Florida House Considers Tax Break for First-time Home Buyers

Florida House Considers Tax Break for First-time Home Buyers
Sun-Sentinel

The Florida House is moving forward with a hefty tax break for first-time home buyers that would offer thousands in up-front savings to lure reluctant buyers into Florida's ailing real estate market.

The break would give buyers who have never claimed a Florida homestead a 50 percent property-value exemption, resulting in about $2,000 in savings on a $200,000 home. For owners, the break would phase out over five years.

Technology Empowers Mobile Brokers
Inman News

Real estate companies are breaking down walls with Web tools. Consider Scott Daniels, a broker with Florida List for Less Realty Inc. in Cooper City, Fla., who recognized the need to conduct business in a more virtual way several years ago.

So about two years ago, he created a separate division of his company called Global Partners Realty Group Inc. to attract real estate agents seeking to work in a virtual-office environment.

Now, half of the agents who work under him — or 50 of the 100 — work from their home offices. Under the agreement, virtual agents pay only a $395 transaction fee while keeping the bulk of their commission income.

The Next Hit: Quick Defaults
Washington Post

The last time the housing market was this bad, Congress set up the Federal Housing Administration to insure Depression-era mortgages that lenders wouldn't otherwise make.

With the surge in new FHA loans, however, comes a new threat. Many borrowers are defaulting as quickly as they take out the loans. In the past year alone, the number of borrowers who failed to make more than a single payment before defaulting on FHA-backed mortgages has nearly tripled, far outpacing the agency's overall growth in new loans, according to a Washington Post analysis of federal data.