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The first quarter 2008 Bonita Bay real estate market 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. Golf club members also have access to two Tom Fazio courses at the Bonita Bay Club East. Located on more than 1,000 acres of Cypress wetlands, there will be no residences permitted at Club East and these courses are enclosed by natural Florida surroundings providing a pure golfing…

Upon reaching this milestone here on REW blogs, I thought it would be good opportunity to point out the positives it has afforded me and my company by giving some kudos to everyone involved in making our first 100 posts here so successful.

Of course, I have to begin with Morgan and the folks at REW for providing this great platform. There is no doubt that it is a wonderful tool for helping all of its users to spread tons of great stuff about the real estate and mortgage industries, but it is also a wonderful place to learn about how best to use the blogosphere to disseminate helpful information to all of our clients.

Having never blogged before, I was a total novice when I began using our REW blog. By following the advice of both the REW team and the…

The January thru March Bonita Springs real estate market statistics for both homes and condominium sales are listed below. Bonita Springs, known as the "Gateway to the Gulf" is one of Southwest Florida's fastest growing coastal cities. Located between Ft. Myers and Naples, Bonita Springs offers endless lifestyle choices while still maintaining its small town charm.

Bonita Springs Sales Data

Bonita Springs Home Sales Jan-Mar 2008*:

• 207 Closed Sales
• Average Sales Price - $628,702
• Median Sales Price - $417,000
• Average Days on Market - 187
• Price/Sq. Foot - $232.56

Bonita Springs Condominium Sales Jan-Mar 2008*:

• 201 Closed Sales
• Average Sales Price - $377,909
• Median Sales Price - $300,000
• Average Days on…

We just wanted to remind folks about the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, whereby homeowners whose mortgage debt was partly or entirely forgiven during 2007 may be able to claim special tax relief by filling out the "revised" Form 982 and attaching it to their 2007 federal income tax return. Under the new law, taxpayers may exclude mortgage debt forgiven on their principal residence if the balance of their loan was less than $2 million ($1 million for a married person filing a separate return). It applies to mortgage debt forgiven in a mortgage restructuring as well as mortgage debt forgiven in connection with a foreclosure.

The IRS is "urging people with mortgage problems to take full advantage of this valuable tax relief" and has provided…

Lots of folks are considering refinancing their current home loans in this falling interest rate environment. The problem is things have changed within the lending industry since many borrowers got their original mortgage or refinanced the last time rates fell. What used to be a simple process has now turned into a journey filled with many roadblocks. The fallout from the subprime mess has brought about all sorts of changes including new FICO score requirements, declining market penalties and the loss of many types of available loan programs. It almost seems like for everything the industry or the government has tried to do to improve things, more new changes occur that set the process back even further.

The latest problem revolves around those…

The Internal Revenue Service has recently issued a new ruling laying out some guidelines for individuals wanting to use a 1031 Exchange for their vacation homes. The ruling was released as a Revenue Procedure (2008-16), meaning it describes what steps the taxpayer must take in order for the IRS not to contest the investment standing of their vacation homes.

This issue came to the forefront last year when the U.S. Tax Court ruled against a taxpayer's exchange from one vacation home to another. Since you can only exchange property that is held for investment (or used in a trade or business), the court's ruling gave rise to the question of whether a vacation home is an investment or personal use property. The new guidelines are an attempt by the IRS to try…

In response to the new conforming loan limit requirements included in the Economic Stimulus Package signed into law last month, HUD has released it revised county by county median property prices today. Under the Stimulus Package's guidelines, HUD was directed to re-evaluate its median property prices in order to determine the new maximum conforming loan limits for loans originated between July 1, 2007 and December 31, 2008. The actual FHA and Fannie/Freddie conforming loan limits for each county are based upon 125% of these revised median property prices. Some counties, designated as high cost areas, received their new limits based on 175% of the revised median home prices.

So, all counties across the country now have a new FHA conforming loan amount…

On Friday, February, 29th Judge Lawrence K. Karlton of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California granted a motion for summary judgment for the Nehemiah Corporation of America for relief against HUD's rule to ban private seller paid down payment assistance programs as proposed in the “Standards for Mortgagor’s Investment in Mortgaged Property” regulation published October 1, 2007. In his ruling, Judge Karlton said "HUD failed to supply a reasoned analysis for its decision and didn't consider reasonable alternatives". The ruling permanently sets aside the final standard issued by HUD, remands the matter back to HUD for further agency actions consistent with the courts findings and disqualifies HUD Secretary Jackson from…