Condo Relief -- Extension of the Florida Distressed Condominium Relief Act ? | The National Law Review

Condo Relief -- Extension of the Florida Distressed Condominium Relief Act ? | The National Law Review
See my post below below for the reference to Florids HB 319, which includes a three-year extension of this act. As explained by attorney Alexander Dobrev:

"As a reminder, the Distressed Condominium Relief Act marked a dramatic shift in Florida law, encouraging the bulk acquisition of condominium projects by protecting the acquirer against some significant liabilities which could be inherited from the original developer (a.k.a. "successor developer" liabilities), while allowing the acquirer to retain certain useful and valuable rights with respect to the operations, repositioning and eventual disposition of the assets.

"As the Act's sunset date of July 1, 2012 approaches, liability concerns relating to statutory warranties on units and common elements, unfunded reserves, past due assessments or deficit funding obligations, the acts and/or omissions of the prior developer's board of directors, and the like, are likely to increase and to add downward pressures on the still distressed condominium market."

Suburbs May be Losing Their Luster to Home Buyers - Yahoo! Finance

Suburbs May be Losing Their Luster to Home Buyers - Yahoo! Finance

With gas prices hitting record highs the past few years, long commutes into city centers are becoming pricier, and current and future homeowners are thinking more about proximity to work and play when looking for housing. There's a new emphasis on smaller, better located homes, Morici says, prompting more construction of multi-family residences closer to cities.

The legacy of the housing bubble and the still-unsteady jobs market has also played a role. "Many young workers may need to move to stay employed and are wary of being tied to a house they may not be able to sell," Morici says. "Hence, more young families are opting to rent."

All of this adds up to more challenges for the housing market when it comes to selling through the enormous overhang of supply, and calls into the question the dynamics of the housing market going forward. After all, rental housing tends to be concentrated in urban areas, not the suburbs.

So does a new preference (and in some cases necessity) to rent mean an end to suburbs and a revival of downtown, city living?

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Thanks to Fred Pilot for sending this link. James Howard Kunstler has been making this point for years now, but in much more scathing terms. He thinks that instead of our young people learning how to make cities more livable they should be learning how to take care of the mules they will soon be riding.

Arizona Senators debate HOA legal status « HOA Constitutional Government

Arizona Senators debate HOA legal status « HOA Constitutional Government
Take a look at this remarkable post by George Staropoli, and the even more remarkable video that he links to, where you hear Arizona legislators actually discussing whether private corporations should be able to enforce their rules on...public roads. The bill in question is SB 1113.

Read this. How does subsection B grab you?

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Title 33, chapter 16, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 33-1817, to read:

33-1817. Community authority over public roadways; exemption

A. Notwithstanding any provision in the community documents, after the period of declarant control, an association has no authority over and shall not regulate any roadway for which the ownership has been dedicated to or is otherwise held by a governmental entity.

B. This section does not apply to a planned community located in an unincorporated area of a county.

H 319 -- REPRESENTATIVE GEORGE MORAITIS MALARKEY

H 319 -- REPRESENTATIVE GEORGE MORAITIS MALARKEY
"To be very honest I have barely ever seen more malarkey than the excuses Representative George Moraitis offered to defend his House Bill 319 in the Sun Sentinel last Tuesday, especially after adding amendments to this bill which clearly made it an anti-owner bill."
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That is Jan Bergemann's take on the huge bill that is making its way through the Florida legislature. Read Jan's analysis to see why he believes that a bill that had potential is now a turkey. He is reacting to an op-ed that Moraitis wrote in which he defends a bank goodie contained in the bill (see below) and claims that he is "clarifying" existing law. I love it when legislators dump a ton of complicated verbiage on the public and claim they are clarifying things for us. The current full text of the bill, 75 pages in length, is here.

I have also linked to the latest legislative analysis of the bill.

The bill covers many different issue, several of which are discussed in Jan's post. There is a nice little goodie for the banks: letting them off the hook for paying attorney fees, interest, costs, and late fees on foreclosed units. That's the provision Moraitis is defending in his op-ed. There is also an extension of the Distressed Condominium Relief Act to 2015. It would have expired this year. That Act is intended to make it easier and less risky for bulk buyers of condo units in failed/failing projects to do so. The Act allows them to assume some developer rights without assuming all the developer responsibilities.

To me, the moral of the story is that the condominium as a form of ownership is so fragile that it can't survive without all this endless "clarification" that is really complication, and constant gimmes and goodies for banks, vulture capitalists, developers, lawyers, managers, and so forth to induce them to somehow keep this institution held more or less together with duct tape and baling wire. When you look through all the verbiage, all these schemes come back to one strategy: more responsibilities and less power and freedom for the unit owners. If you don't believe, me, check out Moraitis' next project, which is to make it easier for associations to foreclose on owners when the banks won't:

"The root cause of many associations' current financial problems is the number of unit owners not paying their fair share of assessments. I am co-sponsoring legislation that will give courts greater flexibility to move foreclosures forward when the lenders fail to pursue cases to the financial detriment of our associations. Through this, units will be able to be resold to new paying owners more quickly, improving the financial condition of our homeowners associations."

