Monday, April 30, 2007

FL: This Eden is garden of trouble for condos During the recent condo-conversion craze, the Eden was among the first projects to promise buyers a hip lifestyle in a downtown setting. But four years after sales first started, the project remains a hulking eyesore, partly gutted and nowhere near done. Work on the conversion has started, stopped, started and now stopped again. 8:43:39 AM

NV: Vegas house-flippers crushed as market crashes But when home prices unexpectedly took a backward step, many investors seeking to cash in quickly were left "upside-down," or owing more on their mortgages than what their homes were worth. The result was a glut of homes in the marketplace, communities spotted with empty houses and for sale signs - and a foreclosure rate in Nevada that leads the nation as owners unable to sell became saddled with unbearable debt payments 8:38:31 AM

FL: Duck spat has man steamed Ray Miller and his wife Gladys are not wild about the Muscovy ducks living at the pond in front of their waterfront condominium. 8:28:02 AM

NJ: Industrial shells gain condo future For decades, northern Hoboken languished, until developers saw its potential for housing. "That end of town was a dead zone for development," Webster said. "It's now a very hot area." The Maxwell Place and Hudson Tea projects are examples of developers returning to cities, a trend all over the state. As environmental regulations restrict construction on untouched land, rehabilitation of urban areas is booming. 8:12:25 AM

FL: Holdouts from condo sales fear bill Some Florida condo owners are fearful of legislation that they say could make it easier for developers to force them to sell their properties. 8:10:05 AM

AZ: Taking on the HOA Where should you and your homeowners association go to fight — to court, or to a new, lower-cost hearing process? Phil Ewing's experience with a garage door and a lawsuit shows why people might want to avoid court — the stakes are high and the cost is enormous. But Don Nevins is one of the few trying the new, cheaper system of administrative hearings — and he's given up on it already. 8:04:30 AM

FL: Haven't I seen you in court before? Some onlookers may have thought that the slander suit brought by developer Kevin Azzouz and his company, Veranda Partners LLC, against Larry Giles, a MetroWest resident, wouldn't last long. But a flurry of legal filings shows that both sides are digging in for the fight. 8:00:50 AM