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Little-known program gives up to $2,000 a year to people buying their first homes. By Donna Gehrke-White | Sun Sentinel “little-known state program that pays first-time homebuyers up to $2,000 a year has more than tripled its number of participants in a year.Administrators expect an even higher surge of homebuyers applying this year as theRead more

Mary Shanklin | Orlando Sentinel | “More than 5,200 Orlando-area houses in foreclosure sat vacant during the second quarter, making the region one of the leading “zombie” foreclosure markets in the country, a new report shows. In Orange, Seminole, Lake and Osceola counties, 22,700 houses and condos were in some stage of foreclosure during theRead more

Staff | Tampa Bay Business Journal | “Tampa socialites Jill and Dr. Scott Kelley have avoided losing their mansion on Bayshore Boulevard to foreclosure. Under a mortgage modification with , the Kelleys have agreed to pay $9,747 per month until they repay the $1.7 million still owed on the house, the Tampa Bay Times said. According to documents filedRead more

Martha Brannigan | The Miami Herald | “Florida remained the No. 1 state in the nation in foreclosure activity in February despite a long trend of improvement, according to RealtyTrac. For February, Florida’s foreclosure activity, which is a tally of initial filings, auction notices, and lender repossessions, dropped 24 percent from a year earlier, the Irvine,Read more

WCTV | “Bob Wallerius walks with a noticeable limp. He’s had 40 surgeries after a bad traffic accident. On the day he spoke to Eyewitness News, a foreclosure sale was scheduled for his northwest Tallahassee home. “Had to go to bed one more night not be able to sleep and wake up trying to haveRead more

The Staff | National Mortgage Professional Magazine | “RealtyTrac released its January 2014 Residential & Foreclosure Sales Report, which shows that institutional investors — defined as entities purchasing at least 10 properties in a calendar year — accounted for 5.2 percent of all U.S. residential property sales in January, down from 7.9 percent in December andRead more

News Release: Florida Senate | WCTV | “Today SB 542 by Senator Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg) passed the Senate Committee on Appropriations with strong unanimous support. The bill lays the framework for a private flood insurance marketplace in Florida in response to rate increases from the National Flood Insurance Program. “Florida families are facing foreclosureRead more

Rich Shopes | Tampa Bay Times | “The county’s community development office on Tuesday rolled out a new interest-free loan program aimed at helping low-income seniors burdened by big tax bills. The program, which is intended to curb foreclosures from delinquent taxes, is funded by a $300,000 state housing grant. It’s aimed at low-income folksRead more

Francys Vallecillo | World Property Channel | “The total number of completed foreclosures in the U.S. dropped 24 percent in 2013, compared to 2012, according to the latest report from CoreLogic. There were 620,111 homes lost to foreclosure nationwide in 2013, compared to a total of 820,498 homes in 2012. Foreclosure numbers have been droppingRead more

Eric Snider | Tampa Bay Business Journal | “We’re not out of this foreclosure/short sale mess yet. More than a quarter of homes sales in December in 10 of the country’s largest metro areas were processed as either foreclosures or short sales, a new report says. Tampa ranked fourth, with such transactions making up 30.1 percent ofRead more