Thursday, December 28, 2006

Florida's overbuilt condo market starts to fizzle
Like I said, I am holding off on pronouncing the housing bust over.

Developers have pulled the plug on some of Miami's most anticipated condominium developments, a sign the city's sizzling, speculator-driven condo market -- where prices of many apartments doubled or tripled in a few brief years -- has finally chilled.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

BREITBART.COM - Sales of New Homes Post Gain in November
That's a bit of good news, but after all the evidence of a slump in the housing market I'm holding off on believing that things have turned around.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

New Jersey Real Estate Report » Free speech or HOA rules?
Here's a weblog post on the Twin Rivers case, which is scheduled to be argued before the New Jersey Supreme Court on January 4, 2007. Thanks' to Fred Pilot for the link.

And for those who want to keep track of the case, here's the info on the case from the court website:

A-118/122-05 Comm. For a Better Twin Rivers v. Twin Rivers Homeowners’ Assoc. et al. (59,230)
Do the State Constitution’s Speech and Assembly clauses apply to limit the authority of a homeowners’ association, and if so, under what circumstances?
Certification granted 4/28/06
Argued: Scheduled for 1/4/07
Decided:

Monday, December 25, 2006

'Mistake' costs family its home at The Springs - Orlando Sentinel :
Here is a heartwarming story of judicial compassion, link forwarded by Fred Pilot via the HOAs Yahoo group:

SANFORD -- Because of someone else's mistake, Sharon Rousey lost her Longwood home at a courthouse auction two weeks ago over $1,200 in unpaid homeowners association dues. On Wednesday, she tried to persuade a judge to give it back. He refused. That means Rousey, 48, a single mom who is raising two disabled teenagers on a fixed income, must now pack up her belongings and get out...Rousey bought the 2,400-square-foot town house in The Springs, a gated community near Wekiwa Springs State Park, in May 2005. The home, though, came with a surprise: She would belong to two homeowners associations and, thus, had to pay two sets of dues, one for The Springs and another for Glenwood Village, the town-house neighborhood. She fell behind on both, according to court records...In November, Rousey thought she had solved her problems: Goodbye Foreclosure Inc., a Winter Park company that buys distressed properties, agreed to buy her house before the auction. It would pay off her homeowners association dues as well as her mortgage and leave her with about $115,000 in cash. But company Vice President Aaron Herschberg sent a check to an association -- the wrong one, it turned out -- and assumed the auction would be called off. It wasn't. On Dec. 5, an Apopka company that buys foreclosed property agreed to pay $113,500. Mark Lippman, Rousey's attorney, estimated the market value of her town house at $275,000 to $300,000.

Birth of Jesus Christ
Just a reminder about the religious significance of Christmas. Merry Christmas, and enjoy the presents, family and friends, football games, egg nog, and whatever else makes the day special. I hope we can also spend a few moments pondering the significance of the birth of Jesus Christ over two thousand years ago.
What is it about Obama? - Los Angeles Times
Fred Pilot found this nugget.

Early this month, at the invitation of Rick Warren, Obama spoke to a hall full of conservative Christian evangelical activists gathered at Saddleback Church in Orange County. Warren, author of the bestseller "The Purpose Driven Life," is among the most successful and popular preachers in the world. Saddleback is his city on a hill, a sprawling campus set above the smooth, clean boulevards of the most suburban of places. His is the kind of congregation where Warren's joke about the authoritarian rule of suburban homeowners associations brings a knowing laugh.