One of the latest community projects in the Winter Park area, Ravaudage, and its Developer, Dan Bellows, is asking Winter Park leaders to establish a community development district for the remainder of the project.
Community Development Districts are a popular tool for financing development.
The districts, known as CDDs, have become an extremely popular mechanism for financing development. A few of the successful CDDs in the area include The Villages, Baldwin Park, and Celebration.
The districts increase the tax base at no cost to municipal governments or citizens who don't live in the district. Those who move into the district pay assessments to the district to fund improvements. And after the developer completes the project and moves on, there's an entity in place — more powerful than any homeowners association — to deal with oversight and maintenance issues.
For developers, such as Bellows, the advantages include the ability to sell tax-free bonds and charge assessments. This source of funding can lead to rapid infrastructure that might otherwise take years to build.
The 73-acre Ravaudage site at Lee Road and U.S. 17-92 currently has one tenant, Miller's Winter Park Ale House restaurant. The Ravaudage project is envisioned to include 489 residential units, retail and office space, and a 320-room hotel.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Thursday, February 21, 2013
U.S. housing starts dip but remain at solid pace
WASHINGTON – Feb. 20, 2013 – U.S. homebuilders began work at a slower pace in January, though the level was still the third highest since 2008. The pace of building was viewed as a sign of further strengthening in residential real estate.
The Commerce Department says builders started construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 890,000 last month, down 8.5 percent from December, when activity had hit an annual rate of 973,000. The December performance was the best since June 2008.
Applications for building permits rose to an annual rate of 925,000 in January, 1.8 percent higher than December, which had been the high point since mid-2008.
The pace of construction of single-family homes rose 0.8 percent in January, but apartment construction, which is more volatile, dropped 24.1 percent.
The U.S. housing market is slowly regaining its health after stagnating for roughly five years after the housing boom collapsed. Steady job gains and near-record-low mortgage rates have encouraged more people to buy.
A steady rise in prices reflects, in part, fewer homes for sale. The supply of previously occupied homes for sale has reached its lowest level in more than a decade. And the pace of foreclosures, while still rising in some states, has slowed sharply on a national basis. That means fewer low-priced foreclosed homes are being dumped on the market.
Those trends, and the likelihood of further price gains, have led builders to step up construction. Last year, builders broke ground on the most homes in four years.
For all of 2012, builders started work on 780,000 homes. That was still only about half the annual number consistent with healthy markets. But it represents a 28 percent jump from 2011. And it was the most housing starts since 2008, when construction was still falling after the housing bubble burst more than six years ago.
Sales of new homes jumped nearly 20 percent last year to 367,000, the most since 2009. Still, many economists don’t foresee a full housing recovery before 2015 at the earliest.
The National Association of Home Builders said Tuesday that confidence among U.S. homebuilders slipped in February from a 6 1/2-year high in January. Many builders reported less traffic by prospective customers before the critical spring home-buying season begins.
The home builders’ sentiment index dipped to 46 in February from 47 in January. It was the first monthly decline in the index since last April.
Readings below 50 suggest negative sentiment about the housing market. The last time the index was at 50 or higher was in April 2006, when it was 51. It began trending higher in October 2011, when it was 17.
Many builders are facing higher costs for building materials and having trouble obtaining financing for construction. Some also are facing a shortage of workers in markets where residential construction has picked up sharply, such as Texas and Arizona.
Though new homes represent only a fraction of the housing market, they have an outsize impact on the economy. Each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in tax revenue, according to statistics from the home builders.
Copyright © 2013 The Associated Press, Martin Crutsinger, AP economics writer. All rights reserved.
The Commerce Department says builders started construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 890,000 last month, down 8.5 percent from December, when activity had hit an annual rate of 973,000. The December performance was the best since June 2008.
Applications for building permits rose to an annual rate of 925,000 in January, 1.8 percent higher than December, which had been the high point since mid-2008.
The pace of construction of single-family homes rose 0.8 percent in January, but apartment construction, which is more volatile, dropped 24.1 percent.
The U.S. housing market is slowly regaining its health after stagnating for roughly five years after the housing boom collapsed. Steady job gains and near-record-low mortgage rates have encouraged more people to buy.
A steady rise in prices reflects, in part, fewer homes for sale. The supply of previously occupied homes for sale has reached its lowest level in more than a decade. And the pace of foreclosures, while still rising in some states, has slowed sharply on a national basis. That means fewer low-priced foreclosed homes are being dumped on the market.
