Move My Realty - Real Estate News

FAR recognizes 2006-07 district scholarship winners

ORLANDO, Fla. – May 21, 2007 – The Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR) has awarded 39 college scholarships to Florida senior high school students as part of its 2006-2007 Scholarship/Essay Contest for High School Seniors. Thirteen seniors from public and private high schools in each of the state’s 13 districts have received first-place $5,000 scholarships, 13 students taking second-place honors received $1,500 scholarship awards; and 13 third-place students have won $500 each.

The scholarship program helps Florida’s most talented high school students achieve their goals in college, and all seniors are eligible except for immediate family members of a Realtor, of a person with a real estate license or of a Realtor association's staff. The top winning essays from FAR’s 13 districts across Florida now compete to win one of three $5,000 state-level FAR scholarships. Scholarships from FAR this year total $106,000.

First place winners of FAR’s $5,000 scholarship

District 1	Sarah Christine Glover of Jacksonville, Episcopal High School
District 2	Kevin Lee of Melbourne, Satellite High School
District 3	Sydney Elney of Lake Worth, Trinity Christian Academy
District 4	Eduardo Diaz of Miami, Coral Gables Senior High
District 5	Christopher Huffman of Cape Coral, Cape Coral High School
District 6	Emily Wilson of Seffner, Armwood High School
District 7	Natalie Lynn Spear of Grand Island, Mt. Dora High School
District 8	Jesse Whitfield of Apalachicola, Apalachicola High School
District 9	Jodie Watford of Niceville, Niceville Senior High School
District 10	J. Hudson Smith of Lake Wales, Lake Wales High School
District 11	Qabiyl Johnson of Coconut Creek, Monarch High School
District 12	Haylee Linduff of Altamonte Springs, Circle Christian School
District 13	Kellie M. Hauer of Englewood, Lemon Bay High School

To see the complete list of scholarship winners, go to FAR’s Media Center Web site at: http://media.living.net/

“Our successful scholarship program is just one example of how the Florida Association of Realtors looks to the future,” says 2007 FAR President Nancy Riley. “Tomorrow's Florida depends on the youth of today realizing their dreams of a higher education and we are proud to have a part in making that dream come true.”

A number of community leaders, media representatives, educators, business executives and Realtors from across the state volunteered their time and expertise to serve as judges for the district-level essay competition. The first-place district-winning essays – written on the topic, “How Does a Realtor Professional Benefit the Community?” – will be reviewed by a state panel of judges, who will select the top three state winners. State scholarship winners may be announced either prior to, or as part of, FAR's 2007 Convention & Trade Expo held Aug. 22-26, 2007, at the Buena Vista Palace in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

© 2007 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

 

Foreclosure crisis looms: Lenders warn thousands who fail to make mortgage payments

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – May 21, 2007 – The fear of foreclosure has South Floridians on edge.

Thousands of homeowners in Broward and Palm Beach counties can’t make their monthly mortgage payments and are getting sternly worded letters from lenders who threaten to seize their properties and resell them, likely at a loss.

As the housing meltdown continues, analysts predict a surge in foreclosures this year and next that will add to the glut of homes already for sale and further depress property values that have declined since last summer.

“It has the potential to get very ugly,” said David Levin, a housing consultant in Palm Beach County.

Jayne King, of Delray Beach, battled cancer, diabetes and other illnesses during the past few years. Last year, she and her husband fell behind on the monthly payments on their adjustable-rate mortgage, as she was trying to make a dent in her hospital bills and he was out of work after two car accidents only weeks apart.

They filed for bankruptcy, promising to repay as much of their debts as possible. A lawyer worked out a plan with their lender that allowed them to keep their house. “I’m just one of many people caught up in this whole cycle,” said King, 55, a retired teacher and native Floridian.

