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Susan Taylor Martin, Times Senior Correspondent |Friday, March 13, 2015   “TAMPA — For Doreen Rosselli, Carrollwood’s Grande Oasis condominium has provided a lushly landscaped refuge from the cacophony of urban life. For Silviya Gregory, a young nurse from Bulgaria, Grande Oasis has meant home in a country where she has no family. And forRead more

News Release: Florida Senate | WCTV | “Today SB 542 by Senator Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg) passed the Senate Committee on Appropriations with strong unanimous support. The bill lays the framework for a private flood insurance marketplace in Florida in response to rate increases from the National Flood Insurance Program. “Florida families are facing foreclosureRead more

Franco Fernandez | CBS 12 News | “Banks pay FL homeowners as part of settlement.” Watch Video Here

Christopher O’Donnell | Tampa Tribune | “Two years ago, Shanoah Washington’s home on Preston Street in the Melrose Mercy neighborhood was a gutted shell. Thieves had ripped out the air handler and plumbing. Gone, too, were windows, electrical wiring and most of the kitchen. The home attracted the attention of St. Petersburg City Council ChairmanRead more

“Realty Trac has released new data from July showing the Florida counties with the highest foreclosure rate.” See slideshow here

ASSOCIATED PRESS | “Two Florida cities lead the nation in foreclosures of high-end properties worth $5 million or more. The research firm RealtyTrac said in a report Wednesday that Miami and Orlando were at the top of the list of foreclosure activity on homes in the $5 million-plus range. Other cities with high numbers of foreclosureRead more

Alyssa Gerace | Reverse Mortgage | “On Tuesday, Florida will reportedly announce a new program aimed reverse mortgage borrowers in the state who have defaulted on their loans after struggling to remain current on their taxes and insurance. The Florida Housing Finance Corporation is introducing the Elderly Mortgage Assistance Program as part of its $1 billion Hardest Hit Fund. It’sRead more

By Josh Salman | Herald-Tribune | “Florida’s $1 billion program to help prevent foreclosures in the wake of the housing crisis continues to diversify. The Florida Housing Finance Corp. announced Tuesday it would earmark $25 million of its Hardest-Hit Fund to help elderly homeowners with reverse mortgages. The agency says the new program will help recession-battered FloridiansRead more

Prashant Gopal | Bloomberg | “The share of U.S. mortgages that are seriously delinquent fell to a five-year low as job gains help borrowers keep up on payments while rising home prices enable others to sell. The percentage of home loans that were more than 90 days behind or in the foreclosure process fell to 5.65 percent in theRead more

Reuters | “There were 51,000 completed foreclosures last month, down from 84,000 in September, 2012. Foreclosures are completed when a home is either seized by the lender or sold at auction. There were also 51,000 foreclosures in August. Between 2000 and 2006 and before the housing market’s downturn in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 perRead more