Gulf Coast Associates' Blog: All Categories

President Bush signed into law today a new measure to provide tax relief for homeowners facing foreclosure or bankruptcy. The bill eliminates federal taxes due from homeowners who have had mortgage debt forgiven as part of a foreclosure or the renegotiation of a loan on their primary residence. Currently such debt forgiveness has been treated as taxable income.

The bill arose in response to the current mortgage crisis and is anticipated to reduce taxes on strapped homeowners by $650 million. "When you're worried about making your payments, higher taxes are the last thing you need to worry about," Bush said at the bill-signing ceremony. With some 2+ million adjustable-rate mortgages scheduled to reset through 2008, the new law will be a nice holiday gift…

As we predicted, lawyers representing a group of Florida homeowners filed a lawsuit against Palm Beach County officials challenging both existing and proposed state property tax laws. Even though they have been blocked before by the lower courts, attorney's from Alabama and Florida are at it again, alleging Florida's real estate tax laws including Save Our Homes and the proposed "portability" portion of the New Tax Relief Amendment discriminate against recent homeowners.

The new lawsuit is seeking class action status and argues that these tax benefits are “tilted unfairly” to the financial gain of long-term property owners “to the adverse economic disadvantage” of those who have recently purchased a home in Florida. The 37-page complaint specifically…

The January thru September Bonita Bay real estate sales statistics for both homes and condominiums are listed below. Bonita Bay is Bonita Springs premier gated community and is a highly sought after place to live. Encompassing 2,400 acres, Bonita Bay is also the flagship community of the Bonita Bay Group here in Southwest Florida. More than half the community is devoted to open space, including three Arthur Hills-designed golf courses and 12 miles of biking and walking paths. In addition, residents enjoy three waterfront recreational areas within the community and a private beach park on the Gulf of Mexico. They are also eligible for membership in the Bonita Bay Club, which has two clubhouses, an 18-court tennis and swim center and a new fitness facility.…

I can hardly put into words (at least not publicly) of how sick I am of some of the mortgage and real estate crowd who are taking the new government rate freeze plan as another opportunity to bash President Bush and the Investors who hold the paper on those loans. What a bunch of sad sacks they all are. Anyone with half a brain can see right through their so called criticisms and understand that all they are really doing is showing their true partisan agenda. And just what is that agenda? Simple, blame the Bush administration for everything that happens. How politically correct they all are. Then, just to show how progressively minded they are too, they bash the greedy investors, who are going to lose money no matter what happens as we move forward.

Now,…

The Federal Open Market Committee, the monetary policy arm of the Federal Reserve, held their December meeting Tuesday and lowered both the Fed Funds and Fed Discount rates by 25 basis points each. It was the third such rate cut in succession by the Federal Reserve Board and is designed to continue their efforts to help foster price stability, sustain growth and hopefully ward off the potential for a recession. In addition, the rate cuts should also help with the current foreclosure situation and give another boost to the ailing housing market.

Recent evidence suggests the risk of core inflation continues to improve modestly, oil prices have stopped climbing, at least for the time being, and the declining dollar has leveled off somewhat. While the Fed's…

Today, the Bush administration and the Lending Industry announced their plan for helping homeowners who are facing higher mortgage payments when their upcoming subprime ARM loans reset. Faced with the prospect of 2 million subprime mortgages scheduled to reset at higher interest rates in the coming years, the agreement will freeze the loans' current interest rate for the next five years. The administration stressed that the deal is not a bailout because no government money is involved and limits will be put in place as to exactly what type of borrowers will be eligible for the program.

By adopting such limits, only those borrowers who are current on their payments and can't afford the higher reset interest rates will qualify. Borrowers who have been …

The January thru September Ft. Myers Beach real estate sales statistics for both homes and condominiums are listed below. Ft. Myers Beach is the "happening" locale on Southwest Florida's Lee Island Coast. Ft. Myers Beach offers every amenity you can imagine- from seven miles of wide sandy beaches, golf, boating, fishing and more than anything else - relaxing. The Beach as its known, is eclectic and diverse. It draws visitors from all over the world and you'll find all sorts of folks from generations of families to Easter Break kids. There's nothing else quite like it anywhere in Southwest Florida.

Ft. Myers Beach Sales Data

Ft. Myers Beach Home Sales Jan-Sept 2007*:

• 57 Closed Sales
• Average Sales Price - $639,987
• Median Sales Price -…

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced on Monday there could soon be an agreement between the government and the major players in the mortgage industry to help thousands of American homeowners avoid mortgage defaults by temporarily freezing borrower’s lower introductory rates to keep them from resetting to higher levels for a period of years.

Paulson was addressing a national housing conference and said in his speech that this effort was a “pragmatic response” to the current realities of the worst housing slump in more than two decades. He also noted that the number of homeowners unable to meet their higher monthly mortgage payments because of their rates resetting is currently soaring and will continue to do so unless something is done to help…