We’ve been asked to enter the FHA Mortgage Center’s Best Real Estate Blogs Contest…
Their goal is to highlight some of the great blogs in the real estate industry. Of course, the “best blog” means something different to everyone but we hope you’ll vote for us! There are 3 different categories and the winners will be [...]

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presented by FHA Mortgage Center
 

One of the most serious misconceptions for potential home buyers right now is the idea that they’ll qualify for a mortgage “no problem”. If you’re an all-cash buyer, you can ignore everything that follows, but if you’re an investor looking to leverage, listen up – because the days of telling your Realtor “Don’t worry about [...]

This week’s OBJ reports that the owners of Orlando’s Palazzo del Lago may be selling their 41 acres of condo hotel entitled land, suggesting that this may be the latest I-Drive project to go belly up. International Plaza dropped it’s sales efforts last year and others are not looking so good – with loans becoming [...]

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock indexes both experienced a slightly better than 4% gain over this past week.  Mortgage bonds (and rates) suffered as a result.  Is this indicating a fundamental change in the direction of the markets?
 Yes, we are seeing a change.  But it’s not a change [...]

You probably know this by now, but this year is Viagra’s 10 year anniversary – so be on the lookout for some interesting marketing ploys. I hear they are throwing a party – which I’d love to attend, except I don’t do those open air bath tubs – and I like a party to last [...]

It’s best to start with the big-time trends, so here it is: there was surprising stability in the markets this past week. Sure, companies are still experiencing colossal write-downs and credit is still notably tight. However, both the stock and bond markets have been comparably quiet, barring one substantial drop on the Dow [...]

So I speak with buyers on a daily basis, and the vast majority wants to know how the so called “Credit Crunch” will affect them when it comes to buying a home. Have underwriting guidelines gotten tougher, is there really any money available for buyers with less than perfect credit, or heck what if [...]

If you’ve paid any attention to the Florida real estate market over the last few years you will have witnessed a tremendous roller coaster ride. Unfortunately, the ride is not an enjoyable one for many who bought real estate and got caught with property where prices have dropped below what they paid.
It is not unheard [...]

STOP PRESS: 2 one-bedroom lake views purchased at auction have just come back on the list due to buyer being unable to close. One is third floor, one is first floor. These were among the first to be picked up at auction so if you were disappointed at not being able to get a lake [...]

You are Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. It is 6:00 pm on a Thursday. You get a phone call from Bear Stearns, a major investment bank, saying that they are experiencing a lack of liquid funds and will have to declare bankruptcy unless something is done by the opening of markets tomorrow. Taxpayers [...]

Last week’s Orlando Business Journal highlights some of the headaches currently facing Orlando’s condo developers:
At Veranda Park in MetroWest, eight developers have filed a total of $11.2 million in leans against the billion dollar project. To date, only half of the 10 projected buildings have been built and it’s impossible to imagine the rest, including [...]

Condo Metropolis is pleased to announce continued pricing on a limited number of Tradewinds condos for those who can act quickly. Auction pricing was $85k plus a 10% buyer’s premium = $93k.
Condo Metropolis can secure a unit for you with the auction company at this same $93k price for very a limited time.
Quick-Facts

Built 1989-1991
MetroWest [...]

With tax season upon us, individuals who own vacation condos must be certain they are able to claim every tax credit and/or deduction allowed them by law. The following is an excerpt from my book, Condo Living: A Guide to Buying, Owning & Selling a Condominium and is part of a tax credit series [...]

It was a surprisingly quiet week, given that it was the final week in the 1st quarter of 2008.  Typically, markets tend to be quite fidgety as fund managers and investors shift their cash around to make their balance sheets look nice.  However, we saw a decline in volatility across both stock and fixed-income markets [...]