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Shadow Inventory? Of Homes Could Topple Real-estate Recovery – Miami Herald

REI News — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 05:36:15 +0000

But millions of people lurking in the shadows – carefully hidden in bank balance sheets, supported by the courts of foreclosure, or simply occupied by the owners and lenders who do not pay to wait months or years before they act. Officially there are 3.5 million homes for sale throughout the country.

Prices also showed signs of stability this year, a wave of foreclosures that has threatened to keep the deflated values of real estate in South Florida and across the country. And in South Florida, with about 200,000 households already owned by banks or direct impediment, is one of the largest collections of national inventory invisible. The number of houses dwarfs shadow of 30,000 or more are listed on the asset market.

Supply and demand in the housing market expectations, the domestic supply of houses traded at around $ 3.5 million, equal to the value of the houses of nine months (selling the house in good condition track to reach five million dollars this year). A healthy housing market is the "supply" of six months to the property, which would be about 2.4 million. But once that is added to the inventory of shadow, which provide more than twice of at least $ 7.5 million.

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Florida Has Highest Inventory Of Homes In Foreclosure – Miami Herald

REI News — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 03:13:16 +0000

Florida has the largest national inventory of homes in foreclosure, with 14.4 percent of mortgages in the current state of foreclosure. Percent state loan of 3.2 million, or about 739,000, or 23.1 delinquent or in foreclosure, the report said. More than 50 percent of subprime loans are in default status, the report said. Other 8.7 percent of the properties are at least 30 days late, even if an entry has been submitted.

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Foreclosure Homes Account For 26 Percent Of All 2010 Residential Sales According To … – PR-USA.net

REI News — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 18:51:17 +0000

'S average sales price of existing homes last month was a year ago, was down 7 percent. Analysts of the National Association of Realtors ® (NAR) said sales of home foreclosures and other difficulties continue to distort the average price down, since they are generally sold at a discount to traditional homes. The median is the midpoint, half the homes sold for more than half less.

The average resale price statewide was in was in the summer and it was. The national median price of existing home sales for a single family in the state, compared with 0.2 percent a year, according to NAR.

The average statewide existing condo sales price last month was, there was a reduction of 18 percent. In the review year to year, 6,681 units sold statewide last month compared to 4916 units, an increase of 36 percent. National median existing condo was second in the NAR.

statistics maps showing state and MSA are below. A chart compares the volume of single-family home sales and median sales prices based on transactions per estate agent, other compares the volume of existing condo sales and median sales prices based on real estate transactions.

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Existing Homes Sales Tick Up In South Florida – Miami Herald

REI News — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 23:30:35 +0000

They stopped in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Hershey, Pennsylvania. Empire State Building in New York, Jamestown, Virginia, to Cape Canaveral in Florida and the Florida Everglades. Wood RidgeThe seniors have been busy "trip" on the east coast of learning were the capitals of the northeast and southeast y. They have also completed their science unit on water. We will continue to learn from the regions of the United States in the coming months. We work to become better readers, learning to choose between facts and opinions, making inferences, problem identification and solution, and finding main ideas. Students also learn to multiply and divide large numbers in mathematics.

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Foreclosure-document Flaws Lead To Sharp Drop In Homes Taken Back By Lenders In November – Los Angeles Times

REI News — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 13:13:11 +0000

Lenders have taken over 67,428 homes last month was the lowest since May 2009. But even in hindsight, it was enough to push the total number of foreclosures so far this year to more than 980,000 the number of property records largest annual loss RealtyTrac foreclosure since 2005.

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Fewer Homes ‘underwater’ As Foreclosures Mount – Cincinnati.com

REI News — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 01:45:20 +0000

About 2.4 million borrowers have less than 5 percent of the value of their homes from June to September, bringing the total value of mortgaged homes under water or near negative equity of 27.5 percent. In Ohio, 25 percent of borrowers of less than 5 percent of the equity in your home, compared with less than 14 percent in Kentucky and 15 percent in Indiana.

