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| Some see opportunity in lower lease rates in SW Florida
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| Nearly 20 percent of Southwest Florida's office buildings are unoccupied, and lease rates are plummeting. That is not very good news in a market where a 10 percent vacancy rate is considered normal.
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| @ Sarasota Herald Tribune | Posted: 08/10/09 at 0201 EDST
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| In this tough economy, it's buyer beware as bartering increases
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| An ancient form of exchange, bartering has become a way to get by, whether for roof repairs or for groceries to feed a hungry family. Floridians are particularly keen on bartering, according to Susan MacTavish, spokeswoman for Craiglist. In the Tampa Bay area alone, bartering traffic over the past two years has increased by 280 percent. There's a similar story in Miami, where the kind of deals made with a handshake have shot up more than 300 percent in the past year, MacTavish said.
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| @ St. Petersburg Times | Posted: 08/10/09 at 0315 EDST
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| Refinancing underwater properties
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| Do you owe more than your home is worth? Do you have an adjustable-rate mortgage or an interest-only mortgage you would like to refinance to a 30-year fixed mortgage? Do you want to refinance your loan and take advantage of the lower fixed rates? Well, if your loan is serviced by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac you may be able to do just that. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have received the green light from their regulators to refinance underwater properties with loan-to-value ratios as high as 125 percent of current property value.
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| @ Bradenton Herald | Posted: 08/10/09 at 0320 EDST
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| Sellers say goodbye to bottom as housing begins rebound
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| From the frenzied peak of the real estate boom in 2005-2006 to the recession's trough earlier this year, home resales fell 38 percent and sales of new homes tumbled 76 percent. Construction of homes and apartments skidded 79 percent. And for the first time in more than four decades of record keeping, home prices posted consecutive annual declines. Now take a deep breath and exhale. The worst is over.
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| @ Daytona Beach News Journal
| Posted: 08/10/09 at 0330 EDST
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| Chicago's Shoreline Towers condo association plans to be a buyer in foreclosure market
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| Homeowners group would rent them out until market improves, then sell units
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| @ Chicago Tribune | Posted: 08/10/09 at 0345 EDST
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| The president of the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis has closed his Greenwood company
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| Pete Hils, who's in the middle of his one-year term as BAGI's president, said the lenders to Scott Homes LLC called in its loans, and he had to shut the company down Aug. 1.
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| @ Indianapolis Star | Posted: 08/10/09 at 0400 EDST
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| Tighter standards make getting condo loans more difficult
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| Those tighter terms are partly the result of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac deciding this year to generally avoid buying condo loans from banks when the mortgages are from buildings where less than 70% of the units have been sold. Previously, that mandatory unit sales level was set at 50%.
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| @ Milwaukee Journal | Posted: 08/10/09 at 0415 EDST
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| The Employment Situation - July 2009
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| Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in July (-247,000), and the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.4 percent, the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The average monthly job
loss for May through July (-331,000) was about half the average
decline for November through April (-645,000). In July, job losses
continued in many of the major industry sectors.
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| @ Bureau of Labor Statistics | Posted: 08/10/09 at 0419 EDST
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| In defence of the dismal science
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| Robert Lucas, the John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, rebuts criticisms that the financial crisis represents a failure of economics
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| @ The Economist | Posted: 08/10/09 at 0652 EDST
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| China’s Property Sales Surge 60% From Year Earlier
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| Sales accelerated after a 53 percent gain in the first half from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said in a statement on its Web site today. Real estate investment rose 11.6 percent, up from 9.9 percent in the six months to June 30.
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| @ Bloomberg News | Posted: 08/10/09 at 0646 EDST
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| UK and Italy lead European confidence surge
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| Business confidence is surging across European manufacturing, with the UK and Italy taking the lead, according to reports on Monday that also highlight the turnround in countries such as Brazil and China.
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| @ Financial Times - UK
| Posted: 08/10/09 at 0655 EDST
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