Those trends, and the likelihood of further price gains, have led builders to step up construction. Last year, builders broke ground on the most homes in four years.
For all of 2012, builders started work on 780,000 homes. That was still only about half the annual number consistent with healthy markets. But it represents a 28 percent jump from 2011. And it was the most housing starts since 2008, when construction was still falling after the housing bubble burst more than six years ago.
Sales of new homes jumped nearly 20 percent last year to 367,000, the most since 2009. Still, many economists don’t foresee a full housing recovery before 2015 at the earliest.
The National Association of Home Builders said Tuesday that confidence among U.S. homebuilders slipped in February from a 6 1/2-year high in January. Many builders reported less traffic by prospective customers before the critical spring home-buying season begins.
The home builders’ sentiment index dipped to 46 in February from 47 in January. It was the first monthly decline in the index since last April.
Readings below 50 suggest negative sentiment about the housing market. The last time the index was at 50 or higher was in April 2006, when it was 51. It began trending higher in October 2011, when it was 17.
Many builders are facing higher costs for building materials and having trouble obtaining financing for construction. Some also are facing a shortage of workers in markets where residential construction has picked up sharply, such as Texas and Arizona.
Though new homes represent only a fraction of the housing market, they have an outsize impact on the economy. Each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in tax revenue, according to statistics from the home builders.
Copyright © 2013 The Associated Press, Martin Crutsinger, AP economics writer. All rights reserved.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Fannie & Freddie have Good News for Underwater Mortgages
For homeowners with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, the much anticipated good news may have arrived this past week. On March 1st, Fannie and Freddie will start allowing homeowners with underwater mortgages (they owe more than the property is worth) to give up the house and cancel their debt by a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.
Who qualifies for deed-in-lieu transactions? Well according to the new rules:
For more information on the program, click here for the new rules.
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Who qualifies for deed-in-lieu transactions? Well according to the new rules:
- Homeowners must must be current or less than 90 days late on their mortgage payments.
- Homeowners must by making payments of at least 55 percent of their monthly income for the house.
- Homewoners must be able to document a "hardship" that requires a move, such as loss of spouse.
- The home must be clean and not damaged.
- Homeowners may have to surrender as much as 20 percent of personal assets, excluding retirement accounts, to partially meet the loan's unpaid balance.
- The program does not affect second mortgages. Mortgage servicers can offer up to $6,000 for second-lien holders to release borrowers from the loans, but there's no requirement that the holders agree.
- A deed-in-lieu will still affect your credit, but not to the extent of a foreclosure.
For more information on the program, click here for the new rules.
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Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Where is the Inventory?
Where is the inventory? One of the factors for the decrease in December home sales was lack of inventory. The National Association of Realtors reported a 21.6 percent drop from one year earlier.
A recent article by the Wall Street Journal highlighted several reasons behind the dropping inventories, including:
• Sellers hesitant to sell: About 22 percent of homeowners with a mortgage remain underwater, owing more than their home is currently worth. These homeowners don’t tend to sell unless a life-changing event occurs because they don’t want to take a loss on the sale. CoreLogic data finds constrained inventories in areas with the highest number of underwater borrowers.
• Not enough equity to trade up: Homeowners often rely on equity from their current home to make a down payment on the next home. 10 million homeowners have less then 20% equity in their home. With fewer homeowners seeing equity, they may not have enough money to move into a pricier home – a constraint on the would-be “trade up” buyer.
• Investors continue to snatch up properties: Investors still snap up properties, but they’ve changed their strategy. The original strategy was to purchase the home and flip it. Now they are holding onto properties and turning them into rentals. The result: fewer homes on the market.
• Banks slowing down foreclosures: Banks have new rules to meet with the foreclosure process, and it’s causing them to move at a slower pace. Banks also are showing a preference for short sales and loan modifications, which curbs the number of foreclosed homes on the market.
• Builders doing less building: Housing starts were at record lows from 2009 through 2011, so there’s less inventory added to the market. A rebound in the new-home market has only recently started to occur.
Source: “Six Reasons Housing Inventory Keeps Declining,” The Wall Street Journal (Jan. 22, 2013)
To view the article, click here.
A recent article by the Wall Street Journal highlighted several reasons behind the dropping inventories, including:
• Sellers hesitant to sell: About 22 percent of homeowners with a mortgage remain underwater, owing more than their home is currently worth. These homeowners don’t tend to sell unless a life-changing event occurs because they don’t want to take a loss on the sale. CoreLogic data finds constrained inventories in areas with the highest number of underwater borrowers.
