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Drew Harwell | Tampa Bay Times | “Tampa Bay saw 20 percent fewer foreclosure filings last month than in January 2013, a sign that lingering distress from the housing crash continues to slowly fade from view, RealtyTrac data released today show. But the good news ends there. Tampa Bay posted the seventh-highest foreclosure rate inRead more

Alexander E.M. Hess, Michael B. Sauter and Thomas C. Frohlich | 24/7 Wall St. | USA Today “Last December, 16.2% of all home sales involved distressed properties, according to a recent report. These homes were sold at an average discount of nearly 40% when compared to conventional, non-distressed homes. Housing data site RealtyTrac recently releasedRead more

Michael Sasso | The Tampa Tribune | “The median sale price of an existing home in the Tampa Bay area rose by 16.2 percent in December when compared with a year earlier, new figures from Florida Realtors show. Last month, the median sale price of a single-family home in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area was $158,000.Read more

Josh Salman | Herald-Tribune | “Foreclosure rates in Southwest Florida fell in November from the same time last year, continuing a trend of home loan delinquencies that have slowly waned throughout the past year. The rate of foreclosures among all outstanding mortgage loans in the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton area was 6.04 percent in November, the latest dataRead more

Drew Harwell | Tampa Bay Times | “Florida ended 2013 once again as America’s reigning foreclosure king, though amid the housing recovery new cases plunged, RealtyTrac data released Thursday shows. About 107,000 new foreclosures began last year in Florida, a 31 percent drop from 2012, as banks continued to tussle with homeowners in the aftermathRead more

MIKE SCHNEIDER | ASSOCIATED PRESS | Some of the nation’s most important events of the young century have happened in Florida or had a strong connection to the state, which is expected to surpass New York in population in 2014. Here is a list of 10 of them: 1. The 2000 presidential contest between George W. BushRead more

“Realty Trac has released new data from July showing the Florida counties with the highest foreclosure rate.” See slideshow hereRead more

ROBERT JABLON | Associated Press | “The Los Angeles city attorney sued Wells Fargo and Citigroup on Thursday, alleging the companies engaged in mortgage discrimination that led to a wave of foreclosures in minority communities during the housing crash. The twin lawsuits, filed in federal court, are the latest fallout from the 2008 collapse of theRead more

Kenneth Harney | U-T San Diego | “Why have many of the local housing markets that were hit hardest during the bust — especially in California — bounced back so vigorously and quickly, with prices close to or exceeding what they were in 2005 and 2006? And why have many others along the East CoastRead more

Eric Kalis | Palm Beach Post | The Real Deal | “For homeowners in Florida, obtaining a loan modification through the federal government is not necessarily preventing future defaults. The inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program says 27 percent of Florida homeowners who modified mortgages through the Home Affordable Modification Program have onceRead more