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Sales Of Florida Homes Slide In October – Tallahassee Democrat

REI News — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 18:36:22 +0000

In California, the average resale price statewide was $ 309,900 in September, Massachusetts, was $ 295,000, Maryland, was $ 243,134, and New York was $ 229.102. The national median price of existing home sales for a single family in September was $ 172,600, down 1.9 percent from a year earlier, the NAR reported.

This left the pace of home sales and employed 38.9 percent below a peak of 7.25 million units set in September 2005. The drop in new home sales followed a report published Tuesday that sales of existing homes fell 2.2 percent in employment in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.43 million units.

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Florida Homes Will Luxury Real Estate Ever Rise Again

REI News — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 04:09:20 +0000

Sales of existing homes unexpectedly fell last month and purchases of new homes fell to a record low, underscoring the ability of borrowers in financing is limited, even if rates fall. Bond prices show investors are not interested owners to repay the loans underlying the bonds early, which forced to reinvest in new debt with lower yields. U.S.

Titles rated 10 years tied to Bryant Park, a 52-story building opened in 2008 and headquartered in New York to Charlotte, North Carolina Bank of America, the price can produce 155 basis points over benchmark swap rates, as a person familiar with the sale.

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You Say Squatter They Say Owner Vacant Homes

REI News — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 23:23:15 +0000

He declined to answer further questions.

Hollywood police are investigating Michael Spitaleri’s property claims, said spokesman Lt. He also moved his computer into a law office of a now-disbarred attorney and changed the locks, the records say.

"When he told me about that," Koehler said, "I dropped him as a client like a hot potato."

Danielle Rubio said Heflin duped her into believing he was a legitimate landlord and in April 2009, she rented a three-bedroom home from him. and two other companies. It’s been spawned by the real estate crisis."

A bill in the Florida Legislature this spring would have helped cut back on the abuses and better protect Florida property owners, but it failed to pass -- the result of political retribution, state Rep. Seeing little progress on the home in the following days, Rubio said she started checking on Heflin and tracked down the owner of record, who told her the house was in foreclosure and he had no tenants.

Rubio said Heflin refused to return her money, about $1,200, and she moved her family in with a relative.

"We were with my aunt two months before we could save enough to get a place," she said. He was one of 19 people named in a wide-ranging indictment that included charges of laundering money through mob-controlled check-cashing stores in Broward County.

In February, Spitaleri filed adverse possession notices on 14 Hollywood homes and one in Fort Lauderdale through Saving Florida Neighborhoods Inc. The paperwork looked legitimate."

Similar problems have occurred in Florida’s St. These days, officials say, the legal doctrine is being misused by squatters, trespassers and swindlers to claim ownership of vacant or foreclosed homes.

In Florida’s Broward and Palm Beach counties alone, adverse possession claims have been filed on some 200 homes in recent months. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. Police disagreed, and Ellis, 64, is now in the Broward County Jail charged with six counts of grand theft.

Ellis tried to claim a total of 48 properties in Broward, including a $1 million house in Coral Springs, through a company he formed called Helping Hands Properties Inc., county official records show. Two associates, George Chambers and Sue Ann Smith, pleaded guilty in March to petty theft and as a condition of their probation must testify against Heflin.

Heflin and his attorney could not be reached for comment. Manny Marino.

For property owners, consequences of adverse possession can be costly. Ron Schultz, one of the sponsors, told the Sun Sentinel.

"We tried to nip this in the bud, but that didn’t quite work," Schultz, a Republican, said. He has pleaded not guilty to a charge of organized scheme to defraud.

His lawyer, Robert Shearin, said Guerette is nothing more than a good Samaritan, rescuing blighted homes.

"The banks are letting these properties go down the tubes," Shearin said. "We gave all the money to (the Heflins)."

Heflin, 52, was arrested last summer and is scheduled for trial June 21 on multiple counts, including organized scheme to defraud. -- Imagine going to a house or condo you own and finding a stranger living there who claims the property no longer belongs to you.

It’s happening across Florida and other parts of the country through what authorities say is abuse of a centuries-old concept known as adverse possession.

Dating back to Renaissance England, adverse possession allowed people to take over abandoned cottages and farmland, provided they were willing to live there and pay the taxes. Heflin’s ex-wife has not been charged and declined to comment. He said he learned of the adverse claim through another Realtor, and the owner’s attorney "contacted the outfit that was trying to steal this property" and cleared the title.

