Treasure Coast Real Estate Editor - Featuring Julie Gaumond, REALTOR® -

There was a recent article in USA Today about the Obama Administration's $75 billion loan modification initiatives. What's happening?

Lenders are slamming on excessive late fees, penalties and expenses. And then there are back taxes and other costs that have piled up to the point the payments become impossible. This is why so many modifications fail within a few months.

It's nothing more than another way for the Banksters to skim off as much of that government $75 billion as they can stuff in their pockets . . . without having any meaningful effect on mortgage modification. Once again, another Obama giveaway to Wall Street Banksters.

The best advice for many homeowners is to simply walk away from these homes. Yes, that may mean bankruptcy, but if you owe $300,000 on a home now only worth $100,000 . . . in most cases you are better off with bankruptcy and a fresh start.

Looking for a home in Florida? - I'd welcome the opportunity to assist you with a purchase of a house or condo. For additional information please call me 772-260-5448 or visit our website FloridaHomes.PRO

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Great Time to Buy? - Yes, No, Maybe. I suggest you read this piece I wrote about how to find a Great Buy and what traps to avoid - Click Here

With Martin County's Property Tax Rate going up about 5%, it's refreshing to see that Stuart was able to maintain the current rate of $4.3329 per $1,000 of assessed value even though the city's tax base decreased by about 10%.

Stuart City Manager, Dan Hudson, and his staff did a great job keeping expenses in line, including cuts in overtime costs. Now if Martin County could only see through the nonsense of the police and fire departments when it comes to overtime, maybe Martin County would not be in so much of a financial pinch.

Three cheers for Stuart. Wake UP Martin County. Stop letting police and fire departments have their way all the time. Stop the overtime. And stop the final year bulges in overtime just prior to retirement that not only fattens up retirement pay, but throws off the actuarial tables the system was built on.

Mike

Looking for a home in Florida? - I'd welcome the opportunity to assist you with a purchase of a home or condo. For additional information please call me 772-260-5448 or visit our website FloridaHomes.PRO

Sign Up for Mike's Florida Real Estate Blog - Click Here

Great Time to Buy? - Yes, No, Maybe. I suggest you read this piece I wrote about how to find a Great Buy and what traps to avoid - Click Here

For the third year in a row Martin County businesses have been recognized. This year all four businesses are from Stuart!

This is the second year in a row that Martin County won more awards than any other county in the state.

The winners are :

Waterblasting Technologies, Inc
System One LLC
Seatourgue Control Systems LLC
CSA International

This is great stuff for Stuart and just further demonstrates what a great place Stuart and Martin County are for work and play.

I still can't believe it took so long for the FDIC to shut down Corus. This bank was still making condo loans when condo projects were starting to go belly up, but with no regulators questioning Corus' activities and non-performing assets, the Glickman family continued to make sweet heart deals with friends, family and associates . . . and to reward themselves with bloated paychecks and special dividends.

For this disaster alone, Sheila Bair and her entire executive staff should be fired and prosecuted for gross negligence or worse.

Now the FDIC is stuck with billions of dollars of condos that no one wants at prices that even approach 20 cents on the dollar for some. Moreover, before the FDIC made their move, Corus made a few last minute sweetheart deals.

The FDIC thinks they will take a $1.7 billion dollar hit on Corus. Obviously the FDIC is still refusing to face the facts about Corus and what they did in the condo world throughout the United States. The FDIC will be lucky to walk away with a $3 billion hit from Corus, and it could be much higher if this drags on and on and on. And it will.


Their will be huge winners in this game. In fact, the biggest winners will be some of the same condo developers that reaped huge rewards for putting up these towers at the expense of the American taxpayer. C'est la vie.

Condo Buyers Beware - For most Florida condo projects it is still too early to start buying, whether for personal use or investment. There are some tremendous deals, but there are still more traps than deals. And I can tell you . . . the traps are being sold real hard with all the bells and whistles you can dream of. If you're interested in condos, call me. I'll steer you around the traps and show you where the deals are.

Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI
Morgan Florida Real Estate Team
(772) 260-5448

Mike@FloridaHomes.PRO

The nightmare continues as the court system works its way to a settlement. The big issues will be who is going to pay and then . . . who is going to do the work.

Years ago the polybutelene pipe class action resulted in a huge class action fund that homeowners could apply to for replacement of their polybutelene pipes. There were a lot of hoops to jump through, and then there was the problem of who to do the work.

This work involved cutting holes in the walls, then cutting out the poly pipe and replacing with copper or other composite pipes. After the pipes were replaced, the walls had to be repaired. I was an executive of a large company that did the best work in the country. We were often called in to fix other contractors' mistakes.

Chinese drywall can be even worse. Now we're talking about ripping out ALL of the drywall in a home. That means all of the kitchen cabinets must come down and all of the molding, frames, etc. Basically, to do it right, you must de-contstruct the interior of a home and then put it back together. There is also the unknown danger of the remediation and disposal process. And no one knows what long term effect Chinese drywall has already placed on these homes.

Most of the big contractors are not interested in this work. There are too many risks in doing the work, and too many long term unknowns. The big question will be . . . who is going to do the work, and will insurance companies insure these homes once they are "repaired."

There is another answer. Bulldoze these homes and build new ones or just leave the lots empty until the inventory glut is eaten away. Bulldozing toxic homes is not that bad of an idea if the insurance industry, the home builders and the manufacturers are going to fund it. It would kill two birds with one stone.

The downside would be entire developments stripped to the ground. And maybe that is not such a downside in this market. I still believe the home builders have far more liability than they are accepting. They knew there were problems with these homes, but they refused to properly investigate. They were too busy building homes for flippers that are now standing empty or being foreclosed by the millions.

My advice to clients thinking about buying a home with Chinese Drywall or a home where the Chinese Drywall has been replaced . . . is to run the other way. Don't even think about it because you have no idea what the long term effects will be, and there is now a standard disclosure form for Chinese Drywall so when you go to sell the house, you may also have a problem.

My advice to clients that have homes with Chinese Drywall is to find new attorneys. You need to go back and look at what the builders new and when. Not only that, but what the builders should have known when they were seeing the corrosion that the drywall created.

I can tell you one thing. The sharks are going to clean house on this one. I look at some of the attorneys involved in these cases and just have to laugh. They're main concern is their cut and how fast they can cut themselves loose from this case. OR . . . how long they can stay on the payroll of this case as the fund disburses remediation monies. Either way, it is ugly for the consumer and rosy for the sharks and the builders that made hundreds of millions on these homes.

Looking for a home in Florida? - I'd welcome the opportunity to assist you with a purchase of a home or condo. For additional information please call me 772-260-5448 or visit our website FloridaHomes.PRO

Sign Up for Mike's Florida Real Estate Blog - Click Here

Great Time to Buy? - Yes, No, Maybe. I suggest you read this piece I wrote about how to find a Great Buy and what traps to avoid - Click Here