Florida Moves Tax Credit Up Front

June 30, 2009

Beginning in July, Florida will offer $8,000 worth of help to help jumpstart real estate deals. Called the Florida Homebuyer Opportunity Program, first-timers and those who haven’t owned in three years will get front-end access to money promised by the federal government and 18 months to repay the state. Buyers must hurry, though, as all sales must close by November.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-asechome-buyer-tax-credit-fl-063063009jun30,0,414986.story

Appraisers Still Unhappy

June 29, 2009

Everyone wants appraisers to be in a good mood, right? Well, increasingly, they’re not. Miffed about new rules that govern how their industry works, some industrious members took their protest online with a viral video. Among concerns are that appraisers are completely cut out of the communication link with lenders, and most of the business appears headed for the big companies that don’t pay their appraisers as well.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/orl-cfbcover-appraisers-cfb-062909062909jun29,0,6634080.story

Foreclosures & Bank-Owned Properties Still Surging

June 29, 2009

In a trend we’ve seen all over the country, Connecticut reports seeing an increase in foreclosure and bank-owned sales against their one year ago percentages. Overall homes sales and prices remained poor overall, as most of the action remains in distressed situations.

http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news9401.html

Foreclosures To Continue For Now

June 28, 2009

Several factors continue to prevent significant progress on the foreclosure front. Banks are caught between helping homeowners and digging themselves out of trouble. The economic recession and unemployment remain an obstacle, as well. Owners also complicate the recovery with re-defaults and entanglements with sometimes shady for-profit foreclosure prevention firms.

http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/news/la-fi-blog28-2009jun28,0,2866475.story

Some Market Perspective from the Houston Chronicle

June 27, 2009

The Houston Chronicle ran a Q&A story over the weekend about current U.S. real estate home prices. If you want to know which prices have fallen and which prices are like to fall some more, check it out.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6500308.html