Joseph Spitaleri could not be reached, but was "not really involved" in the adverse possession claims, his son said.

"I canceled everything (for him) and had it all in my name," Michael Spitaleri said. "Some people have decided, ‘Hey, this is an opportunity for me.’ "

The opportunity involves a new twist on a very old law, dating to 16th-century England. Others are properties in use by the actual owners but someone beat them to paying the property tax bill, she said.

The judiciary committee of the Florida Senate warned of the potential abuses of adverse possession last fall. He told a Plantation, Fla., police detective he planned to rent out the houses and condos and could offer tenants a good price "since he didn’t have to pay anything for the homes," according to a police report.

Ellis, who is representing himself, wrote in court documents that the allegations against him are "false and an abuse of power."

Another man, Mark Guerette of Wellington, Fla., filed notice in official county records that he was taking possession of 100 homes in Broward and three in the Palm Beach community of Lake Worth through Saving Florida Homes Inc. "This is becoming a fairly wide scam in Florida."

Antonio Vurro owned an empty rental home in Sunrise, Fla., that he was trying to sell when he discovered in February that someone had moved in, changed the locks and was trying to open a utility account.

"There were boxes all over the place and a mattress in each room," Vurro said in a recent interview. The home was in disrepair, Rubio said, and Heflin’s ex-wife Cheryl collected a deposit with the promise to fix it up.

Rubio and her family spent just a few hours in the house when her 2-year-old son got sick from mold and was hospitalized, she said. The purpose was to prevent abandoned properties from sitting idle with no one paying taxes on them.

It’s been used mostly to take over abandoned farmland or settle boundary disputes, such as a fence or building encroaching on a neighbor’s property.

In theory, vacant houses can also be taken through adverse possession, if the seven-year window passes and the property owner makes no attempt to pay the taxes or liens -- an unlikely scenario, especially when a bank is laying claim through foreclosure, property experts say.

And claimants risk breaking other laws if they trespass, break into a home or try to collect rent without being the actual property owner.

Even if someone claiming adverse possession manages to occupy a home legally and pays taxes on it, "an owner could come in the sixth or seventh year and say, ‘I want my property back,’ " Koehler said.

Koehler said he was hired by a West Palm Beach man, Carl Heflin, to provide legal advice on taking over homes through adverse possession. On one day last November, he filed takeover notices on 10 condos in the same North Lauderdale complex, records show.

Police say Guerette, 46, rented out six of the properties and collected more than $20,000 from tenants before he was arrested in April. It was a general purpose, anti-fraud bill and it didn’t get a hearing."

Palm Beach County Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits said the "political payback" has hurt all Floridians.

The proposed law "had statewide consequences and had benefit for all taxpayers," he said, "so shame on the leadership."

(Sun Sentinel database specialist Dana Williams contributed to this report.). Koehler told the Sun Sentinel that he outlined a series of steps Heflin would need to take and stressed that he "couldn’t just move in and squat."

But that’s exactly what Heflin did, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

Beginning in December 2008, Heflin filed adverse possession notices on properties in West Palm Beach and even submitted deeds declaring ownership of 27 of them, police and court records show. "I was quite disappointed. "Here’s a guy trying to help out, and he ends up in jail."

The attempted takeovers are more fallout from Florida’s declining housing market, said Dennis Koehler, a West Palm Beach lawyer.

"People who are upside down just choose to leave the property, let it sit," he said. "We never thought we would ever be in something like that. Polk holds the state record for the most adverse possession claims -- 613 -- many in unplatted subdivisions that are delinquent in their property taxes.

"Most are foreign owners, and they thought one day it might be developed and it would be close to (Walt Disney World) and they’d make a fortune," Faux said. A claim can cloud the title and affect future sales, forcing the owner to hire an attorney and in some cases go to court.

One Polk County nursery owner has spent more money fighting an adverse possession claim than his property is worth, said county Property Appraiser Marsha Faux. "I don’t care to speak to you about any of this," she said.

"It’s scary that people can just take your money without even thinking about it," Rubio said. "This is not right. Lucie and Pasco counties, Las Vegas and southern California.

