plumbing costs an average of $80,000 to $100,000 per home, experts estimate.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Tampa Bay Foreclosures Drop 17% From Last Year

Tampa Bay home owners continue to struggle with their house payments if September's foreclosure filing count is any indication. RealtyTrac reports a rise of 15 percent in foreclosure cases last month, from 5,810 in August to 6,709 in September. Florida reported 55,036 foreclosure filings in September a drop of 12 percent from August's 62,401. If you compare September 2009 to September 2008, Tampa Bay filed fewer foreclosure lawsuit this year than last year. In fact, foreclosure filings were down 17 percent year over year.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

US foreclosures rise 5 percent from summer to fall

The number of households caught up in the foreclosure crisis rose more than 5 percent from summer to fall as a federal effort to assist struggling borrowers was overwhelmed by a flood of defaults among people who lost their jobs. The foreclosure crisis affected nearly 938,000 properties in the July-September quarter, compared with about 890,000 in the prior three months, according to a report released Thursday by RealtyTrac Inc. That puts foreclosure-related filings on a pace to hit about 3.5 million this year, up from more than 2.3 million last year. On a state-by-state basis, Nevada had the nation's highest foreclosure rate in the July-September quarter. Arizona was No. 2, followed by California, Florida and Idaho. Rounding out the top 10 were Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Colorado and Illinois.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

New home building picks up in the Tampa Bay area

Tampa Bay home builders are pouring more concrete than they have for a year, suggesting the worst of the housing slump is behind them. Local builders started 1,040 homes in the third quarter, which ran from July 1 to Sept. 30. It's the first time in a year that quarterly home starts cracked 1,000. New home construction peaked at 4,659 in the spring of 2006. By the start of this year, on the heels of last fall's financial meltdown, housing starts had plunged to 697.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Few file for China drywall tax cut

The Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's Office is offering a break to homeowners with tainted drywall imported from China and is surprised more people aren't taking advantage of it. "I thought the phone would be ringing off the hook," said Jack Flenniken, director of residential valuation for the county. So far, 220 cases have been filed with the office, although business seems to be picking up. Flenniken said about 40 homeowners registered for the program last week. The office has estimated that as many as 2,500 Hillsborough County homes could have the drywall. It was used in up to 100,000 homes across the nation during the housing boom. After an evaluation, Hillsborough County is offering to halve the estimated value of a home in the worst cases. The value of the land would not be included in the deduction. Everyone who has asked has gotten the full discount, Flenniken said.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Boomers Aren't Choosing Urban Retirement

Part of the prevailing wisdom of the now-late-lamented housing boom was the theory that baby boomers were ready to trade in their suburban ranch houses for an urban retreat, thus saving themselves from lawn maintenance and automobiles. Now many of the condos that were built in urban centers in anticipation of that happening are sitting vacant. “Someone who grew up living in 2,500 square feet with a driveway leading up to the front door isn't going to downsize to 850 square feet until he's ready for assisted living," says Joel Kotkin, a scholar on urban development who wrote The City: A Global History. "The new urbanists convinced the idiot development community there was going to be this massive move that never happened."

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Foreclosure activity continues to rise in Tampa Bay

There is little good news in a new foreclosure report from First American CoreLogic that shows more increases year-over-year in families losing homes. But the Tampa Bay region is doing better than Florida as a whole. Foreclosure rates in August were 8.58 percent in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater market, according to the CoreLogic report. That is nearly double from its rate a year ago where 4.65 percent of homes were in foreclosure. Florida overall had a foreclosure rate of just under 10 percent in August, up from 2008 when it had just a 5.24 percent rate.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Enchantment Condo Site On Clearwater Beach Seeks Bankruptcy

The Best Western Sea Wake Beach Resort on Clearwater Beach is seeking bankruptcy protection while it restructures. Enchantment LLC, owner of the hotel, filed a Chapter 11 petition on Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida, Tampa. The company estimated its assets and debts in a range of $10 million to $50 million. Bank of America brought a lawsuit to foreclose on the property in July, Pinellas court records show. Uday Lele’s Enchantment paid $25 million for the more than 25-year-old hotel in October 2005. The Indian-born entrepreneur told the Tampa Bay Business Journal in 2007 he planned to raze the hotel and construct a $180 million condo tower that would resemble a butterfly. At the time, he said the hotel was an award winning enterprise.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Chinese Drywall Is a Growing U.S. Problem