• Not enough equity to trade up: Homeowners often rely on equity from their current home to make a down payment on the next home. 10 million homeowners have less then 20% equity in their home. With fewer homeowners seeing equity, they may not have enough money to move into a pricier home – a constraint on the would-be “trade up” buyer.
• Investors continue to snatch up properties: Investors still snap up properties, but they’ve changed their strategy. The original strategy was to purchase the home and flip it. Now they are holding onto properties and turning them into rentals. The result: fewer homes on the market.
• Banks slowing down foreclosures: Banks have new rules to meet with the foreclosure process, and it’s causing them to move at a slower pace. Banks also are showing a preference for short sales and loan modifications, which curbs the number of foreclosed homes on the market.
• Builders doing less building: Housing starts were at record lows from 2009 through 2011, so there’s less inventory added to the market. A rebound in the new-home market has only recently started to occur.
Source: “Six Reasons Housing Inventory Keeps Declining,” The Wall Street Journal (Jan. 22, 2013)
To view the article, click here.
NAR: Dec. pending home sales down but still uptrend
It's that time of the month to look at home sales trends. A press release issued by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) this week reports pending home sales declined in December but have stayed above year-ago levels for 20 consecutive months.
NAR pointed to several factors involved in the decrease. One of the factors may be the supply - more buyers then sellers. The study also pointed at current sales prices and the fact that first time buyers have fewer options available to them.
Still, Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, is forecasting existing-home sales to increase another 9 percent in 2013, following a 9 percent rise in 2012.
To read the press release, click here.
NAR pointed to several factors involved in the decrease. One of the factors may be the supply - more buyers then sellers. The study also pointed at current sales prices and the fact that first time buyers have fewer options available to them.
Still, Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, is forecasting existing-home sales to increase another 9 percent in 2013, following a 9 percent rise in 2012.
To read the press release, click here.
Friday, January 18, 2013
End of the Year Report - Florida leads in Foreclosure Filings
Today's RealtyTrac Foreclosure Market Report for 2012 was released. According to RealtyTrac, Florida led the entire country in foreclosure filings started within the last twelve months.
The Release states:
The Release states:
- Foreclosure activity in 2012 increased from 2011 in Florida by 53%
- Florida’s foreclosure rate surpasses every other state in the country last year, as one in 32 homes in the State of Florida got a foreclosure filing during the year.
- In 2012, a total of 279,230 Florida properties had a foreclosure filing, a 53% percent increase from 2011 but still 42% lower than 2010′s historic total of 485,000 Florida properties in foreclosure.
- Florida had the biggest share of foreclosure inventory in the U.S., with 305,766 properties in some stage of foreclosure or bank owned (20 percent of the national total).
- The average time to foreclose in Florida ranks 3rd highest in the country at 853 days (or 2.3 years).
So what lies ahead for Florida in 2013? According to Daren Blomquist, Vice President of RealtyTrac:
“2012 was the year of the judicial foreclosure, with foreclosure activity increasing from 2011 in 20 of the 26 states that primarily use the judicial process, and a judicial state — Florida — posting the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate for the first time since the housing crisis began,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “Meanwhile foreclosure activity continued to decline in 19 of the 24 states that use the more streamlined non-judicial foreclosure process, but there could be a backlog of delayed foreclosures building up in some of those states as well as the result of recent state legislation and court rulings that raise the bar for lenders to foreclose.
“That could mean that although we are comfortably past the peak of the foreclosure problem nationally, 2013 is likely to be book-ended by two discrete jumps in foreclosure activity,” Blomquist added. “We expect to see continued increases in judicial foreclosure states near the beginning of the year as lenders finish catching up with the backlogs in those states, and another set of increases in some non-judicial states near the end of the year as lenders adjust to the new laws and process some deferred foreclosures in those states.”
The positive spin of the report - median home prices are on the rise. To view the full report, click here.
Monday, January 14, 2013
News of Another Big Settlement
The Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a joint press release to announce news that 10 mortgage servicers around the country have entered into a settlement agreement with the federal government over allegations of bad acts in mortgage servicing and foreclosure activities. The Settlement will release the 10 mortgage servicers from further federal prosecution in exchange for the payment of $8.5 billion in cash. The Settlement money will be used to help those who have been hurt in the Foreclosure Crisis of the past few years
To view the press release, click here or read below:
Independent Foreclosure Review to Provide $3.3 Billion in Payments, $5.2 Billion in Mortgage Assistance
WASHINGTON--Ten mortgage servicing companies subject to enforcement actions for deficient practices in mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing have reached an agreement in principle with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve Board to pay more than $8.5 billion in cash payments and other assistance to help borrowers.
