"A Pool & A Pond"

Tampa Couple Converts Pool to Pond; Neighbor Complains

In the Florida film classic Caddyshack, Carl Spackler and Ty Webb have this exchange regarding the outdoor amenities over at Ty's place. Sure, a separate pool and pond would be great...but what if you could have both in one delightful backyard setting. Well, in a case of Florida gated community life imitating cinematic art, a Tampa couple have converted their unused backyard pool into a mediation pond teeming with exotic fish and water lilies. And while Barbara and Tom Couture love their new pond, a nosy neighbor (the unofficial Florida state flower) has complained and city officials can't decide whether codes are being violated.

$6,000 Agent

Former "Million Dollar Agent" Now $20 Million In Debt

During the boom, TLC hit a new reality TV low with a show called Million Dollar Agent and introduced the world to Miami real estate broker Carlos Justo. "With his outsized personality, outrageous outfits and boundless in-your-face energy," TLC once gushed, "Carlos is a natural star in the competitive world of real estate." In 2005, Justo's net worth peaked around $20 million, but his investment in the 12 multimillion dollar homes he intended to flip didn't exactly pan out. According to this Miami Herald article, "Justo is $20 million in debt. He is five months into a massive bankruptcy filing. The IRS is after him for $6 million. (Today) he only owns about $6,000 worth of stuff, including furniture, clothing and some Buddhist art."

Loan Mods "R" Us

Are Toddlers To Blame for the Mortgage Meltdown?

If a picture is worth a thousand words, the photo gallery of troubled homeowners on the government's official mortgage relief website speaks volumes about who's to blame for all the bounced checks and late payments on Florida homes. The distressed Orlando couple featured in yesterday's blog post had obviously turned the home finances over to their infant son, Kyle, while the Port St. Lucie woman pictured here has apparently assigned checkwriting duties to her newborn daughter, Hannah. Armed with a shiny green Sharpie, Hannah paid her family's mortgage check to the order of four squiggly lines, some dots and a circle.

Clearwater Condo in Foreclosure

Price Reductions Didn't Help, Lender's Buyout Offer Rejected

A 126-unit mixed use development in Clearwater owned by an Israeli investment group has been foreclosed on by its lender. Property & Building, a subsidiary of Tel Aviv-based IDB Holdings, owned 75% of the Station Square project which was touted in the sales brochure as "a celebration of the coastal urban lifestyle...redefining downtown development in Clearwater." And while one bedroom units were originally priced from $425,000 and two bedrooms from $575,000, 15% price reductions failed to generate much interest. Only 2 Station Square units had been sold according to IDB's first quarter financial report. Foreclosure proceedings were finally triggered when Property & Building rejected the lender's offer to purchase the project--once valued at $64 million--for $25 million.

Home Alone

Related Condo in Fort Myers Has 420 Units, 1 Resident

While state and national media have spent ample ink marveling at the number of empty units in some of Related Group's East Coast projects, today the News-Press interviews the lone resident in the Oasis I condo in downtown Fort Myers: a 45-year-old fire fighter from New Jersey. Victor Vangelakos uses words like "creepy" and "surreal" to describe the empty building and "testy" to describe his current relationship with Related. While Vangelakos paid $430,000 for his Oasis unit, comparable new construction high-rise units in the same area can be found on Trulia for roughly $150,000.

Fees Glorious Fees

More Reasons The Banks Aren't In A Hurry To Modify Your Loan

Two days after Washington officials chastised major lenders and demanded they pick up the pace of mortgage relief for troubled homeowners, the New York Times says the banks have little incentive to walk away from the lucrative fees generated from delinquent loans. Experts say the financial incentives the federal government is offering lenders to modify home loans pale in comparison to the more lucrative process of "collecting fees from delinquency, and then more fees through the sale of homes in foreclosure." The adjacent bar graph shows completed loan modifications (blue line) vs. delinquencies and foreclosures. (Larger Image)

WWJD: What Would Janke Do? Leave.

Fired City Manager & Adult Film Star Wife Say "Adios" to Florida

The City of Fort Myers Beach made national headlines last week when their City Council called an emergency meeting and fired City Manager Scott Janke apparently after learning that Janke's wife, Anabela, is an adult film star. How his spouse's career choice impacted his job performance was never explained and online polls show overwhelming support for Janke. Fresh off their public humiliation at the hands of the family value xenophobes at Mayberry Beach City Hall, AP is reporting the Jankes are joining the nationwide craze and leaving Florida. And with the smut peddlers safely out of Lee County, Fort Myers Beach can finally refocus on the cultural and puritanical pursuits that make this the Holy Land of Southwest Florida.

Obama Mortgage Relief Plan A Bust

Why "Making Home Affordable"...Isn't

Executives from the nation's leading banks were summoned to Capitol Hill yesterday for a spirited session of finger-pointing and bar lowering with officials from HUD and the Treasury. The Obama Administration's $75 billion Making Home Affordable program promised mortagage relief for 3-4 million U.S. homeowners (7-9 million are eligible according to the official website); yet, only 200,000 loans have been modified to date. The day ended with all parties agreeing to try to modify 500,000 mortgages by November. Good luck. When a Kansas City bus driver can't qualify because his income is too high, you can better understand why MHA is being described as "a confusing, bureaucratic nightmare."

Et tu, Countrywide?

