Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Wednesday July 31 Housing and Economic stories


Miami tops foreclosures, as banks selling into the boom - (www.bloomberg.com) Miami’s foreclosure rate ranked at the top of major U.S. metropolitan areas last month as auctions more than tripled, signaling lenders are preparing to sell a backlog of distressed properties amid rising home prices. One in 236 housing units in the area that includes Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach received a foreclosure filing in June, more than four times the national average, RealtyTrac Inc. said in a report today. The jump was led by notices of scheduled auctions -- the step before a bank-owned property sale -- which rose 283 percent from a year earlier to 5,172 homes, according to the real estate data company. The surge in auctions in states such as Florida, where courts oversee repossessions, reflects lenders pushing properties through foreclosure after years of judicial delays lengthened the process, said Daren Blomquist, vice president at Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac. That’s clearing the inventory of distressed homes at a time when surging demand from investors and international buyers is fueling price gains in the Miami area.

Indicted real estate broker gets permission for island vacation - (www.thesunchronicle.com) A former Mansfield real estate broker under indictment for multiple counts of real estate fraud was given permission by a federal judge to travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands while awaiting trial on a massive indictment charging mortgage fraud and money laundering. Michael David Scott, who earlier filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, asked for permission for himself, his wife and three children to travel to the island of St. John during school vacation. Scott asked permission to stay at the Westin Hotel which overlooks a lagoon and lists minimum room rates of more than $500 a night. Court records do not indicate whether Scott and his family actually traveled to the Virgin Islands. Scott, owner of Southeast Properties LLC, was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2010 on 62 counts of wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering in connection with an alleged long-running real estate scam in Boston's Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods.

Renewed fear of global recession as companies rein in spending - (www.telegraph.co.uk)  Standard & Poor’s warned that the global cycle for capital investment has already rolled over, with early signs pointing to deepening contraction of 5.4pc in 2014. “The capex recovery appears to be ending before it has really begun,” said the agency’s Gareth Williams. Company spending plans are watched as an early warning gauge for the economy. The drastic falls in large parts of the world doom hopes for strong recovery later this year, and even point to a recession risk. The International Monetary Fund has cut its global forecast for this year to 3.1pc, sharply downgrading Russia, Brazil, South Africa, India and Mexico, as well as Italy and Germany. “Policymakers everywhere need to increase efforts to ensure robust growth,” it said. The unexpected pull-back in company spending is a serious blow. It had been assumed that firms must soon start to spend their huge cash piles, helping to kickstart recovery. “This is a pretty troubling snapshot of the global economy and it shows endemic lack of confidence. Companies are still worried, and there still is excess capacity in autos and other industries,” said Mr Williams.

Stretched car loans gain traction with buyers - (www.latimes.com) Scott Greenberg could have handled a bigger car payment. But with a baby on the way and the dealership offering a rock-bottom interest rate, Greenberg stretched the loan to 72 months — about as long as the average American keeps a new car. At 2.64% interest, the long term cut about $100 from his monthly payment on the Volkswagen Touareg SUV. "I will be putting that savings into her college fund," Greenberg said of the daughter he's expecting. The Santa Monica technology consultant is among a record number of car buyers taking out loans of six, eight or even 10 years. Loans of six years or longer account for 30% of all financing deals so far this year, including leases, according to research firm J.D. Power and Associates. That's up from 23% five years ago.

Realtor arrested for stealing clothes from home for sale - (www.myfoxdc.com) The homeowner says he and his wife had a feeling something strange was going on inside their home while real estate agents were alone inside. It turns out, they were right. A video taken last month at a home on N. 11th Street in the Ballston area shows real estate agent Stephen Brumme rifling through a closet and some drawers, taking women's clothing before a client came to tour the home. The homeowners had installed cameras because there were so many people coming through their home, and they had noticed some weird things, like a razor blade in the garbage disposal. They say they were "creeped out" when they watched the video and called police. Brumme, 60, from Silver Spring, Md., faces charges of burglary and possession of burglarious tools. His real estate license has been suspended.





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