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  Written by: Brian O’Connell | Daren Blomquist, a vice-president at RealtyTrac, sees an interesting trend in the U.S. real estate market: The emergence of the “zombie” home. Blomquist laid it out in a recent “state of the real industry” presentation in Las Vegas describing how zombie homes are rising, bringing down the value of neighboring homes inRead more

By  ILYCE GLINK / MONEYWATCH/ (MoneyWatch) So-called zombie homes are appearing on the real estate market, but they’re not built to keep out the walking dead. Hundreds of thousands of homes in the U.S. are now labeled as “zombie” foreclosures. That’s when the owner of a foreclosed home leaves only to find out years later that heRead more

A split has emerged between the Florida House and Senate on how to use $200 million the state received as part of a multi-state agreement with five major lenders. The main spending panel in the Senate will take up a proposed committee bill (SB 7146) Wednesday that would divide the money into a number ofRead more

By KATIE DAVIES | “The number of foreclosed or bank-seized homes has risen by nine per cent already this year – with 1.5 million properties currently being lost by homeowners who can no longer afford them. A realty survey found the worrying increase over the last three months compared to the same time in 2012. The researchRead more

Calling Florida’s No. 1 ranking on foreclosures “shameful,” some lawmakers are pushing for reforms to the foreclosure law, hoping to help homeowners keep their properties. At a Tuesday press conference, some Democrats in the Florida Legislature pushed for new changes to laws governing Florida’s hundreds of thousands distressed properties. They say the changes are necessary to protectRead more

BayNews9 | BRADENTON — “Florida’s foreclosure rates led the nation in February for the sixth consecutive month. And the Bay area was among the communities hit hard. According to Bay News 9’s partner newspaper the Bradenton Herald, the Bay area was the fourth-highest for foreclosures in the country. And the Manatee-Sarasota area jumped to 13th. RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosuresRead more

Big banks are finding a way to benefit from what was supposed to be their punishment in the robo-signing scandal. In Florida, they have spent 75 percent of $7.7 billion in settlement outlays approving short sales and forgiving home-equity loans, earning credit for debts they were unlikely to collect or sales that would have happenedRead more

By Kenneth R. Harney, Special to the Times |   “WASHINGTON — Jeanette Ogle, a 92-year-old widow with a reverse mortgage on her house, got a birthday surprise last week: She did not lose her home at a scheduled foreclosure auction that had drawn scrutiny from federal and state agencies and consumer advocates. Because ofRead more

by Robin Sussingham | A decade ago, speculators in Florida were pumping up a huge housing bubble. “You couldn’t go wrong,” Tampa real estate attorney Charlie Hounchell says. In that overheated period from 2001 to 2006, “you could buy a house and make $100,000 a year later by selling it,” he says. But the party ended in 2007Read more

By Kenneth R. Harney, Special to the Times |   WASHINGTON — In the contentious debate over whether to reduce or eliminate the home-mortgage interest tax deduction — or leave it alone — one fact has been virtually unchallenged: The popular write-off used by millions of American owners costs the government massive amounts of revenue,Read more