TALLAHASSEE, FL - February 4, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) — Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that his office has filed a lawsuit against a California company providing loan modification services to homeowners facing foreclosure. According to the lawsuit filed today in Orange County, 21st Century Legal Services, Inc. allegedly charges consumers up-front fees in violation of Florida’s Foreclosure Rescue Fraud Prevention Act. more »

TALLAHASSEE, FL - February 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) — Attorney General Bill McCollum and Office of Financial Regulation Commissioner J. Thomas Cardwell today announced that a Seminole County man was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to a criminal racketeering scheme that involved mortgage fraud in home purchasing. Upon his release from prison, Stanford Morgan, president and owner of Homes for Sale by Owner, Inc., must also pay full restitution, including $200,000 to an investing couple in one transaction and compensation to the lending institutions he defrauded in other transactions. Morgan was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution. more »

TALLAHASSEE, FL - January 29, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) — Florida CFO Alex Sink is urging Florida taxpayers to find out if they may be one of the estimated 10,000 Floridians who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a federal tax credit for low-income working individuals and families, on Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day 2010. Eligible Floridians are due back an estimated $15 billion, on top of what they already may be claiming on their taxes, if they all claimed the EITC. more »

New Chart: 90% of the Projected $9 Trillion in Deficits is Due to Bush Policies and the Bush Economic Collapse
Council of Economic Advisers: Recovery Act Boosted Florida Employed by 112,000 Jobs

WASHINGTON, DC - January 28, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) — The Joint Economic Committee (JEC) – a bicameral Congressional Committee composed of ten members from the Senate and House of Representatives – today released a new economic snapshot report on Florida. The report provides a comprehensive overview of how the nation inherited the current Recession from the previous Administration and Republican Party and shows where growth and recovery have begun to take hold in areas such as home prices and personal income. more »

ORLANDO, FL - January 26, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) — Florida’s existing home sales rose in December, marking 16 months that sales activity has increased in the year-to-year comparison, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®. more »

WASHINGTON, DC - January 18, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a $1,661,173 grant to assist about 600 workers affected by layoffs at the Taylor, Bean and Whitaker Mortgage Corp. and its subsidiary companies in north/central Florida. more »

WASHINGTON, DC - January 18, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) — Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced the award of a $53 million contract to a Florida firm to construct a new clinic in Cape Coral. The new building will replace a Fort Myers facility and expand diagnostic and treatment capacity for southwest Florida’s Veterans. more »

Washington, DC - January 14, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) — In one of the most significant investments for the Tampa Bay region under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Tampa Housing Authority is receiving $38 million to revitalize the Central Park Village area and transform it into a new community that will uplift this historic neighborhood and create hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs. Since last year, Congresswoman Kathy Castor has pressed officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to award this money to the residents in the heart of Tampa through Tampa Housing Authority. Just last week, Castor urged HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan to invest in redeveloping Central Park Village and bolster our economic recovery. more »

TALLAHASSEE, FL - January 12, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) — Florida Housing Finance Corporation (Florida Housing) recently launched a new Web site aimed at encouraging green building practices in affordable housing across the state of Florida. The site, www.floridahousing.org/GreenBuilding, is another example of Florida Housing’s recent push to “Go Green.” more »

ORLANDO, FL - January 11, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) — Attention Florida high school seniors: Time is running out for you to win up to $6,000 to help pay for college tuition next year. Better start writing – there’s only a month to go until the Feb. 8, 2010, deadline to enter Florida Realtors® 2009-2010 Scholarship/Essay Contest for High School Seniors, which offers a total of $28,000 in scholarship funding. more »

TALLAHASSEE, FL - December 29, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) — Florida CFO Alex Sink today commended the Florida Supreme Court order recommending a statewide managed mediation program for Florida’s homeowners.  Given her previous work to aid Floridians struggling with foreclosure, CFO Sink was tapped by Chief Justice Peggy Quince to provide a delegate on the Task Force that developed these recommendations. more »

UMATILLA, FL - December 24, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) — The Lake County Extension is partnering with Florida’s Forest Stewardship Program to host a property tour of the 1,500-acre Promise Ranch in Umatilla on Thursday, Jan. 21, at 9 a.m. more »

TALLAHASSEE, FL - December 23, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) — Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced he has filed a lawsuit against three businesses operating in Miami-Dade County, their principles and affiliated attorneys on allegations of deceptive and unfair trade practices regarding their involvement in a foreclosure rescue scam affecting homeowners nationwide. The Attorney General’s Economic Crimes Division began investigating Kirkland Young LLC, in July after receiving numerous consumer complaints against the company. During the course of the investigation it was discovered that Attorney Aid LLC and ABK Consultants were affiliated with Kirkland Young LLC. more »

ORLANDO, FL - December 22, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) — Florida’s existing home sales rose in November, marking 15 months that sales activity has increased in the year-to-year comparison, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®.Existing home sales rose 61 percent last month with a total of 14,026 homes sold statewide compared to 8,694 homes sold in November 2008, according to Florida Realtors. Statewide sales of existing condos increased 111 percent last month compared to November 2008’s sales figure. more »

EUSTIS, FL - December 21, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) — The Lake County Department of Community Services is pleased to announce, with its partner Habitat for Humanity of Lake-Sumter, the first Lake County family to receive funding through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) is moved into their new home on Starbird Street in Eustis more »