From Reuters:
Urban home foreclosures surge in ’07: RealtyTrac
Home foreclosure filings surged in the largest metropolitan areas in the United States during 2007, with cities in California, Ohio, Florida and Michigan reporting among the highest rates in the country, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said on Wednesday.
The U.S. foreclosure rate of households in the top 100 metropolitan areas was 1.38 percent and the total number of foreclosure filings rose 78.2 percent last year to 1.775 million, said RealtyTrac, an online market of foreclosure of properties, in its Year-End 2007 Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report.
Fifteen of the metro areas with the top 20 metro foreclosure rates were located in four states: California with six; Ohio with four; Florida with three and Michigan with two, the report said.
“As expected, the number of properties entering some stage of foreclosure in 2007 was up in the vast majority of the nation’s 100 largest metro areas, with 86 metros reporting increases from 2006,” James Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a statement.
…
Foreclosures have soared as falling U.S. home prices have exposed underwriting standards weakened during the housing boom to boost volume. Billions of dollars in losses at financial firms and Wall Street banks have resulted in lenders putting borrowing rates out of reach for many homeowners who had planned on getting new loans or refinancing an adjustable mortgage before higher monthly payments kicked in.Lower appraisals on homes have also prevented borrowers from refinancing into loans with easier terms.
Florida Taking Its Toll (Brothers) On Daughter’s Condo
Posted By:Diana Olick
Monday, 11 Feb 2008
You just can’t make this stuff up. Apparently even a big builder’s daughter can’t seem to keep faith in the Florida housing market. According to an SEC filing, Wendy Topkis, daughter of Toll Brothers co-founder and Vice-Chairman Bruce Toll, is walking away from a Florida condo, just like everyone else. A Toll Bros. condo!! The Palm Beach Post says it best: Et Tu Wendy?
According to the home builder’s proxy statement:
Prior to fiscal 2007, the Company entered into an agreement of sale to build and sell a condominium to Wendy Topkis, Bruce E. Toll’s daughter, and her husband for a purchase price of $2,468,075. In January 2008, the buyers informed the Company that they did not intend to make settlement on the condominium. The Company intends to pursue its rights under the agreement of sale.
Does that mean they’ll sue darling daughter? The company’s general counsel says they are pursuing normal procedures.
Daddy is quoted as saying she just changed her mind because she had another child and the place would be too small, but I’m guessing the 13 percent drop in Florida prices was screaming at her a little louder than the baby. So Wendy just adds to the company’s 61 percent cancellation rate in the Sunshine State.
Now, if Wendy was required to put down the same 7 percent deposit on the new home as everybody else, then she could be out $172,765. Of course, daddy owns almost five percent of the company (market cap around $3.5 billion) so maybe he could help out, or perhaps he wants her to learn about fiscal responsibility the hard way. None of my business of course; just family business…or lack thereof.
And check out the video on my discussion about home ownership, with Richard Gaylord, National Association of Realtors president.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23110984