Failed Lender Comes Up Short On Florida Loan Modifications

Former mortgage lending giant Countrywide (now a shell-of-its-former-self-merged-entity of Bank of America) hasn't exactly delivered on the $1 billion promise it made to the Florida Attorney General's Office last October to modify 52,000 home loans in Florida. According to the Miami Herald, Countrywide only modified 6,500 Florida loans between last December and April 1, 2009. Consensus among Countrywide customers interviewed by the Herald is that the process is excruciating, frustrating and most likely expedited by quitting your job (if you have one) and falling 3-6 months behind on your mortgage payments.

Short Sale of the Day

1948 Lake Atriums Cir #135, Orlando

Today's SSOTD takes us to Orlando where we find a 3 bed/2 bath condo being offered for $29,900 or $35 per square foot. The condo complex, The Plaza at Millennium, is conveniently located near the Millennia Mall, I-4 and the Florida Turnpike. The listing description notes the property was vandalized and that "sale of Property at full listing price may be conditioned upon approval of third parties." There are several short sale units currently being offered in this community according to Trulia. (Property description)

$63/SF for Bal Harbour Oceanfront Units

WCI Originally Sold One Bal Harbour Units for $1,100/SF

The NYT article below cites increased sales activity at a downtown Miami project including the bulk purchase of 31 units by a Latin American investor at roughly $200/SF, or 50% off original pricing. As good as that sounds, how about 94% off original pricing...in Bal Harbour. According to Condo Vultures, a private equity group recently closed a bulk purchase of 51 oceanfront condo/hotel units at the Regent Bal Harbour. The same group, Elcom Condominium LLC, also paid $12 million for the building's common areas. Meanwhile Regent, which walked away from a South Beach project two years ago, has pulled out of the Bal Harbour project as well.

Units Are "Flying Off The Shelves"

Analyst: “Things are starting to move through the system"

That, according to the New York-based developer of the 570-unit 1060 Brickell condo in downtown Miami. According to the New York Times, unit prices were slashed 50% earlier this year (from $400/SF to $200/SF) and 200 units "have closed since the discount program began in April." The NYT doesn't say how many of those 200 units were sold since the discount program was unveiled in April vs. how many were closings of units purchased for full price back during the boom. Still, kudos to the developer for being able to repay the $153 million first mortgage to TD Bank and iStar. On the flip side, the developer and his partners lost "their entire investment" and all mezzanine financing at 1060 Brickell.

Short Sale of the Day

6184 SW 149th Avenue, Miami FL

Real estate websites like Trulia have recently added distressed properties to their advanced filter selection, so HousingBath will begin to highlight a different Florida short sale opportunity of the day. Bonus points will be awarded for homes with dramatic price reductions from neighboring comps and/or visual evidence of being neglected or abandoned. Today's property delivers both. This 4br/2ba Miami home was built in 1990 and is currently listed for $150,000. A comparable sized home was listed for $439,000 only two years ago. The interior has been vandalized and, according to the listing agent, needs new drywall and painting.

Foreclosure Auction for MIA Hotel

Growing Weakness in South Florida Commercial Sector

In only two years, a high-profile Miami Airport hotel has been reflagged from a Radisson to a Sheraton to a Doubletree to a Foreclosure. According to the Daily Business Review, the 334-room hotel will be sold at a auction on July 30, but analysts doubt interested parties will pay anything close to the $59 million currently owed in principal, interest and fees. According to Real Capital Analytics, South Florida is currently home to $3.3 billion in troubled commercial real estate loans and $1.8 billion in delinquent loans.

Downtown Miami Sales Update

Price Cuts, Sales Pace Slows, Banks Award More Aggressive Pricing

The latest Condo Vultures report on Downtown Miami condo activity shows sales slowed to an average of 2.7 a day in the second quarter compared to 5.2 sales/day in the first quarter. Three projects accounted for the majority of those sales: 1060 Brickell, Marina Blue and Brickell on the River's South Tower. Sales were so strong at 1060 Brickell (thanks to aggressive pricing cuts), the developer was granted a loan extension to April 2010. Of the 83 new projects downtown, Condo Vultures says 61 have sold 51% of their units while 36 have sold 90%.

Oh Those "Wacky" Property Taxes

Spotlight on Florida's "Dysfunctional Property Tax System"

Serial Florida basher and withering print publication Time Magazine says South Florida foreclosure buyers are celebrating their bargains and increasingly waking up the next morning with unanticipated property tax hangovers. Picking up a $400,000 home for $100,000 at auction sounds great until you realize that insolvent local governments are going to keep your taxable value at or near $400,000. Since fire-sale purchases now account for 40% of home sales in Florida, realtors fear uncompromising county appraisers could scare away the diminished pool of interested buyers.

What's a "Friendly Foreclosure?"

Massive Related Group Project in West Palm Handed Over

Better Living Through Better Thinking. That's what the website for CityPlace South promised future residents, but today it seems Better Unit Pricing might be in order. Apparently the Bank of Nova Scotia filed a foreclosure lawsuit earlier today in Palm Beach County against Related Group's CityPlace South Tower. At issue is the $135 million mortgage on the 420-unit project located in West Palm Beach. While 367 units were under contract during the housing boom, only 39 units have actually closed since the building was completed last summer. The transaction is being described as a "friendly foreclosure"...whatever that means.

Crack House

Almost 20% of Homes Built in 2006 Have 2 Major Defects

Cracks in the stucco. Cracks in the foundation. Homeowners simply cracking up. The Wall Street Journal says a higher percentage of homes with construction defects are a legacy of the housing boom. When over 2 million homes were being built at the peak in 2006, there was a nationwide shortage of skilled labor and quality materials. Compounding matters today, "owners of defective properties say they’re finding it even harder to get repairs now because of rising builder bankruptcies." (Slide show)