| Foreclosure rates remain high in Florida
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Florida continues to post one of the highest home foreclosure rates in the nation. In July, Florida recorded more than 21,000 filings for foreclosure -- second only to California. For the year to date, Florida has had more than 111,000 filings and analysts predict the troubling trend will continue another 12 to 18 months. The Florida Bankers Association blames much of the problem on adjustable-rate, subprime mortgages that were available in recent years. Spokesman Alex Sanchez says that kind of creative financing often went to people with weak credit. Sanchez says too many people got into homes that were over their heads and they should not have been given credit in the first place. Nationwide, there have been more than 600,000 foreclosure filings this year.
Mortgage crisis hits even affluent Palo Altans
Even affluent, good-credit-risk Palo Altans are feeling spinoff effects of the national and international collapse of the subprime mortgage market. Local experts said Friday that even the financially fortunate are not immune and that the subprime collapse may even affect the venture-capital market and hence start-up businesses. "Even if you have great credit and make a lot of money, it's becoming more difficult to qualify for a loan," Chris Iverson, an agent with Keller Williams Realty in Palo Alto, said. During the earlier real estate boom, the numbers of investors with poor credit financing mortgages with subprime loans, whose interest rates can skyrocket after a year or two, increased dramatically. As the housing boom decelerated, many defaulted on now-high subprime payments, leaving the American subprime market damaged and European investors shaken.
The mortgage crunch bites even the rich
Mortgage woes have moved upstream, landing even in tony neighborhoods. The credit crunch now is hitting home buyers from all walks of life, not just subprime borrowers with poor credit. That in turn could mean fewer buyers -- and lower prices. For instance, a multimillion-dollar deal in Larkspur went belly-up last week when the lender yanked the financing at the last minute. "Everything was perking along smoothly. All contingencies were removed," said Bill Hogan, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker in Greenbrae, who sold the four-bedroom home for $2.45 million and expected to close the deal later this month. "The loan was approved and locked in. People were ordering moving trucks, everyone was feeling euphoric." On Thursday, the couple buying the house learned that their lender was rescinding their loan because they were making only a 10 percent down payment.
PTC denies GE Capital Leasing's claims
Aug 8 (Reuters) - Software company Parametric Technology Corp. said it found no basis to GE Capital Leasing Corp.'s claims that employees of PTC and its Japanese unit defrauded GE Capital. In a lawsuit, GE Capital claimed that an employee of Toshiba Corp. fraudulently induced it to provide more than $60 million in financing for purchases of third-party products, including PTC software, from 2003 to 2006, PTC said in a statement. (Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan in Bangalore) .
p0605 BC-ContractorShootings 08-11 2018 8/11/2007 Contractors in Iraq accused of opening fire on civilians and soldiers
Eds: Also moved in advance. Multimedia: An interactive with a video clip of a Blackwell USA attorney being questioned at a congressional hearing is in the --national/contractor--killing folder. AP Photo NY335, NY336, NY337, NY338 By DEBORAH HASTINGS AP National Writer There are now nearly as many private contractors in Iraq as there are U.S. soldiers -- and a large percentage of them are private security guards equipped with automatic weapons, body armor, helicopters and bullet-proof trucks. They operate with little or no supervision, accountable only to the firms employing them. And as the country has plummeted toward anarchy and civil war, this private army has been accused of indiscriminately firing at American and Iraqi troops, and of shooting to death an unknown number of Iraqi citizens who got too close to their heavily armed convoys.
Second effort to develop waterfront failed
Editor's note: This is the second in a series on the waterfront's development.It was probably doomed from the start.It took four years, but the second effort to develop the Newburyport Redevelopment Authority's central waterfront ultimately succumbed to economic recession and popular opposition to a key element of the plan.With the resolution of the 8-year-old "wayes to the waterfront" lawsuit, Newburyport geared up for development of its Merrimack River frontage, looking to expand its horizons beyond what had been traditionally thought of as the central waterfront.In the fall of 1979, Mayor Richard Sullivan initiated the process by appointing an ad hoc group called the Waterfront Commission to assemble a plan not just for the parcel controlled by the Newburyport Redevelopment Authority, but all the land between the Route 1 bridge and the Coast Guard station.The commission engaged Boston-based consultant Sy Mintz.
School's In: Home Loan U Educates Consumers Before Shopping for a Mortgage
With all the turmoil in the mortgage market, it is more important than ever that consumers be informed and educated about the entire lending process and are diligent in selecting a reputable lender. To help with this, Quicken Loans, one of the nation's largest mortgage lenders, has recently created Home Loan U, a series of personal finance education guides that are available as free downloads at http://www.HomeLoanU.com Livonia, Mich. (PRWEB) August 14, 2007 -- With all the turmoil in the mortgage market, it is more important than ever that consumers be informed and educated about the entire lending process and diligent in selecting a reputable lender. "The subprime lending woes have led to tighter lending guidelines in conventional lending too. Lenders now require higher credit scores and larger down payments for consumers with good credit.
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