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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

 Drew Harwell, Times Staff Writer | “Florida posted the country’s highest foreclosure rate in January for the fifth month in a row, as years of bad loans continued to blast through the pipeline, data released Thursday by research firm RealtyTrac show. One of every 300 Florida homes received a foreclosure filing, double the national average. Those noticesRead more

By Drew Harwell, Times Staff Writer | TAMPA — When Charles Dowman, a hydrogeologist moving from San Francisco, began house-hunting with his wife and two children, he sought a charming, craftsman-style home in South Tampa and didn’t mind a fixer-upper. But after looking, and missing out on, about 35 houses, Dowman found “it was hard toRead more

Look, I know what you are thinking. Every day, it seems, comes news of another mortgage lawsuit or settlement, including a foreclosure abuse deal between HSBC and federal regulators announced Friday. It’s hard to keep them all straight. Frankly, if you didn’t lose your home to foreclosure, or come close to doing so, you might notRead more

By Drew Harwell, Times Staff Writer | Florida is still suffering beneath a deluge of home foreclosures, leading the nation with the highest state foreclosure rate of 2012, research firm RealtyTrac reported today. One in 32 homes in the Sunshine State faced foreclosure last year, more than double the national average. That equates to nearly 280,000 homesRead more

WASHINGTON (AP) — British bank HSBC will pay $249 million to settle federal complaints that its U.S. division wrongfully foreclosed on homeowners who should have been allowed to stay in their homes. The agreement with the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is similar to deals with 12 other banksRead more

By Kimberly Miller | Palm Beach Post Staff Writer | State lawmakers this week divvied up how $60 million of Florida’s mortgage settlement money will be used to aid struggling homeowners, with more than half flowing to first-time homebuyers for down payment assistance and millions directed at borrowers through legal aid and housing counseling. Also, Florida’s circuitRead more

By Drew Harwell, Times | “Two years after he died of cancer, Dorothy Jackson’s late husband received a letter from the bank. “Dear David A. Jackson Deceased,” the letter said. It was from a Wells Fargo “home preservation specialist,” offering advice if Mr. Jackson had a “change in circumstances.” The bank said it was open toRead more

tampabay.com | Posted by toluolo:   A “faster foreclosures” proposal that faced sharp consumer outcry and protest last year has resurfaced in a more moderate form this year, with a new bill filed by Rep. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, Thursday. The bill, HB 87, offers a slew of changes to the civil procedures governing foreclosures in Florida—the state with theRead more