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  “TAMPA — Tampa Bay posted the nation’s fourth-highest foreclosure rate last month as the sludge of bad home loans continues to gum up local courts, RealtyTrac data released today show. More than 5,000 notices of mortgage default, foreclosure auction or repossession were sent across Tampa Bay last month, a 23 percent jump over lastRead more

Wake up and good morning. Florida’s home price index rose 7.9 percent in the past year (November 2011 to November 2012), ranking the Sunshine State 10th among states in rising home prices in that period. So says new CoreLogic data out this week. Note in the map above that Florida appreciation topped that of nearby Georgia, Alabama,Read 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

By Drew Harwell, Times Staff Writer | “In a landmark robo-signing case, a former executive of a Jacksonville mortgage-processing giant faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to orchestrating years of fraudulent foreclosure documents, according to a plea deal filed Tuesday in Jacksonville federal court. Lorraine Brown, who headed a Georgia processing firm,Read more

By Drew Harwell, Times Staff Writer | “Although the $25 billion national mortgage settlement’s goal is to keep people in their homes, big banks are doing much better at ushering Florida homeowners out, as a new report shows short sales dwarfing other forms of relief as lenders’ atonement of choice. Under the settlement, five of theRead more

By: Diana Olick CNBC Real Estate Reporter Watch:  Where ReFi Money is Going (Video)  “U.S. home owners are refinancing their mortgages at the fastest clip since 2005, but the difference now is they are putting cash in, not taking it out. At the going rate, 25 percent of all first-lien U.S. mortgages will be refinanced thisRead more

By Reuters | “The American Civil Liberties Union sued Morgan Stanley on Monday, in what the group said is the first lawsuit against an investment bank alleging racial discrimination over packaging subprime mortgage loans into securities. The lawsuit alleges Morgan Stanley encouraged a unit of now-bankrupt New Century Financial Corp to target black borrowers disproportionatelyRead more

By Les Christie @CNNMoney | “(CNNMoney) — The golden age for foreclosure squatters may soon be coming to an end now that the $26 billion mortgage settlement has been approved. The settlement, agreed to by the nation’s five largest mortgage lenders, is expected to speed up the foreclosure process by providing stricter guidelines for the banksRead more