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| Florida |
| Foreclosures hitting wealthy homeowners
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| Now, more borrowers with good to excellent credit are falling behind: Prime, fixed-rate mortgages accounted for one-third of all new U.S. foreclosure starts in the second quarter, up from one-fifth a year earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association recently reported.
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| @ Bradenton Herald | Posted: 09/03/09 at 0201 EDST
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| Pinellas county, St. Petersburg; shows fewer visitors this year
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| The number of overnight visitors to Pinellas County in June dropped 8.3 percent, compared with the year-ago figure, to 510,300. Visitors from Canada and the Midwest showed the steepest percentage declines at 19.3 percent to 11,227 and 17.8 percent to 141,863, respectively. The number of Florida visitors increased 2.7 percent to 94,916 in June.
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| @ Tampa Tribune | Posted: 09/03/09 at 0315 EDST
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| Orange county, Orlando; hotel-tax revenue falls for 14th month in a row
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| The county's tax on hotels, motels and other short-term rentals — an important gauge of the health of the local tourism industry — generated $10.8 million during the month, or about $2.3 million less than it did in July 2008. Making the results especially grim: The county's hotel-tax collections in July 2008 were already down 2.3 percent from the year before.
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| @ Orlando Sentinel | Posted: 09/03/09 at 0320 EDST
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| Lee County foreclosures down in August
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| The number of foreclosures filed in Lee County in August fell to 1,692, down from 1,877 in July and 2,156 in August 2008. Permits were issued in August for 34 single-family homes in unincorporated Lee County, up slightly from 33 in July but down from 37 in August 2008.
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| @ Ft. Myers News Press | Posted: 09/03/09 at 0330 EDST
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| Midwest |
| New jobless claims down in Rockford area since March
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| In the Rockford metro area, which includes Boone and Winnebago counties, 4,880 people filed first-time claims for unemployment in July. That’s up slightly from June but down 45 percent from March, when 8,796 people made their first claim for benefits. That was the highest-trafficked month since the start of the recession in December 2007.
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| @ Rockford Register Star | Posted: 09/03/09 at 0400 EDST
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| Cheap natural gas should bring lower heating costs this winter in Wisconsin
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| The fuel's price fell Wednesday to its lowest point in nearly 7½ years - and has dropped by nearly 80% since its peak more than a year ago, as the decimation of the manufacturing sector has cut energy use at a time when domestic natural gas supplies have surged. Natural gas futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell to $2.72 per 1,000 cubic feet on Wednesday, after trading at more than $13.50 in July 2008.
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| @ Milwaukee Journal | Posted: 09/03/09 at 0415 EDST
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| Indiana wrestles with taking federal aid for jobless
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| Should Indiana take $148.5 million in federal stimulus money for its state unemployment fund, making about 24,000 more Hoosiers eligible for weekly payments? Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, says no, because once the federal money runs out, the state will have to come up with $88 million each year to pay for expanded benefits, and the money would come from increasing taxes on businesses.
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| @ Indianapolis Star | Posted: 09/03/09 at 0419 EDST
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| National |
| Bringing the Dream of Homeownership Within Reach
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| As part of its plan to stimulate the U.S. housing market and address the economic challenges facing our nation, Congress has passed legislation that grants a tax credit of up to $8,000 to first-time home buyers.
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| @ National Association of Realtors | Posted: 09/03/09 at 0419 EDST
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| FHA on track for busiest year
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| Almost a year after the federal government launched its rescue of the housing market, nearly one in four new mortgages is insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). From Oct. 1 through mid-August, applications for FHA single-family-home mortgages were up 50 percent, to 2.52 million, from the same period a year earlier.
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| @ Florida Association of Realtors | Posted: 09/03/09 at 0419 EDST
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| Productivity increased at a 6.6 percent
annual rate during the second quarter of 2009
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| This was the largest productivity increase
since the third quarter of 2003, and reflects declines of 1.5 percent in
output and 7.6 percent in hours worked.
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| @ Bureau of Labor Statistics | Posted: 09/03/09 at 0345 EDST
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| Sugar rush for hyperactive Brics
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The price of raw sugar is hitting highs not seen for nearly three decades - and the surge is having a sweet-and-sour effect on two of the burgeoning Bric economies.
Editor's Comment: This is a good read
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| @ BBC
| Posted: 09/03/09 at 0646 EDST
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| South African property won't get much cheaper
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| Growth in median house price index decreased by 5.2 percent year-on-year in August, averaging 3.9 percent year-on-year in the first eight months of 2009.
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| @ Real Estate Web | Posted: 09/03/09 at 0652 EDST
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| Saskatchewan will have the standout economy in 2010
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| Saskatchewan and Manitoba both have weathered the recession with "an ease that must surely make other provinces envious," said Mr. Lavoie. Manitoba fared well because of its diversified economy and Saskatchewan because of strong population and employment growth. "These positive trends, coupled with an eventual bounce-back in demand from emerging markets for potash and uranium, should pull Saskatchewan out of recession during 2010 and help it record one of the strongest expansions among the provinces."
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| @ Financial Post - CA | Posted: 09/03/09 at 0655 EDST
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