Larry Tolchinsky | January 26, 2012
As discussed in our earlier post, a major tax break will end on December 31, 2012, that helps Florida home owners facing foreclosures, negotiating loan modifications, or working on a short sale of their home. For several years, a federal law has exempted the amount that isn’t covered by the foreclosure or short sale or [...]
Larry Tolchinsky | January 24, 2012
Florida home owners concerned about foreclosure and pondering a short sale should get busy and get that short sale process started. Why? There is a countdown to the expiration date of a federal law that will impact them badly if they wait until after the end of 2012 to close on that short sale of [...]
Larry Tolchinsky | January 17, 2012
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) implemented the federal Servicing Alignment Initiative last year and, in 2012, this new federal incentive plan should boost the number of short sales here in Florida, which is great news for home owners wanting to avoid a foreclosure. What is the Servicing Alignment Initiative? The Servicing Alignment Initiative is [...]
Larry Tolchinsky | January 12, 2012
In Florida, short sales are growing in popularity now that lenders realize the expense and difficulty of dealing with a foreclosed home, and because so many other homes are at risk for foreclosure their is a likelihood that the inventory will continue to grow. Also, banks rather have a home sold by short sale than [...]
Larry Tolchinsky | January 10, 2012
At most real estate closings, there’s lots of paperwork. Page after page of single-spaced language that has to be reviewed, and then affirmed by the signor that they read and understood all that language in all those pages. Which is what Barbara and Rick Borchers did when when they sold their Florida home eight years [...]
Larry Tolchinsky | January 3, 2012
The former chief economist for the National Association of Realtors (1987-97) and the current chief economist for Florida Realtors | Orlando gave his take this week on the current Florida real estate climate in an article written by Orlando Sentinel staff writer Mary Shanklin. You can read the full article, entitled “Talking With … John [...]
Larry Tolchinsky | December 29, 2011
The Pew Research Center is one of the country’s most respected research firms, and here at year end, many are listening to what Pew is reporting regarding Americans’ take on the foreclosure crisis and people not paying their mortgages. What has Pew discovered? In answers to a Pew survey, thirty-six percent (36%) of Americans said [...]
Larry Tolchinsky | December 27, 2011
Here we are at the end of a stressful financial year for South Florida, and it’s time for all those New Year’s Resolutions to be made for 2012. Finances are considered, plans are made…and for Florida homeowners with underwater mortgages or with defaulting home loans who are sitting in homes with the stress of a [...]
Larry Tolchinsky | December 22, 2011
The Florida Supreme Court’s top judge just signed an order on December 19, 2011, that shut the doors on the Florida Managed Foreclosure Mediation Program that the Supreme Court had set up back in 2009. You can read the Administrative Order (AOSC11-44) signed by Chief Justice Charles Canady online here. What happened? Back in 2009, the [...]
Larry Tolchinsky | December 20, 2011
The Florida Fourth District Court of Appeals just issued an opinion that is a very big deal for Florida homeowners everywhere – but especially those who are facing foreclosure as well as those with underwater mortgages who are wondering what their future holds. In Robert McLean v. J.P. Morgan Chase, as Trustee, Florida’s homeowners won [...]
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