Tagged: housing

The median price for a single family home in Broward County is back above $200,000, according to the Florida Association of Realtors. The exact number is $208,000, compared with $185,900 in 2011.

The median price is greater than half the selling prices of the year and less than the other half.

The 2012 figure is 12 percent higher than last year and the first time $200,000 has been seen since 2009.

A decade ago, speculators in Florida were pumping up a huge housing bubble.

"You couldn't go wrong," Tampa real estate attorney Charlie Hounchell says. In that overheated period from 2001 to 2006, "you could buy a house and make $100,000 a year later by selling it," he says.

But the party ended in 2007 and the hangover persists. The state now has the highest foreclosure rate in the country, beating out Nevada for the first time in five years.

In the Marketplace Morning Report's second Wednesday segment, host Jeremy Hobson wonders if home ownership is still part of the American Dream. He speaks with Miami's billionaire condo king, chairman George Perez of the Related Group, and introduces WLRN's Karen Burkett with a story about the challenges that home buying poses to normal-income people competing with investors for the same properties.

The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach metro area remains on the bleeding edge of the nation's still-critical foreclosure problem, according to new rankings from the Center for Housing Policy. It has, by far, the highest rate of  homes in foreclosure -- but the rest of the state is not far behind.

In the 13 metros with the highest percentages of homes in foreclosure, only one is not in Florida. It's number two.

What is the value of living on a golf course? Michael Rosenberg isn’t sure. And though he doesn’t play the game, he likes the idea of sitting on his deck and looking out at serene green fairways, not someone’s rusty barbecue pit or swing set.

It’s why he bought his home on the Calusa Country Club in South Dade, paying a premium for his four-bedroom home.

There's been a big consumer protection settlement for people who lost their homes to foreclosure and checks could be on the way early next year. Did you lose your home to foreclosure? And was your mortgage serviced by Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase or Wells Fargo?  The Sun-Sentinel is reporting you may be eligible for a $2,000 check.