Gulf Coast Associates' Blog: All Categories

Home sales are sluggish, prices are dropping, but buyers still are not making the move! What's up? The number one reason is price - this one is very obvious. Many Southwest Florida sellers still don't accept that the boom of 2005 is over! The days of buyers standing in line to make offers passed with more than a whimper - it was an explosion. So, if your agent and the data say the home is too high - if you truly want to sell you need to lower your price to be more in line with what the market will bear.

Now, that does not mean you must give away your property, but it also doesn't mean that you should expect to double what you paid for it only 3 or 4 years ago either. Most real estate markets are efficient and over time will tell you the real value of your…

With mortgage fraud continuing to rise throughout the country and the state of Florida ranking number one for its occurrence in 2005, Gov. Charlie Crist signed a new law last week intended to combat the problem.

Changes in lending rules will go into effect on October 1st of this year with the goal of making the mortgage lending process more transparent. Any person, including buyers, sellers and real estate licensees will be held accountable if they are caught knowingly lying, misrepresenting or omitting information a Lender would rely on in the mortgage loan process.

The new law requires the following lending practice changes:

• New more detailed disclosures for loans, including variable rate (ARM) loans.
• Mortgage Brokers must disclose to…

Well, the Florida Legislature passed a very contentious property tax cutting amendment yesterday (6/14) - with many tax payers up in arms over its effect. The second portion of the bill - which does not require voter approval - is to require local governments to reduce and cap taxes with allowances for new construction and growth in personal income. In order for a local government to override the caps it would take a super majority council vote or a local citizen referendum.

Essentially, all local governments will need to trim their budgets from 3% to 9%. Many local officials feel they would have no choice but to cut local services to their population including fire and rescue personnel. And, perhaps more importantly, the proposed tax law changes could…

If you're reading anything lately about the rise in foreclosures, changing ARM rates, or the depressed real estate market - then you've most likely heard about short sales. Simply put a short sale is when the lender agrees to sell the property for the new appraised value even if you owe more on your mortgage. It helps the lender out by eliminating the need for the expense of foreclosure (about $4,000), maintaining the upkeep on the property, and paying the bills for on-going taxes and insurance to protect their investment.

Additionally, it helps a borrower leave with his financial credit history relatively intact. The number one issue is not to ignore your lender - once you are in trouble on the mortgage, the first place you need to go is to your lender…

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist signed a bill today giving more relief to Florida homeowner's burdened by high home insurance costs. The new law extends the freeze on rates for the state-created Citizens Property Insurance Corporation through the end of 2008 and prohibits national property insurance companies from setting up any new Florida-only subsidiaries.

While the new law is welcome relief for some, it still doesn't address the issue of the national insurers who set up Florida-only subsidiaries previously and who continue to seek higher rates by claiming they are losing money in Florida while making huge profits throughout the rest of the country. Until the legislators in Tallahassee reverse this mistake, many Florida homeowners will continue to suffer…

Well, its finally happened. The bond market has accepted the Federal Reserve is not going to be decreasing interest rates any time soon. Up until last Tuesday's hawkish inflation comments from Fed Chief Bernanke, the market had spent the first part of this year believing the Fed's next move would be downward. But, not anymore. In the span of less than 14 days, we have risen from a 10-Year Treasury yield of 4.84% to 5.15% on Friday morning. Mortgage Backed Securities followed suit and thus interest rates on 30 year mortgages were up to 6.75%. It would not be surprising if we hit the dreaded 7% level in short order.

Now we know people like to say "were still at historically good rate levels", but that is just so much hot air. Housing sales are in the tank…

The governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, set up a Board known as the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission to search for answers to provide real estate tax relief for Floridians. Real Estate Tax Reform is a true issue for both new, and current, residents of the state. Every registered voter in our State should pay close attention to this measure and the relief it will afford us for moving "up or down" from an existing residence, as should new residents purchasing homes in our state.

For the past few months we've been working with the Honorable Ken Wilkinson, the Lee County Property Appraiser, regarding legislative action to permit homesteaded owners to take up to $400,000 of their current homesteaded tax value with them when they purchase "upwards" and 50%…

With Hurricane season officially underway, we thought it would be good reminder for those home buyers getting close to closing on their recent Florida purchases to remember two very important homeowner and flood insurance facts:

• If you're going to need flood insurance on your home and haven't gotten it in place yet, you're going to have to wait 30 days for the policy to go into effect. Once the season starts, you are locked out of coverage for a month from the time you apply. The lone exclusion to the 30 day rule, is if you are getting a mortgage and the lender requires flood coverage to close on the loan.
• If you wait till the last minute to get your homeowner's or flood policies and a named storm pops up, you may have to delay your closing…