Thousands of lawsuits by Americans complaining that drywall imported from China is causing them health problems are awaiting action in federal and state courts. A consolidated class action will be heard beginning in January. “There could be 60,000 to 100,000 homes that are worthless and have to be ripped completely down and rebuilt,” said Arnold Levin, a Philadelphia lawyer and co-chairman of the plaintiffs’ steering committee. Later in October, the Consumer Product Safety Commission will release the results of its study to determine what’s wrong with the drywall and what mediation programs might work. Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin, a German company with manufacturing plants in China that supplied about 20 percent of the Chinese drywall said its own tests showed the drywall didn’t cause health problems. Some experts believe that the reason that drywall seems to be causing respiratory problems and headaches is because American homes are built tighter than those in Asia, where the drywall was also sold.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Banks Making Short Sales Tougher

Banks are backing away from short sales, forcing sellers to pay extra at closing or demanding a promissory note for the amount due. One-third of borrowers owe more on their mortgages than their properties are worth, according First American CoreLogic. When their situations were really tough, most banks preferred short sales because they were their best opportunity to get the most money back. But with an improving economy, and because the losses on many of these properties have already been written off the books, banks are increasingly reluctant to negotiate a short sale. Today, banks demand 9.5 weeks to respond to a short-sale request, compared to 4.5 weeks a year ago, according to research firm Campbell Communications. Their reluctance is frequently stymieing sales and frustrating real estate practitioners.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Tampa homebuyer discounts nearly double U.S. median

Floridians still have the upper hand when it comes to negotiating a good deal on a home, according to Zillow. But, nationwide, negotiating power dipped slightly in August, compared with July. Across the United States, buyers paid a median $6,525 — or 3 percent — less than the last listing price on homes bought in August, down from $7,018 — or 3.3 percent — less for homes bought in July, according to Zillow. However, the negotiating power in the Tampa metropolitan statistical area was nearly double the national median with buyers paying $10,320 — or 5.9 percent — less. Lakeland reported a 6.4 percent difference at $9,691, and with 7.9 percent at $19,782, Sarasota reported the highest discount in the seven-county Tampa Bay area and the third highest of any MSA nationwide, after Vero Beach and Naples.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Long Term Mortgage Rates Continue Downward Trend To Record Level Lows

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.87 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending October 8, 2009, down from last week when it averaged 4.94 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.94 percent. The last time the 30-year FRM was lower was the week ending May 21, 2009, when it averaged 4.82 percent.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Nationwide Insurance to drop 60,000 homeowners policies in Florida

Nationwide Insurance Co. announced plans Wednesday to drop about 60,000 homeowners policies across Florida, including more than 10,000 in the Tampa Bay area. Nationwide, the latest insurer to dramatically scale back its presence in the hurricane-prone state, said nearly all customers with only a homeowners policy will be affected. About 45,000 Nationwide customers who have a homeowners policy plus an additional line of insurance like car or boat policies will not be affected, said company spokeswoman Nancy Smeltzer.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

A Historic Time to Buy

Young people just starting to invest and buying their first homes are potentially the winners in this recession. First-time homebuyers, most between the ages of 25 and 45, accounted for about 45 percent of home sales from January through July 2009, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. A study by investment company T. Rowe Price points out that investing when prices are low can result in amazing gains. For instance, between 1970 and 1990, the annualized rate of return for the S&P 500 was 11.5 percent.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Poll: Florida ranks No. 2 for wannabe residents

High unemployment and housing crisis be darned: Florida is still among the most popular states when it comes to where people want to live. Only California is more popular, taking the No. 1 spot for the sixth year in a row in the Harris poll by Harris Interactive as the place Americans would like to live if they didn’t live in the state they now live. Hawaii came in third. “The most popular states and cities where large numbers of people would like to live tend to attract tourists and business,” according to a Harris media release. “They are places where people like to take vacations and where companies like to have their offices and factories.” Oddly enough, however, no Florida cities were among the top destinations for resident wannabes.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

New FHA condo rules may hinder mortgages

The Federal Housing Administration is getting ready to implement new rules that could, in some cases, make it harder to get a mortgage to buy a condominium unit. The new rules were supposed to take effect Oct. 1. But the FHA announced in mid-September that it would delay implementation of the new rules until Nov. 2, and that it might modify some of the policies. Of the several new rules and requirements, there are four that most directly affect people who want to buy condos with FHA-insured mortgages:

* "Spot approvals" are eliminated, and now the entire project has to meet FHA approval before a borrower can get an FHA-insured loan.
* A maximum of 30 percent of the condo project's units can have FHA-insured mortgages (there was no such limitation previously).
* Before the FHA will insure a mortgage on a condo, at least half the units must have already been sold (again, there was no such limitation previously).
* At least half of the condo project's property owners will have to occupy their units, down from 51 percent.

