Buy in Florida: the costs related to a real estate transaction

Insurance

This leaves almost no trace of the hurricanes that struck Florida in 2004 and 2005, but residents still get stuck. The cost of home insurance policies has soared. In some cases, from 200 to 400%! Some companies no longer provide in the south and the west coast. Some residents, especially newcomers, should look far to find adequate coverage. As a last resort, they can turn to the insurance company set up by the government in Florida. These increases are visible everywhere and condo fees are sometimes high because of insurance costs immeubles.Le risk of hurricanes is covered by insurance with a deductible of 2% of the "rebuild value" (cost of rebuilding well).

Other expenses

After the devastating hurricanes, many owners had to pay extra for repairs to their building. These are called expense assessments. They can be very high and many owners have had to spread their payments on agreements with their association. The buyer must check with the realtor to find out how, warns Marietta Miller of Canada Realty in Pompano Beach. Some owners have not yet finished paying their dues. "Who can amount to several thousand dollars. "Between one and another property, the amount not paid can make a difference."

Buy is not free

There are no fees of lawyers in Florida itself. The registration fees are paid by the seller and the buyer will pay a tax if it borrows. There is no cadastre in Florida (since there is no notary) is why it is advisable to purchase title insurance to protect against possible shortcomings of the registration . Basically, the costs represent 1.5% of the purchase. In the case of a purchase on credit, the costs represent about 4%.

When purchased, these amounts include:

(Amounts are approximate and in U.S. dollars)

For the seller:

Registration fee $ 600 for every $ 100 000

Title insurance 200 $ 250

Lawyer 500 to 700 $ (optional)

For buyer:

Title insurance: 0.7% of the purchase price

Inspection: $ 300

Cadastral Survey: $ 275

Lawyer 600 to $ 800

If financing through a conventional loan, there should be additional costs.

Taxes

You can deduct a portion of property taxes on the value "estimate" of a property if it is a principal residence. The owner must also be a legal resident of the State of Florida. He must also live in the property before 1 January of the year claiming the deduction. These taxes are about 2% of the estimated value of the property, a figure that varies by county (corresponding to 20% less than market value).

It must provide the following documents:

Title

Evidence of taxes paid on property

Driving license

Social Security Number and if you're not American, a resident card (the green card) for each spouse

A work permit is not sufficient to obtain a tax deduction.

After an initial claim for credit, a renewal card is sent.

Gain on sale:

In case of resale, the U.S. tax on capital gains is 15%. A gain of U.S. $ 100 000, for example, will be accompanied by a tax bill of U.S. $ 15 000. However, a regressive tax credit (which decreases as income increases) can reduce this tax.

In Canada, it must declare the capital gain in the United States. To avoid double taxation, the seller may claim a foreign tax credit equal to the amount of tax paid in the United States.

U.S. real estate, decline in housing starts

The starts of homes in the United States fell by 5.9% in February to 575,000 units against 611,000 annualized units in January, according to latest figures published by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

However, housing starts recorded in February remain virtually stable over one year (+0.2%).

As for homes permitted, the number of building permits issued in the U.S. in February fell 1.6% to 612,000 units on an annualized basis, but it remains 11.3% higher than a year earlier.

The Fed keeps its interest rates at historically low

The U.S. central bank (Fed) announced Tuesday, March 16 in a statement it had decided to keep its key rate in force for fifteen months, almost zero, indicating that she also thought to keep rates "very low "For a long time. The central bank confirms the statements of its chairman Ben Bernanke, who spoke of before the House of Representatives February 24, an extremely low rate maintained on a "long period".

"The information received since suggest that economic activity continues to increase and the labor market is now stabilizing, however, noted the Fed, showing more optimism than before. Despite improvements in the U.S. economy, the central bank believes that a rate "extremely low" is likely to reassure markets. Shortly after the announcement, the Dow Jones actually off again on the rise.

The central bank also confirmed that it had completed by March 31 its programs to buy back shares to support the housing market. This mechanism was set up after the bankruptcy estate agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Fed has not indicated its intention to make further acquisitions if necessary, as some analysts lend him for.

Stabilization of the U.S. housing market

House prices in the United States remained stable in October compared to September, after five months of increases, according to the Standard and Poor's / Case-Shiller index measuring prices in the twenty largest U.S. cities.
United States

Prices of houses have remained unchanged in October in the United States while economists had forecast a sixth consecutive increase, shows the S & P / Case-Shiller index released Tuesday.

This index, which measures prices in twenty metropolitan areas, remained stable in October after rising 0.4% in September, according to a revised estimate. Economists polled by Reuters expecting an average index rose by 0.2%.

In one year, the Case-Shiller index shows a decrease of 7.3%, while economists were expecting a decline of 7.2%.

Contracts on U.S. equity indices have maintained their gains after the publication of statistics.

Towards a new record foreclosures in the U.S.

The American owners thought they had hit bottom in 2009. In 2010, they will still grow. The firm specializes RealtyTract provides more than 3 million foreclosures this year, after 2.8 million last year.

