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Two-Faced Freddie Mac, The Fiscal Cliff and the Obamacare Real Estate Tax, 2012’s Top Headlines Continued

Fri Dec 28, 2012 by on Florida Law News

Happy New Year

Continuing our recap of our most popular blogs from 2012…

#5 — Robosigning Settlement Proves Sky Was Falling! Chicken Little Was Right!

Yesterday’s robosigning settlement that all but one state ultimately signed off on, was far from perfect.

Let’s make that perfectly clear.

Depending on what you have read, you might be outraged, you might be relieved, you might be overjoyed. And the target of your wrath or sympathy might depend on your own personal perspective.

But make no mistake about it, yesterday was a day of reckoning, for me, and much more importantly, for the people I represent.

Read the full post here.

#4 — What I Tell Clients Who Receive A Foreclosure Notice

As a real estate attorney, I’ve had plenty of prospective clients come to my office after being served with a foreclosure notice. It is safe to say they are usually not in a good mood; they are usually scared.

And the truth is I would be too.Foreclosure can be a scary process for even the most legally astute homeowner.

When a homeowner walks into my office for that first time, there is one question that comes up almost every time. It’s a basic yet very essential question to anyone under the threat of foreclosure…

What do I do next?

Read the full post here.

#3 — Freddie Mac — Playing Two-Face to the American Homeowner?

Aaron Eckhart might have played Two-Face in the last Batman movie, but Freddie Mac seems to have settled into the role these days.

Non-profit ProPublica and National Public Radio allege that Freddie Mac, which was set up to make home loans more accessible, was in fact betting against homeowners.

It’s a highly disturbing, and completely shocking report. ProPublica’s Jessie Eisinger and Chris Arnold of NPR claim that the government-owned mortgage company was investing in securities that paid substantially more if people continued to pay off high-interest mortgages.

At the same time, they were tightening the grip on credit, making it difficult for homeowners to refinance and get out of such mortgages.

Read the full post here.

#2 — Residential Real Estate Market Already Headed Over Fiscal Cliff

They say there is no rest for the weary, and that seems especially appropriate for our nation’s elected officials.

Election Day may be still be fresh in our rear-view mirror, but in case you have forgotten, the lame duck session of Congress begins Monday. And they will have little time to celebrate or lick their wounds, because the economy is under a very real threat.

The media has dubbed it the “Fiscal Cliff”.

This cliff, which is a series of automatic tax increases and spending cuts set to be enacted on December 31st, could drive the economy back into a recession, according to a new Congressional Office Budget report.

Here’s the problem: for people like myself on the front lines of the real estate market, the fiscal cliff is not some imminent threat, it’s already here.

Read the full post here.

#1 — The Truth About Obamacare’s Real Estate Sales Tax (It Doesn’t Exist)

It didn’t take long for old rumors to resurface about President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

When “Obamacare” was first passed the blogosphere was up-in-arms that the AHA included an additional 3.8% tax on any real estate sale, and claimed, “that’s $3,800 on a $100,000 home.”

There were email chains passed along that said that anyone who sold a home would be subject to this tax.

Which is absolutely true, except for the fact that it is complete fiction.

Read the full post here.

Have a Happy New Year and we’ll see you again in 2013 from the trenches!!

 

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