$541 Million: Florida Cleans Up With Foreclosure Relief Funds
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced the "neighborhood stabilization grants" earlier this year and the agency has now decided how to allocate the $4 billion nationwide. As one of the nation's hardest hit housing markets, Florida snagged $541 million of the federal dollars, or 13% of the total pie. City and county governments will eventually be able to use those funds for "buying homes for affordable housing, demolishing abandoned homes, offering down-payment assistance to low-income families and creating 'land banks' for affordable housing." Miami-Dade gets the largest share of the Florida funds ($62 million), followed by Orange County ($27 million) in Central Florida and Lee County ($18 million) in Southwest Florida.
Looking to Unload Your McMansion? Don't Look to Generation X
That's according to a Florida real estate analyst who doesn't see the Florida housing market stabilizing until 2011. Falling prices and rising affordability are good news for interested buyers, but the current financial crisis is forcing lenders to raise the lending bar and demand much larger down payments. The analyst also points to the purchasing power gap between Baby Boomers who bought many of Florida's McMansions and members of Generations X and Y who are embracing "frugal chic. "They're going to have less money, and they're going to have a hard time getting a loan. They're not going to do what the Boomers did, which was every couple of years to move up, move up, move up." Tech-savvy GenX and Y are also more likely to pursue real estate services that cut Florida realtors and overpriced commissions out of the process.
Special Report: Foreclosure's Big Drag
The St. Pete Times presents a 7-step interactive guide to walk interested parties through the foreclosure process. Follow the housing trials and tribulations of two lanky stick Floridians as they encounter threatening letters, long lines at the bank and eviction-minded sheriff's deputies. The guide does a great job of explaining terms like deed in lieu, lis pendens and loan forebearance. While teaching distressed homeowners about the many home sale options at their disposal, the final slide is a painful reminder of the long-term consequences of the new "F"-word: Foreclosure can knock your credit score down by as many as 250 points, leaving people with excellent credit in the poor credit category. That can raise your interest rates on credit cards and car loans and make it harder to rent from landlords, who fear you'll skip out on rent."
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced the "neighborhood stabilization grants" earlier this year and the agency has now decided how to allocate the $4 billion nationwide. As one of the nation's hardest hit housing markets, Florida snagged $541 million of the federal dollars, or 13% of the total pie. City and county governments will eventually be able to use those funds for "buying homes for affordable housing, demolishing abandoned homes, offering down-payment assistance to low-income families and creating 'land banks' for affordable housing." Miami-Dade gets the largest share of the Florida funds ($62 million), followed by Orange County ($27 million) in Central Florida and Lee County ($18 million) in Southwest Florida.Looking to Unload Your McMansion? Don't Look to Generation X
That's according to a Florida real estate analyst who doesn't see the Florida housing market stabilizing until 2011. Falling prices and rising affordability are good news for interested buyers, but the current financial crisis is forcing lenders to raise the lending bar and demand much larger down payments. The analyst also points to the purchasing power gap between Baby Boomers who bought many of Florida's McMansions and members of Generations X and Y who are embracing "frugal chic. "They're going to have less money, and they're going to have a hard time getting a loan. They're not going to do what the Boomers did, which was every couple of years to move up, move up, move up." Tech-savvy GenX and Y are also more likely to pursue real estate services that cut Florida realtors and overpriced commissions out of the process.Special Report: Foreclosure's Big Drag
The St. Pete Times presents a 7-step interactive guide to walk interested parties through the foreclosure process. Follow the housing trials and tribulations of two lanky stick Floridians as they encounter threatening letters, long lines at the bank and eviction-minded sheriff's deputies. The guide does a great job of explaining terms like deed in lieu, lis pendens and loan forebearance. While teaching distressed homeowners about the many home sale options at their disposal, the final slide is a painful reminder of the long-term consequences of the new "F"-word: Foreclosure can knock your credit score down by as many as 250 points, leaving people with excellent credit in the poor credit category. That can raise your interest rates on credit cards and car loans and make it harder to rent from landlords, who fear you'll skip out on rent."
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