We announced recently, the tsunami caused by the subprime would soon give birth to new wave. According to the American firm taken over by L'Agefi, the probable new record sad part "in a context marked by house prices still in decline and the labor market at half mast.

Last November, another firm, First American CoreLogic, revealed that the rate of borrowers in default amounted to 23% mortgages. Thus, the number "of goods seized amounted to 2.21% of total units in 2009, representing an increase of 21% compared to 2008, and 120% compared to 2007.

Also according RealtyTract, "7 million homes could potentially be offered to the market by banks in the coming months." Side perspective, this is a "very gradual recovery" in the housing market is expected until 2013.

Gone are the days when Americans could boast of their home sweet home ...

Stabilization of the U.S. housing market

House prices in the United States remained stable in October compared to September, after five months of increases, according to the Standard and Poor's / Case-Shiller index measuring prices in the twenty largest U.S. cities.

Prices of houses have remained unchanged in October in the United States while economists had forecast a sixth consecutive increase, shows the S & P / Case-Shiller index released Tuesday.

This index, which measures prices in twenty metropolitan areas, remained stable in October after rising 0.4% in September, according to a revised estimate. Economists polled by Reuters expecting an average index rose by 0.2%.

In one year, the Case-Shiller index shows a decrease of 7.3%, while economists were expecting a decline of 7.2%.

Contracts on U.S. equity indices have maintained their gains after the publication of statistics.

Why Bernanke is in no hurry to raise rates

Flying in the face of the widespread belief that the loose monetary policy of Greenspan is responsible for the housing bubble, Bernanke said Sunday that the instrument of interest rates should be used only second spring. Explanations.

While the economic recovery continues, the U.S. financial markets await the time when the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates, currently at their lowest historical level, between 0 and 0.25%. In a speech Sunday at the American Economic Association in Atlanta, Ben Bernanke has stressed the need to strengthen financial regulation, suggesting that there would be little short-term changes in the monetary policy of the bank Central. Here's why:

The low rates are not responsible for the housing bubble that burst in 2008. The Fed is often accused of having fueled the housing bubble with interest rates extremely low which encouraged households to incur debt, sometimes well beyond their financial means. Indeed, after the bursting of the dotcom bubble and the terrorist attacks of September 11, the Fed chairman, Alan Greenspan, has drastically reduced rates to revive the economy. This has contributed to flood the market liquidity that have come feed the housing bubble. But for Bernanke, not only the reduction in rates was necessary, but above all, it was not responsible for the bubble, since the problem was in fact the lack of regulation: while the financial institutions taking huge risks by providing mortgage contracts "unconventional" to customers who could not afford to repay them, the authorities were too slow to identify and mentor those risks. The argument does not convince all economists. David Beckworth particular suggests that it is precisely this excess liquidity combined with the low return on dollar prompted investors to seek financial products more attractive returns, such as mortgage-backed securities "alien".

The monetary policy instrument is a "brutal" for the economy. The Vice-Chairman of the Fed, Donald Kohn, who insists on this point. Indeed, increasing interest rates to fight against the formation of a bubble in a specific sector penalizes the overall economy. This kind of "collateral damage" is even more risky that the U.S. recovery is still fragile: high unemployment (10%), modest revenue growth and falling real estate weigh heavily on consumer spending, the main engine of growth U.S..

No risk of inflation. One of the two objectives of the Fed is price stability. But the slow growth of wages and difficult conditions in the housing market yet discard any inflationary danger. Thus, "apart from fluctuations in energy prices and food, the basic trend is clearly downward," according to a note from Credit Agricole.

The weak dollar is an asset. Ben Bernanke did not officially admit, but the benefits of weak dollar can not escape the government. First, the depreciation of the dollar makes American products more competitive and give a boost to exports. The trade deficit was thereby reduced. Furthermore, the weak dollar also reduces the cost of American wages, which in theory allows to repatriate jobs to the United States, and thus fight against unemployment.

United States : household morale improves, home sales fall

Statistics mixed on Wednesday for the U.S. economy. Both up but a little disappointing on the front of the consumer, clearly wrong on the housing market. Sales of new homes have fallen into effect in November, falling to their lowest level since April. Annual rate, only 355,000 transactions were conducted, 11.3% fewer than in October.

Markets believed instead that the situation on the housing market would result in an increase in sales to the image of resales of homes that had clearly exceeded expectations on Tuesday. The economists were betting on and 440,000 transactions. This figure is undermining the idea that depressed housing market, which lasts for three years, is nearing completion.

On the other hand, consumer confidence, consumer spending and incomes of households that have emerged in below expectations. As with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) U.S., three indicators have indeed increased, confirming that the recovery of the U.S. economy begins well, but less than was presaged by economists.

The index of consumer confidence from the University of Michigan for the month of December has been revised downwards in the final estimate, at 72.5 against 73.4 initially announced. This is slightly lower than expectations of economists who had forecast a confirmation of the first estimate. However, household morale has significantly improved compared to November (the Michigan index was then revealed to 67.4), a positive sign for the U.S. economy depends largely on consumption.

