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Florida lawyers are now available to assist homeowners facing forclosure.

Florida Attorneys Saving Homes (FLASH) is a collaborative effort of The Florida Bar, The Florida Bar Foundation, Florida Legal Services, and the Real Property Probate and Trust Law Section designed to provide pro bono assistance to distressed homeowers.

As of June, an estimated 77,000 Floridians were in foreclosure and a recent report indicated that 11.6 percent of Florida property owners were more than 30 days past due on a mortgage payment or in foreclosure, suggesting more trouble ahead, said Kent Spuhler, executive director of Florida Legal Services, Inc.

In response Florida Attorneys Saving Homes has launch a toll-free hotline — (866) 607-2187 — to take calls weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. from those who fear they may soon be unable to make their mortgage payments or have already missed payments.

“We believe this is the first project of its kind that pairs homeowners with volunteer attorneys before the foreclosure is started in an effort to hold back the flood of foreclosures,” Spuhler said.

Bar staff will collect information from the callers and Florida Legal Services will screen the calls and forward to the RPPTL volunteers only those homeowners who appear “ripe” for a workout with their loan, according to Terry Hill, director of the Bar’s Programs Division.

The pro bono lawyers will in turn negotiate with the lenders on behalf of the homeowner with the hope of creating a relationship where the lender and the homeowner can together create a loan that allows the homeowner to remain in the home, thus avoiding foreclosure.

“The concept for the project began with the announcement from the banking industry of their HOPE NOW and Project Lifeline Projects,” Spuhler said. “We felt homeowners having trouble with their mortgage would have better success negotiating with their lender if they had the assistance of an attorney.”

Several months ago, Florida CFO Alex Sink approached The Florida Bar Board of Governors and asked that the Bar try to help Floridians facing foreclosure, said Sandra Fascell Diamond, chair of the Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law Section.

“The Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section is pleased to have the opportunity to assist with the coordination of the efforts of volunteer attorneys in this task,” Diamond said. “We hope to help individual owners and their families find a way to keep their homes.”

Lawyers interested in volunteering for the effort can visit http://www.floridaprobono.org for more information.

This was taken from the Florida Bar News July 15th 2008 edition www.floridabar.org

I was doing some research for some of my owners and I thought I would share this information that I accumulated.

2007 residential properties that were on the market:
January - 8493
February - 8476
March - 8503
April - 8535
May - 8631
June - 8641
July - 8617
August - 8788
September - 8785
October - 8895
November - 8818
December - 8394

Of those thousands of homes on the market 3,716 actually sold.
The peak being in March last year with 422 being sold that month.

Thus far 2008's residential properties that were on the market:
January - 8517
February - 8453
March - 8245
April - 8073
May - 7945
June - 7768
July - 7770
August - 7588
September - ?
October - ?
November - ?
December - ?

So how many have sold thus far in 2008? 1,937
The peak was in May at 294 sold in one month.

There was good news in the property management portion of it.
As I've tried to explain to people over and over, when there is a large portion of homes that aren't selling there will be a large portion of homes not renting, a large portion of the homes that were for sale, once expired (and sometimes before) are put on the rental market to at least hold an investor over until the market is better and he/she can sell again.

Anyway, back to the good news. In January there were only 372 homes listed on the rental market, but that number soared and by October it peaked at 703 available units, November and December stayed right up in that same area at 701 and 654 available units.
But we have seen a steady decline all this year, going from 599 in January to one of the lowest months ever in August at 459.

I have noticed that there are not nearly as many 'For Rent' signs crowded around stop signs on almost every street anymore. There are however, still plenty of 'For Sale' signs.

Personally, I am optimistic and hopeful for an economic recovery just around the corner. (A corner that when I turn it next is not littered with so many 'For Sale' signs). 

Have a good weekend!

WASHINGTON – Sept. 12, 2008 – Rates on 30-year mortgages dropped sharply this week, falling to the lowest level in five months, as the government’s dramatic takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had the hoped-for impact of lowering mortgage rates.

Freddie Mac reported Thursday that its nationwide survey found that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages dipped to 5.93 percent this week, down from 6.35 percent last week.

The sharp decline pushed the 30-year rate below 6 percent for the first time since late May and marked the lowest level for this rate since they averaged 5.88 percent the week of April 17.

Private economists had predicted that the government’s move on Sunday to take control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would result in lower mortgage rates for consumers because it removed a huge uncertainty about the future of the two firms, which own or guarantee half of the nation’s mortgages.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, said Thursday that he believed rates could keep falling and perhaps drop to around 5.5 percent on the 30-year mortgage, which would give a further boost to the battered housing market.

“This is the most significant positive benefit of the government takeover of Fannie and Freddie,” Zandi said. “I think it is important that rates have fallen below the key 6 percent benchmark and hopefully rates will move lower in coming weeks.”

The 30-year mortgage hit a high for this year at 6.63 percent on July 24 and had been above 6 percent since late May.

The Freddie Mac survey showed that other mortgage rates declined this week although one-year rates bucked the downward trend.

Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, fell to 5.54 percent, down from 5.90 percent last week.

Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.87 percent this week, down from 5.97 percent last week.

One-year, adjustable-rate mortgages edged up to 5.21 percent, compared to 5.15 percent last week.

The mortgage rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for 30-year, 15-year and five-year mortgages averaged 0.7 point last week. The nationwide fee for one-year mortgages averaged 0.6 point this week.

A year ago, rates on 30-year mortgages stood at 6.31 percent, 15-year mortgage rates averaged 5.97 percent, five-year adjustable-rate mortgages were at 6.17 percent and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages stood at 5.66 percent.

This was written on 9/12/08 on National Association of Realtors website:
http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/n1-091208.cfm

OPEN HOUSE on Sept. 20, 2008 from 11 am to 3 pm

216 NE 43rd Ave. Ocala, FL 34480

Amazing house that is a definite must see!

Check out the virtual tour:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxXWjK4e740