It Did Get Crazy In Florida
The News Press reports from Florida. “Missing garage doors. Boarded up windows. Dug up landscaping. Holes in roofs. Projects started, then abandoned. For lack of a better term, call it the ‘new blight.’ Homes, throughout the county, in gated communities, well-to-do subdivisions and starter-home neighborhoods are being trashed or stripped bare when banks foreclose on the owners. Fort Myers Realtor Marc Joseph said he’s seen it all - ’stripped appliances, stripped kitchens, carpet gone …’ But, he said, there are many foreclosures that are brand new that can be purchased for 30 to 40 cents on the dollar.”
“Maura Granger-Bohl has witnessed the problem from the front yard of her home in the gated community Gladiolus Preserve in south Fort Myers. ‘Down the street there’s a house in foreclosure. The bank owns it,’ Granger-Bohl said. ‘One day, this van pulls up and the people go inside. They start taking stuff out of the house … cabinets and shelves and anything they could carry out. They even took the garage door off.’”
“Police were called, but they couldn’t figure out who owned the home, so nothing was done.”
From CNN. “When you are called before this court, it’s the end of the line. You are about to lose your home. This is foreclosure court in Fort Myers, Florida. At this point in the legal process, all that’s needed is a judge’s signature. CNN was in court Friday to witness the process, which takes seconds. It’s called the ‘rocket docket.’ On some days the court hears up to 1,000 cases.”
“Dave Cabiness lost his home of 15 years. He stopped making his house payment in October 2007. He has a mortgage of $235,000, while his home is worth only $160,000. ‘My business decision is to take my lumps and start over,’ he told CNN. ‘We have five years of inventory of foreclosed homes here. The values are still going to continue to go down.’”
The Miami Herald. “Ferdinand Bristol, owner of a small home-repair business, lost most of his livelihood in the housing crash and feared his small home on Dewey Street in Hollywood would be next. After seeing a television ad, he turned to Outreach Housing, which enrolled him in a plan that reduced his mortgage payment by almost $500 a month.”
“Bristol said he thought his loan had been modified successfully, which prompted him to spread the word to about 20 friends, all of whom, he claims, were told to make their mortgage payments to Outreach. ”I don’t sleep at night,’ Bristol said. ‘I feel responsible. I feel miserable.”’
“Eva Etienne, a Broward County taxi driver, said she paid Outreach more than $9,300 over six months for help in saving the Miramar home she had bought three years ago for $322,000. The money is gone, Etienne said. ”I know I have to move, but I don’t know when,’ said Etienne.”
“The hope that drove thousands to sleep outside overnight in Fort Lauderdale to apply for subsidized housing turned to outrage Saturday morning as throngs were sent home empty-handed. More than 5,000 arrived hours earlier than expected and began pushing against metal guardrails and police when an announcement came that there were not enough documents to go around.”
”’There are no more applications,’ a Fort Lauderdale police officer called out over a megaphone at 8:15 a.m. ‘Your presence here is a waste of your time.”’
From NBC 6. “A South Florida organization that helps families move back into their foreclosed homes has done it again, and the family said they will not leave without a fight. The home at Northwest 8th Avenue and 135th Street in unincorporated Miami-Dade County was foreclosed as a result of a fraudulent refinance scheme by a lender, the organization said.”
“The homeowner, Carolyn Connolly, said she is reclaiming the home. ‘Down with the bank,’ she chanted.”
The Daily Business Review. “Gulben Degirmenci thought she would take advantage of the booming housing market in 2006 and upgrade to Sapphire, a condominium complex planned within walking distance of Fort Lauderdale beach. Degirmenci put down a $96,000 deposit and hoped to sell her existing condo for $400,000 to make the deal work. Then the bubble burst. These days, Degirmenci thinks she’d be lucky to get $300,000.”
“‘Basically I knew I no longer could afford to buy this place, so I was hoping I could get part of my money back,’ she said. ‘I knew I couldn’t afford to sell.’”
“Miami attorney Robert Cooper…who has filed various suits on behalf of buyers seeking to get out of purchase contracts…prefers state court where he finds judges more friendly to depositors. What about the fact that many buyers are simply bailing for financial reasons? Cooper says so what.”
“‘According to the law, it was an illegal sales practice to sell these condos and tout them as investments,’ he said. ‘The developers’ sales staffs were actively doing that. They were telling everybody they were going to be making money, ‘We are going to flip this for you,’ and people were believing that.’”
The Palm Beach Post. “The wave of foreclosures in Florida continues to batter condo and homeowner associations, which have been forced to cut expenses and raise fees…according to a survey of 1,589 property owners released Monday by Hollywood law firm Becker & Poliakoff.”
