http://perfect-florida-homes.com Make your dreams a reality - and avoid the pitfalls! Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:10:40 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Will a new president be able to fix the housing market? The most critical questions facing President-elect Obama are: How will he divvy up the remaining $450 billion from the financial industry bailout? Who will lead those efforts when Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson steps down? And what will the government ... http://perfect-florida-homes.com/real-estate-the-economy/time-live-promises/ The Florida Supreme Court is reviewing a new proposed constitutional amendment. The citizen initiative would offer property owners tax relief by capping the amount local governments can collect each year. Read the full story here and here. http://perfect-florida-homes.com/property-taxes/florida-property-taxes-capped/ As the luxury real estate market slows to a snail's pace, real estate brokers find themselves struggling to sell a growing number of large, unique "trophy homes" that are quietly gaining a new title: white elephants. Read the full story here. http://perfect-florida-homes.com/home-ownership/luxury-homes-florida/ How are we supposed to make sense of the conflicting signals? On the one hand, there are numerous stories reporting that the credit crisis has caused enormous changes in the real estate market - and in a very short space of time.  We've gone from a situation where loans ... http://perfect-florida-homes.com/real-estate-the-economy/rent-homes-answer/ With all of the recent publicity, hysteria and fall-out from excesses in the loan industry that we've seen this year, rational people might have expected a fall in the level of bad lending. Not so, apparently: The number of fraudulent loans issued during the second quarter this year increased 45%, ... http://perfect-florida-homes.com/finances-loans/surprised-mortgage-fraud-increase/ Property taxes are based on the County's assessment of what your property is worth. So when prices in Florida increased enormously in the years between 2001 and 2006, homeowners experienced monstrous increase in their property tax bills - so much so that there are anecdotal tales of families moving ... http://perfect-florida-homes.com/property-taxes/property-taxes-fast/ Katherine Salant, nationally syndicated columnist and author of The Brand-New House Book, says houses designed with both a master and second bedroom on the first floor have become the most popular because they appeal to all age groups. Young couples use the second bedroom as a nursery. ... http://perfect-florida-homes.com/home-ownership/home-design-trends/ Many renters in Florida and elsewhere have become victims of the mortgage crisis through no fault of their own: They're forced to move because the property owner is in foreclosure. However, a few states recently passed or proposed laws to protect renters by requiring mortgage holders to provide notice to ... http://perfect-florida-homes.com/long-term-rentals/foreclosures-affect-renters/ In hopes of sparking buyer interest, real estate professionals and home sellers are getting more creative when it comes to showing off properties through virtual tours. "Web appeal is the new curb appeal," says Realtor.com spokeswoman Julie Reynolds. In 2008, the majority of buyers begin their home search online: Some 80 percent ... http://perfect-florida-homes.com/home-ownership/selling-home-internet/ In case they didn't know it from their own books, a group of Florida business executives heard this message from a pair of economists here Thursday: Business is pretty bad right now. But the pundits predict a turnaround by mid-summer of 2009, and a recovery by 2011. Read the full story ... http://perfect-florida-homes.com/real-estate-the-economy/economic-recession-dont-worry-improvements-2011/