That last item is actually a slight liberalization of the rules, but Realtors and mortgage lenders argue that the owner-occupancy rule should be relaxed even more at a time when so many condo units are vacant.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Age and makeup of your neighborhood can determine home value loss

In general, homes in established neighborhoods have held value better. Part of the reason, Teacher said, is that fewer investors purchased during the housing boom, and the foreclosure rate is typically lower than in newer subdivisions. One neighborhood that has remained fairly stable, Teacher said, is the area of South Tampa, west of Westshore Boulevard. The average sales prices of $662,634 in 2005 dropped 4 percent to $634,764 in 2009. Part of the reason may be that the neighborhood is established and hasn't seen as much sales activity has some other areas. Another South Tampa neighborhood, Beach Park, known for luxury homes, saw the average sales price of $646,891 drop 22 percent to $505,952 this year. It's not just the age of the neighborhoods that contributes to value changes. It is also relatively low prices in certain neighborhoods that attracted investors.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Record Streak Continues for Pending Home Sales

Pending home sales have increased for seven straight months, the longest in the series of the index which began in 2001, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in August, rose 6.4 percent to 103.8 from a reading of 97.6 in July, and is 12.4 percent above August 2008 when it was 92.4. The index is at the highest level since March 2007 when it was 104.5. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said not all contracts are turning into closed sales within an expected timeframe. The Pending Home Sales Index in the Northeast jumped 8.2 percent to 85.3 in August and is 12.0 percent higher than August 2008. In the Midwest the index rose 3.1 percent to 90.8 in August and is 7.6 percent above a year ago. In the South, pending home sales increased 0.8 percent to an index of 104.6 and is 8.2 percent above August 2008. In the West the index surged 16.0 percent to 130.5 and is 22.3 percent above a year ago.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Mild hurricane season won't save homeowners from higher insurance rates

Hurricane season has spared Florida homeowners so far this year, but they'll have trouble dodging a more imminent threat: hefty increases in insurance rates. A half-dozen property insurers have recently filed or been approved for rate increases from 7 to 19 percent. Including a pending rate hike by Citizens Property Insurance and discarded discounts by State Farm, Floridians insured by four of the five biggest property insurers could face steeper premiums. And more insurers are expected to follow suit.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Long Term Mortgage Rates Nearing All Time Low

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.94 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending October 1, 2009, down from last week when it averaged 5.04 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.10 percent. The last time the 30-year FRM was below 5 percent was the week ending May 28, 2009, when it averaged 4.91 percent.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

TRIM Guide 2009

Here is the 2009 TRIM (TRuth In Millage) Guide for Pinellas County. The TRIM Guide is a notice from local governments designed to inform taxpayers which governmental entity is responsible for the taxes levied and the amount of tax liability owed to each taxing entity. It enables the taxpayer to compare the prior year assessed value and taxes with the present year assessed value and proposed taxes. It also lets taxpayers compare the amount of taxes if there is no budget change for the upcoming year. The notice lists the date, time, and location of all budget hearings at which the taxing authorities will hear from the public. At these hearings, the taxing authorities establish the millage to be levied against the parcel of land shown on the TRIM notice. The notice also shows the deadline for filing a petition to protest the assessment and any denial of exemption.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Homeowners fall behind on modified mortgages

Lenders are ramping up efforts to avoid home foreclosures, but a report by bank regulators says more than half of borrowers who get help fall behind again. More than 50 percent of homeowners with loans modified in the first half of last year had missed at least two months of payments a year later, the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision said Wednesday. The results were better among those who saw their payments drop substantially. About 1 in 3 borrowers whose monthly payments were reduced by 20 percent or more had fallen behind again within a year. That compares with more than 60 percent for borrowers whose loan payments were left unchanged or increased.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email

Report: Nearly 1M bank foreclosures in process

Nearly 1 million homes nationwide are in the process of foreclosure, according to a U.S. Department of the Treasury report covering banks and loan servicers that make up 64 percent of all outstanding mortgages. As of June 30, there were 992,554 homes in the process of foreclosure, up 15.3 percent from March 31 and up 79.4 percent from the same period a year ago. While the rock-bottom sales of foreclosed properties are dragging real estate prices down, what’s on the market now is the just tip of the iceberg. The report said that 106,007 foreclosures were completed as of June 30. For every bank-owned property, there were nine more homes in the process of foreclosure. There were 23,102 short sales in the second quarter, up 34.8 percent from the first quarter.

Click here to enter the Tampa Realtors MLS (updated daily)
Register to receive an email every morning of today's new listings
Visit my website or contact me by email