Up to 60 percent of homes selling in Florida's hardest-hit markets are distressed properties, and consumers who bought at the height of the market will have to wait up to seven years before values rise to their original prices, a top industry economist said Friday. ...more

November 8, 2008

The economy won't heal until the housing market improves, and that's going to take government intervention. ...more

November 7, 2008

Starting early next year, Pasco County will offer $20 million in down payment help to prospective home buyers, part of a push to put people into the foreclosed and abandoned homes that riddle the county. ...more

October 22, 2008

Starting early next year, Pasco County will offer $20 million in down payment help to prospective home buyers – part of a push to put people back into the foreclosed and abandoned homes that riddle the county. County commissioners today effectively rewrote a proposal by the county's Community Development office for spending $19.5 million in federal housing money aimed at addressing the national housing crisis. The county will add $6 million of its own housing money to increase the federal funding's reach. The proposal original presented to commissioners would have spent $16.3 million on buying and rehabbing run-down homes to make them sellable. Another $4 million was put into helping low- and moderate-income people get mortgages. ...more

October 21, 2008

Bay area housing prices continue to fall, largely because a big chunk of the homes selling are sharply discounted properties in distress, a new report shows. ...more

October 11, 2008

Cory Zarem saw the construction downturn cut the income from his sign business by half and decided he could no longer afford his Sarasota home. ...more

October 6, 2008

The confusion over state tax law that threatened to bottleneck home sales throughout the state has been resolved. ...more

September 24, 2008

The Florida Attorney General's Office is suing 10 companies and 15 individuals for their alleged roles in a major mortgage fraud scheme. ...more

September 18, 2008

Our real estate agent informed us that she has a buyer for our home at the full asking price. However, there is a stipulation that we must offer the house at the asking price to the buyer, not the other way around. Do you know anything about this practice and why it is used? ...more

September 18, 2008

The sharp downturn in the housing market and other areas of the economy has had a major impact on a local charitable food pantry. ...more

August 30, 2008