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| Florida |
| Sales of condos in SW Florida improve in July
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| Sales rose 14 percent in the Sarasota-Bradenton market, with 227 units changing hands compared with 199 a year ago, and by 100 percent in Charlotte County-North Port, with 30 units changing hands versus 15 a year ago.
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| @ Sarasota Herald Tribune | Posted: 08/25/09 at 0201 EDST
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| Survey finds Realtors hopeful
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| About 46 percent of the nation's real estate agents think home prices will stay the same during the next six months, according to a report released Monday from California-based HomeGain. The report shows that 31 percent of agents think prices will decrease, and 23 percent think prices have hit the bottom and will start to increase.
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| @ Tampa Tribune | Posted: 08/25/09 at 0419 EDST
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| Home loan modification firms and lawyers scrutinized
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| Two South Florida companies that modify mortgages are under investigation, with officials examining their ties to lawyers. Consumer advocates said partnerships between mortgage modification firms and lawyers might be designed to work around Florida laws that bar upfront fees for mortgage work. Or they might skirt guidelines for law firms in this and other states, regulators said.
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| @ Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel | Posted: 08/25/09 at 0315 EDST
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| Some see appraisal code of conduct as hurting values
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| New code of conduct, aimed at fraud prevention, leads to widely differing appraisals, critics say
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| @ Jacksonville Times Union | Posted: 08/25/09 at 0320 EDST
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| Summer blues: Orlando-area hotel occupancy slips below 70%
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| Recession forces local hotel occupancy down to lowest rate on record for month of July
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| @ Orlando Sentinel | Posted: 08/25/09 at 0330 EDST
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| Midwest |
| Chicago's Old Post Office auction this week – 'big animal to tackle'
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| Even though the postal service is planning an “absolute auction” — meaning the building is to be sold regardless of price, with a suggested opening bid of just $300,000 — the question remains who will step up for the roughly 3-million-square-foot building at 433 W. Van Buren St., which straddles the Congress Parkway and has been vacant for more than a decade.
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| @ Crain's Chicago Real Estate Daily | Posted: 08/25/09 at 0400 EDST
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| Milwaukee real estate agents ready to roll out new program that will cover mortgage payments for owners who lose jobs
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| Part marketing tool and part safety net, the product, known as the Job Loss Protection Program, offers benefits to both buyers and sellers in a home-sale transaction, advocates said. Sellers, who pay $500 for the coverage at closing, get one more perk they can offer to set their property apart from others, while buyers get some added peace of mind that might make it easier to sign the mortgage despite continuing high unemployment rates.
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| @ Wisconsin State Journal | Posted: 08/25/09 at 0415 EDST
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| Interest grows in turning algae into motor fuel
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| A pilot project at St. Paul's sewage plant suggests reductions both in oil dependence and phosphorus pollution.
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| @ Minneapolis Star Tribune
| Posted: 08/25/09 at 0419 EDST
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| National |
| President Barack Obama to keep Fed chief Ben Bernanke for 2nd term
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| Obama set to announce nomination Tuesday, plans to retain entire economic team
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| @ Chicago Tribune | Posted: 08/25/09 at 0345 EDST
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| Fannie, Freddie Shares Soar, Puzzling Analysts
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| Stocks Considered To Have No Value
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| @ Washington Post | Posted: 08/25/09 at 0419 EDST
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| Asia’s Recovery Highlights China’s Ascendance
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| In past global slowdowns, the United States invariably led the way out, followed by Europe and the rest of the world. But for the first time, the catalyst is coming from China and the rest of Asia, where resurgent economies are helping the still-shaky West recover from the deepest recession since World War II.
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| @ Lakeland Ledger | Posted: 08/25/09 at 0646 EDST
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| Call to privatise UK's main roads
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| Ministers have been urged to consider selling part of the road network to the private sector to improve its strategic management and raise up to £85bn for the government’s depleted public coffers.
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| @ Financial Times - UK | Posted: 08/25/09 at 0652 EDST
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| UK's Persimmon exits trough with higher land values
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| Persimmon, one of Britain's largest housebuilders, has increased the value of its portfolio for the first time since the housing downturn hit Britain in the strongest sign yet that the market trough has passed.
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| @ London Times | Posted: 08/25/09 at 0655 EDST
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