Across the region, unexpected medical bills, rising homeowner insurance, property taxes and other costs of living have plenty of lower- and middle-income consumers on the verge of losing their homes. But experts mostly blame the trouble on unconventional home loans made to risky borrowers hoping to get into houses and condominiums that shot up in value during the housing boom from 2000 to 2005.

The number of people facing foreclosure has been building since January.

In April, the number of consumers behind on their mortgage payments in Broward County ballooned to 1,135, compared with 248 a year ago, according to Realestat.com, a Plantation research firm. The number of people with late payments also rose sharply in Palm Beach County, from 174 to 814.

Actual foreclosures increased in both counties but at a much smaller clip. Homeowners with late house payments typically are at least three months behind and have been notified that their lenders intend to foreclose. People who secured adjustable loans found out that they couldn’t afford the monthly payments once interest rates rose.

Some of those owners avoided foreclosure by selling the homes or refinancing. When the housing boom last year turned into a bust, it caused a glut of properties to sit on the market, and strapped homeowners couldn’t count on fast sales to bail themselves out of trouble.

Refinancing isn’t as easy now because home values are flat or dropping and lenders are tightening credit standards as more borrowers with weak credit default on home loans.

“A lot of these people, God bless them, weren’t qualified to go into home ownership,” said Lewis Goodkin, a Miami-based housing analyst.

Western suburbs hardest hit

RealtyTrac of Irvine, Calif., reports that late mortgage payments and foreclosures in South Florida this year are most prevalent in the western reaches of Broward and Palm Beach counties. Not coincidentally, those were the areas flush with homes under construction and apartments converted to condos during the past several years.

Many of the people who bought in the western suburbs were short-term investors looking to “flip” properties for quick profits, said Shiela Kiniry, a Fort Lauderdale lender and state director of the Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers. Now they’re stuck with properties they can’t sell and, in some cases, wilting under the strain of paying two mortgages.

“I have to believe a lot of those people wanted to jump on the bandwagon while they still had the chance,” Kiniry said. “It seemed wonderful when they put their money down. Unfortunately, the market’s not the same now.”

Even those not struggling to make house payments should care about what’s happening, analysts say.

Homeowners behind on their mortgage payments typically don’t maintain the properties, which reflects poorly on entire neighborhoods, said Jim Banford, who runs Real Estate Asset Disposition Corp., a West Palm Beach company that sells foreclosed homes for lenders.

Once the lenders take back the properties, they’ll reduce asking prices to compete with the record number of homes already on the market, Banford said. “That weighs down the values of all the surrounding homes,” he said.

Still, many people can avoid foreclosure, experts say.

Felicia Eusebio-Mejia worked two jobs as a registered nurse to afford a house in Miami Gardens last year. She lost her part-time position and fell two months behind on her mortgage payments.

She called Home Financing Center, which allowed her to catch up by temporarily reducing the monthly payment and giving her more time to make up the shortfall.

“I’m back on track now,” Eusebio-Mejia, 40, said recently.

Lenders work out deals

Quickly asking for help is crucial, said Jessica Cecere, head of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service in West Palm Beach. “If you wait, you’re not in a position to bargain,” Cecere said.

Her office is advising more than twice as many people on foreclosure prevention this year than last. Counselors are telling clients that if they contact their lenders within 30 to 60 days of falling behind, they might be able to refinance, stick missed payments on the end of their loans or negotiate other repayment plans.

If that doesn’t work, some lenders are willing to accept short sales in which the homeowners sell the properties for less than they’re worth. As a last resort, deeding the homes back to the lenders avoids the stigma of foreclosure.

Lenders would much rather work out deals than take their properties because the foreclosure process is time-consuming and expensive, Cecere said.

“People should call their lender right away, or call us,” she said. King said many consumers may be too proud or embarrassed to discuss their financial problems. “People don’t like to talk about their finances because they’re private,” she said. “But the more people who talk about it, the more we can work on positive solutions.”

Copyright © 2007 South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Paul Owers. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.