The sum includes $3.3 billion in direct payments to eligible borrowers and $5.2 billion in other assistance, such as loan modifications and forgiveness of deficiency judgments. The payments involve mortgage servicers operating under enforcement actions issued in April 2011 by the OCC, the Federal Reserve, and the Office of Thrift Supervision. The agreement ensures that more than 3.8 million borrowers whose homes were in foreclosure in 2009 and 2010 with the participating servicers will receive cash compensation in a timely manner.
Eligible borrowers are expected to receive compensation ranging from hundreds of dollars up to $125,000, depending on the type of possible servicer error.
This agreement includes Aurora, Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, MetLife Bank, PNC, Sovereign, SunTrust, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo. For these participating servicers, fulfillment of the agreement would meet the requirements of the enforcement actions that mandated that the servicers retain independent consultants to conduct an Independent Foreclosure Review.
As a result of this agreement, the participating servicers would cease the Independent Foreclosure Review, which involved case-by-case reviews, and replace it with a broader framework allowing eligible borrowers to receive compensation significantly more quickly. The OCC and the Federal Reserve accepted this agreement because it provides the greatest benefit to consumers subject to unsafe and unsound mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices during the relevant period in a more timely manner than would have occurred under the review process. Eligible borrowers will receive compensation whether or not they filed a request for review form, and borrowers do not need to take further action to be eligible for compensation.
A payment agent will be appointed to administer payments to borrowers on behalf of the servicers. Eligible borrowers are expected to be contacted by the payment agent by the end of March with payment details. Borrowers will not be required to execute a waiver of any legal claims they may have against their servicer as a condition for receiving payment. In addition, the servicers' internal complaint process will remain available to borrowers.
The agencies continue to work to reach similar agreements in principle with other servicers that are not parties to the agreement announced today, but that are also subject to enforcement actions for deficient practices in mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing.
OCC and Federal Reserve examiners are continuing to closely monitor the servicers' implementation of plans required by the enforcement actions issued in April 2011 to correct the unsafe and unsound mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices.
To view the press release, click here or read below:
Independent Foreclosure Review to Provide $3.3 Billion in Payments, $5.2 Billion in Mortgage Assistance
WASHINGTON--Ten mortgage servicing companies subject to enforcement actions for deficient practices in mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing have reached an agreement in principle with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve Board to pay more than $8.5 billion in cash payments and other assistance to help borrowers.
The sum includes $3.3 billion in direct payments to eligible borrowers and $5.2 billion in other assistance, such as loan modifications and forgiveness of deficiency judgments. The payments involve mortgage servicers operating under enforcement actions issued in April 2011 by the OCC, the Federal Reserve, and the Office of Thrift Supervision. The agreement ensures that more than 3.8 million borrowers whose homes were in foreclosure in 2009 and 2010 with the participating servicers will receive cash compensation in a timely manner.
Eligible borrowers are expected to receive compensation ranging from hundreds of dollars up to $125,000, depending on the type of possible servicer error.
This agreement includes Aurora, Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, MetLife Bank, PNC, Sovereign, SunTrust, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo. For these participating servicers, fulfillment of the agreement would meet the requirements of the enforcement actions that mandated that the servicers retain independent consultants to conduct an Independent Foreclosure Review.
As a result of this agreement, the participating servicers would cease the Independent Foreclosure Review, which involved case-by-case reviews, and replace it with a broader framework allowing eligible borrowers to receive compensation significantly more quickly. The OCC and the Federal Reserve accepted this agreement because it provides the greatest benefit to consumers subject to unsafe and unsound mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices during the relevant period in a more timely manner than would have occurred under the review process. Eligible borrowers will receive compensation whether or not they filed a request for review form, and borrowers do not need to take further action to be eligible for compensation.
A payment agent will be appointed to administer payments to borrowers on behalf of the servicers. Eligible borrowers are expected to be contacted by the payment agent by the end of March with payment details. Borrowers will not be required to execute a waiver of any legal claims they may have against their servicer as a condition for receiving payment. In addition, the servicers' internal complaint process will remain available to borrowers.
The agencies continue to work to reach similar agreements in principle with other servicers that are not parties to the agreement announced today, but that are also subject to enforcement actions for deficient practices in mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing.
OCC and Federal Reserve examiners are continuing to closely monitor the servicers' implementation of plans required by the enforcement actions issued in April 2011 to correct the unsafe and unsound mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices.
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