How Citibank Dumped Lousy Mortgages on the Government - ProPublica

How Citibank Dumped Lousy Mortgages on the Government - ProPublica
"Citigroup agreed yesterday to pay $158 million to settle a lawsuit over bad loans that the bank passed on to the Federal Housing Administration to insure. The whistle-blower who originally brought the case, Sherry Hunt, an employee of Citi's mortgage department, said the company actively undermined the process that was supposed to check for fraud in order to push through reckless loans and get higher profits."
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Yet another ripoff by a "too big to fail" bank. Pay some money, nobody goes to jail.

Mortgage settlement with banks sparks new scam - WTOP Mobile

Mortgage settlement with banks sparks new scam - WTOP Mobile

WASHINGTON - Scammers are trying to take advantage of the multi-state mortgage service settlement announced last week.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said the calls and emails about scams began very soon after the settlement was announced. The scammers try and convince consumers that, for a fee, they can get some of that money announced in the settlement with major banks.

"It's unbelievable how scammers prey on people who are vulnerable and have already been hurt," said Cuccinelli's spokesman, Brian Gottstein. "These people have no souls."

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Well, you would have a hard time finding a soul in anybody throughout this entire process, from the mortgage originators to the investment banks that created the garbage mortgage backed securities, and on to the ratings agencies that called it AAA and right through the whole line of policy makers who deregulated the industry and left consumers completely vulnerable to predators, and then on to the phony "mortgage rescue" fraudsters, the mortgage foreclosure mills with their sleazy robosigners, and on and on. It is no surprise that yet another bunch of con artists are preying on people.

Cash in as yet another housing bubble bursts - MoneyWeek

Cash in as yet another housing bubble bursts - MoneyWeek
Canada’s housing market is plagued by “overvaluation, speculation and over supply”, says Merrill Lynch. The Economist conducts a survey that compares house prices with the rents that property owners can charge. On this basis, Canadian residential property is overvalued by more than 70%. Even the central bank admits there’s a problem. In short, the country’s property prices won’t be able to defy gravity for much longer.
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Eh?

After Mortgage Settlement, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Face Renewed Pressure On Principal Reduction

After Mortgage Settlement, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Face Renewed Pressure On Principal Reduction

Top law enforcement officials in several states are signaling they will pressure Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to correct what is widely seen as one of the biggest deficiencies of the $25 billion mortgage settlement announced on Thursday: It simply doesn't help that many homeowners.

Borrowers whose loans are backed by the government-controlled mortgage giants -- nearly half of all outstanding mortgages in the United States -- are not eligible for payouts under the deal. State officials who negotiated the deal say they could not convince Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the loan giants, to join onto the settlement because they are steadfastly opposed to principal reductions -- loan write-downs for borrowers whose homes are at risk of foreclosure.

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I believe the mystery quasi-settlement is supposed to cover less than 8% of the nation's mortgages. What is all the publicity about, if the GSE's aren't going to help out underwater owners?

Incomplete subdivisions face dangerous conditions | www.wsbtv.com

Incomplete subdivisions face dangerous conditions | www.wsbtv.com

LOVEJOY, Ga. —

Communities left incomplete by the housing bust are causing more problems than just empty and overgrown lots, according to homeowners. Some residents in Clayton County said they're also leading to potentially dangerous conditions. Melanie Scott, a homeowner in the Lovejoy Crossing subdivision, said she and her neighbors have had to fight for basic services, including street lights. Scott said residents also had to go to the city of Lovejoy to get a dark, undeveloped corner of their own neighborhood barricaded after a stream of illegal activity.

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Another chapter in the accellerating failure of private communities. I wonder if municipalities have learned anything from this experience. One would think they would realize that putting their financial future in the hands of real estate developers is risky business. But on the other hand, you can't underestimate the effectiveness of developer dog-and-pony shows that promise city leaders that there will be rainbows, pots of gold, and new village halls in exchange for the development permit.

Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.

Horror stories prompt industry group to ask Colorado to regulate HOA managers - The Denver Post

Horror stories prompt industry group to ask Colorado to regulate HOA managers - The Denver Post

"Colorado legislators received so many complaints about HOAs that in 2010, they voted to create an HOA Information Office and Resource Center to gather complaints and help homeowners Through Dec. 1, the center had collected 478 complaints, a third of which named managers. Many of the rest centered on poor management practices — from a lack of transparency to ignoring homeowners' concerns About 2 million people in Colorado live under more than 8,000 HOAs, according to state estimates.