“Lenders, for their part, say such criticisms oversimplify the complexity of foreclosure. Alex Sanchez, head of the Florida Bankers Association, said members of his trade group pay assessments as they’re required to. As for complaints about lenders dragging their feet, he said a backlog of foreclosure cases means it can take 18 months to take title to a property. ‘We like to rehabilitate the property and get it off our books,’ Sanchez said. ‘We don’t want to hold property - why would we?’”
“It ain’t exactly an affordable housing activist’s dream, but the slowdown in Palm Beach means entry-level homes now are available for less than $1 million. During Palm Beach’s boom, an entry-level teardown cost $2 million, says Palm Beach Realtor John Pinson. Now, there are half a dozen single-family homes on the island for less than $1 million.”
“‘That’s something, to have properties priced under $1 million,’ Pinson says. ‘It’s been a long time since that was the case.’”
The St Petersburg Times. “In 2006, at the height of the most recent building boom, the median sale price for a home in Hernando County was $178,500. This month, it’s $95,000. ‘I’ve never seen anything like this,’” said Stuart Glover, president of Palmwood Builders, whose father started the company when Stuart was a boy. ‘It’s been three full years now,’ he said. ‘In January of ‘06, the spigot shut off. Sales just went off a cliff.’”
From Consumer Affairs. “A class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of homeowners experiencing problems with drywall manufactured in China, just as the Consumer Product Safety Commission ramps up an investigation. The drywall, installed in homes in Florida, may be emitting sulfuric odors, potentially exposing homeowners to respiratory health problems. The emissions can also corrode air conditioning coils and wiring, posing a potential risk of electrical fire.”
“Most of the complaints have come from homeowners in Southwest Florida, although the scope of affected homes remains to be seen. Miami-based Lennar Homes, the nation’s second-largest homebuilder by volume, has confirmed that KPT drywall was installed in some of its homes, and says it is taking steps to address the issue.”
“In a preemptive strike, Lennar Homes has already filed suit against KPT, Banner Supply, and Taishan Gypsum, another China-based drywall manufacturer. In its complaint, the builder insists that, ‘Lennar stands alongside its homeowners as a victim.’”
The News Journal. “Residential construction permit activity last year fell 29 percent across Volusia and Flagler counties, including a 14 percent drop in the fourth quarter. The sliding numbers are not surprising to local home building officials.”
“‘Realtors say things are happening and foreclosures are moving, but until we get ride of the existing inventory, our industry will not come back. We need the inventory to go away,’ said Sue Darden, executive officer for the Volusia Home Builders Association.”
The Orlando Sentinel. “NewBroad Street Realty’s spacious office, on the main drag through Baldwin Park Village Center, has the latest touch-screen video monitors to show off the neo-traditional homes for sale in Baldwin Park, the mixed-use development in northeast Orlando. But right behind the glitzy office is a weedy lot that was once destined for upscale, high-rise condominiums and town homes overlooking Lake Baldwin. Another parcel nearby was planned for mid-rise condos. Both projects are on hold for now as the local real-estate market struggles to find stable ground.”
“Part of the explanation, said Scott Hillman, president of Fannie Hillman & Associates, is that higher-income buyers are having as much trouble getting a mortgage as everyone else — maybe more so. ‘Lenders were burned, so they’ve really cracked down, and you can’t blame them. For a time, they were loosey-goosey, and now they’ve gone way over to the other extreme,’ Hillman said.”
“David Welch, an Orlando real-estate agent who bought a home in Baldwin Park four years ago, said he figures his own home there has lost about $250,000 of its value since the market’s peak. ‘We contracted [to build] at $650,000, before the real blow-up in prices, and I think it peaked at about $1.1 million. It did get crazy,’ Welch said.”
From CBS 4. “Once a boom town for development as the city fathers of Las Vegas developed it into a family friendly town. Now Forbes magazine reports the sagging economy has earned Sin City a new title – the Most Abandoned City in America. Four Florida areas; Miami/Miami Beach/Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Jacksonville and Tampa also made the top 15.”
The Daily Advance. “With all the money being doled out of Washington these days, some folks are angry. I received a call from a reader last week upset about the housing segment of Obama’s stimulus package. She said that she had acted financially responsible over the years and now ’selfishly’ feels that others are being rewarded for their lack of fiscal discipline.”
“She went on to say that when she purchases stock and loses money, it’s her loss and she alone must bear it. She sold her condominium in Florida last year when she chose to relocate to North Carolina. ‘I took a terrific loss,’ she said. ‘But it was my decision. I don’t expect anyone else to pay for my mistakes or lack of good judgment. I probably shouldn’t have bought in Florida in the first place.’”