A squatter citing adverse possession took up residence last month in the former home of the mayor of Deltona in Volusia County. It’s my house."

The occupant, Fitzroy Ellis, told Vurro he was entitled to take over the home because it was abandoned. Paula Dockery, cleared the Senate unanimously but died in the House the last day of the legislative session, April 30.

Schultz said a House leader told him the sponsors were the problem. The house had been foreclosed on and sold when a woman moved in, hooked up cable television and refused to leave until sheriff’s deputies forced her out and gave her a trespass warning.

In South Florida, those trying to take properties have included people with criminal records, experience in real estate, or both.

Heflin told a sheriff’s detective he had "always been interested in real estate" and worked in 2007 for a company that secured foreclosed properties for banks.

Guerette had been an officer in property management, mortgage funding and real estate companies, corporation records show. His son, Michael, claimed 13 other properties through his company, MAS & Son Inc., records show.

Joseph Spitaleri withdrew his claims in March, and his son gave up all but four of his last month.

One of the homes Joseph Spitaleri claimed is on Hollywood’s South Lake and is currently under contract to be sold for $1.2 million, said real estate agent Mike Harris. He was convicted of misdemeanor and felony theft charges in 1994.

Adverse possession even lured a Hollywood man with ties to the mob.

Joseph Spitaleri was a member of the Trafficante organized crime family when he was convicted of racketeering in 2001, sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison and ordered to repay $1.7 million. Schultz, a former property appraiser, introduced legislation to stop them, including requiring all property owners to be notified when a claim is made and preventing non-owners from paying a tax bill until it becomes delinquent.

The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Three of the four people behind the claims have been arrested, and police are investigating the fourth man, who along with his father, a convicted mobster, tried to take over properties in Hollywood, Fla.

"We look at this as another con job, another get-rich-quick scheme," said Don TenBrook, a Broward state prosecutor of economic crimes. Dockery, a Republican from Lakeland, was running for governor, but the preferred candidate of the House leadership was Attorney General Bill McCollum, Schultz said.

And Schultz said he angered leaders by voting against their priorities, including bills tying teacher pay to student test scores and requiring pregnant women to get an ultrasound before an abortion.

"When you are the lone ‘no’ vote among Republicans, you can expect to be noticed, and your bills have a certain aroma," Schultz said. Adverse possession allows non-owners of a property to eventually take ownership if they pay the taxes, occupy, maintain and improve the land for a period of years -- seven in Florida. "You’re starting to see them pop up all over the place.

Schultz, a former property appraiser, introduced legislation to stop them, including requiring all property owners to be notified when a claim is made and preventing non-owners from paying a tax bill until it becomes delinquent. The judiciary committee of the Florida Senate warned of the potential abuses of adverse possession last fall.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WMS98n7Pgc

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Homes For Sale Marco Island And Naples Florida – Real Estate

REI News — Thu, 13 May 2010 13:00:08 +0000

Welcome to the most comprehensive web site for buying and Selling Real Estate in the Marco Island and Naples FL area. Foreclosures Short sales Waterfront Homes Luxury Beachfront condos Whatever you are looking to buy or sell in Real Estate we can help.Welcome to the most comprehensive web site for buying and Selling Real Estate in the Marco Island and Naples FL area. Foreclosures Short sales Waterfront Homes Luxury Beachfront condos Whatever you are looking to buy or sell in Real Estate we can help.

Do you wish to purchase a home then foreclosure homes for sale in Florida is the best place to go to Before purchasing there are a few things you need to consider before you purchase. Do you wish to purchase a home then foreclosure homes for sale in Florida is the best place to go to Before purchasing there are a few things you need to consider before you purchase.

In the fall of 2008 Ft. Lauderdale Florida won 3.7 million in grant money from the Federal Government through an economic recovery program geared towards aiding in the foreclosure crisis.The monies were to be used to redevelop foreclosed homes. In the fall of 2008 Ft. Lauderdale Florida won 3.7 million in grant money from the Federal Government through an economic recovery program geared towards aiding in the foreclosure crisis.The monies were to be used to redevelop foreclosed homes.

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