"At the CAI's request, the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies is conducting a "sunrise review" to determine whether HOA managers should be regulated. Nine states and the District of Columbia license or regulate community managers."

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When CAI starts asking for regulation, you know the situation is bad. I think many of the mom and pop property management firms are struggling these days. Financial problems trickle up from the owners to the association to the professionals. If the owners can't fund the association, the association can't hire professional management. I realize managers and lawyers do everything possible to sign up associations as clients and start the fee machine, but with all the unfinished subdivisions and foreclosures eventually owners just can't afford management fees. Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.

Outsourcing Gym Class - The Bay Citizen

Outsourcing Gym Class - The Bay Citizen
The school district can't afford enough gym teachers, so the Parent-Teacher Organization is paying private contractors. Privatizing gym class--thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.

Mind-Blowing Charts From the Senate's Income Inequality Hearing | Mother Jones

Mind-Blowing Charts From the Senate's Income Inequality Hearing | Mother Jones
Just take a look at this and you can see who our public policy makers have been serving these last 30 years or so.

Cities Turn to a Crop for Cash - Medical Marijuana - NYTimes.com

Cities Turn to a Crop for Cash - Medical Marijuana - NYTimes.com
OAKLAND, Calif. — As the stubborn economic downturn has forced this city to take painful steps to balance its budget in recent years, it has increasingly turned to one of its newer industries to raise much-needed revenues: medical marijuana dispensaries. The city has raised taxes on marijuana dispensaries several times in the past few years, and last year it collected $1.4 million in taxes from them — nearly 3 percent of all the business taxes it collected. Now Oakland plans to double the number of dispensaries it licenses, to eight from the current four, in the hopes that it can collect even more revenue.
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My, my. How things have changed. I still remember when people went to jail for selling weed. Oh, wait. They still do. But they aren't the City of Oakland. The city becomes an indirect drug peddler to balance the budget, and that's just sound fiscal policy. But if Joe Schmoe living in Oakland decided to balance his own budget the same way, why, it's a completely different thing, don't you see?


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Exclusive: Mortgage problems? Turn your house into a billboard | Reuters

Exclusive: Mortgage problems? Turn your house into a billboard | Reuters

In return for allowing the front of their four-bedroom house to become a garish advertisement, the Hostetlers are getting their nearly $2,000 monthly mortgage paid by the marketing company behind the project, Brainiacs From Mars.

In a residential neighborhood without heavy traffic, cars passing by the house slowed and drivers gawked at the vivid colors and a giant Brainiacs From Mars billboard.

Romeo Mendoza, the company's founder and CEO, told Reuters that his ultimate goal is to turn 1,000 homes across the United States into giant advertisements for his marketing firm.

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I'm sure the HOAs will find this worthy of their attention.

Mortgage Settlement as Attorney General Sellout: Deal is Not Done, and Final Version Guaranteed to be Worse Than Advertised « naked capitalism

Mortgage Settlement as Attorney General Sellout: Deal is Not Done, and Final Version Guaranteed to be Worse Than Advertised « naked capitalism
"The Administration and the banks both want a pro-bank deal (the only minor point of difference is how much in populist gestures the banks have to submit to in order to get the much more valuable bennies they want). The only parties that cared to any degree about ordinary citizens were the dissident AGs. But they now have now given up any bargaining leverage over how this deal turns out.

The only power any party has in a negotiation is his threat to leave the bargaining table. The AGs can no longer do that. They’ve taken star turns, made ringing pronouncements of how great this pact is. They can’t possibly reverse themselves mere weeks down the road and say, whoops, this deal isn’t go great after all."

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Great analysis. When the real deal surfaces, the AGs who were holding things up will have no way to back out of it. They have already gone on record with their victory laps.

Walker, Van Hollen: Chunk of mortgage settlement going to state budget - JSOnline

Walker, Van Hollen: Chunk of mortgage settlement going to state budget - JSOnline

But of a $31.6 million payment coming directly to the state government, most of that money - $25.6 million - will go to help close a budget shortfall revealed in newly released state projections. Van Hollen, whose office said he has the legal authority over the money, made the decision in consultation with Walker.

"Just like communities and individuals have been affected, the foreclosure crisis has had an effect on the state of Wisconsin, in terms of unemployment. . . . This will offset that damage done to the state of Wisconsin," Walker said.

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Scott Walker is the Koch Brothers-funded tool who ambushed the public employee unions after he became governor. Now he is stealing a bunch of the mortgage foreclosure settlement to balance the budget. It is too early to say for sure, but I think when all the facts are in a few years from now, Walker, Kasich, Daniels, and Scott will turn out to have been as bad for their respective states' economies as David Cameron has been for the UK, which remains mired in recession.