Consumer spending has thus registered their second consecutive month of increase, rising by 0.5% in November. The consensus of the market stood at 0.6%. This performance is particularly disappointing that the increase in consumption in October was revised down to 0.6% against 0.7% originally announced. Adjusted for inflation, consumer spending posted a 0.2% gain in November.

United States : The resale housing continues to grow

They rose by 7.4% in November, according to figures from the National Association of Realtors.

For the seventh time in eight months, home resales in the U.S. have continued to rise in November. On the month, they rose by 7.4% to 6.54 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

This figure clearly indicates a rush of first time buyers who do not want to miss the opportunity that represents the tax credit system in place to encourage investment in real estate, said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR. The device, extended by the Obama team has already helped to boost the property sector.

Property : Good news for U.S. real estate

Sales of homes in the United States should have continued to rise in November, about 2% in the former and the new, according to the latest forecasts of Global Equities.

The research firm believes that the economic federation of U.S. realtors, NAR, will report next Tuesday a 2.5% increase in sales of existing homes, for a total of 6.25 million transactions in annualized - a record in nearly three years. Published Wednesday, the new home sales should show an increase of 2.2% to 440 000 transactions a highest since August 2008. On an annual basis, sales were up about 13% in the former, and nearly 38% in nine.

The U.S. housing market remains supported by the tax credit granted by the Obama administration as part of its recovery plan, first with only first-time buyers and recently extended to all purchasers.

USA : 1st rise in property prices in two years

The U.S. housing sees the end of the tunnel. A study of the company IHS Global Insight, house prices in the U.S. rose 0.9% on average annually in the third quarter of 2009, signing to pass their first increase since the second quarter 2007. Prices are up in 169 of the 330 cities studied, against just 13 in the fourth quarter of 2008 at the height of the crisis.

Caution, this improvement "does not necessarily mean that the market is on the road to recovery," warns James Diffley, managing director at IHS Global Insight. An opinion shared by Jeannine Cataldi: chief economist for the society, it is undeniable that the support measures implemented by the Obama administration in the recovery plan have played their role. However, "economic conditions remain dire, with an unemployment rate should remain close to 10% for quite a long time," says she, in fact rejecting a fair market rebound.

The number of foreclosures is record in the U.S.

The market for U.S. real estate is not yet out of the rut. For the full year, the number of foreclosures is expected to reach 3.9 million, according to the consultancy firm Realty Trac. An increase of 22% compared to 2008.

Despite a slight improvement in November (-8%), the number of foreclosures has even exceeded 300,000, and for the ninth consecutive month. These figures demonstrate the ineffectiveness of the plan to renegotiate mortgage launched by the state, according to an economist surveyed by Bloomberg. He said an owner who has renegotiated its debt through this program is very likely to default in the future.

Without significant improvement on the employment front, the situation should continue to deteriorate. However, according to economists, the U.S. labor market should not leave before mid-2010. To recall, 7.2 million people lost their jobs since the recession began in December 2007, bringing the unemployment rate from 4.9% to 10%.

USA : The buildings in freefall

Owners Americans have seen their assets decline by 5 900 billion since the peak in 2006, reveals Zillow.com. The website also reveals that property owners have lost nearly 500 billion dollars since early 2009.

Real estate continues Nicolas Cage

Real estate decidedly raises many concerns with Nicolas Cage. Christina Fulton, his former girlfriend, claiming in effect 13 million dollars to the player and claims that the star had promised a villa in an upscale neighborhood of Los Angeles.

According to Christina Fulton, Nicolas Cage was hired to put the property under his name but separated after a recent eviction notice gave him to understand otherwise. The blonde decided to pursue the actor for "breach of contract" and "fraud".

The United States extended their bailout of the banking sector

The U.S. government on Wednesday extended Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), that is his plan to support the banking sector introduced in autumn 2008.

"I hereby certify that I extend until October 3, 2010 the powers" vested in the Ministry under the Act of Emergency Economic Stabilization, wrote Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in a letter to House Speaker of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, and President of the Senate, Harry Reid.

The plan, which was to expire in late 2009, has helped save several major banks, insurer AIG, but also automakers through massive injections of liquidity. But these bailouts have cost less than expected, banks have repaid a portion of their debts.
Luttre against unemployment

Result: The TARP will be capped at 550 billion dollars instead of 700 billion originally planned, and used in 2010 to prevent foreclosures, financing of small banks, or to support SMEs.

Part of the fund could also finance the measures announced Tuesday by Barack Obama for employment, including extending unemployment benefits and aid to SMEs.

A draft 'plan to use' should be submitted to a vote soon in Congress.

At the close of European markets, Wall Street found some up, although it is true, helped by an unexpected rise in wholesale inventories in October. The Dow Jones is 0.25% while the Nasdaq remains stable.

USA: the Fed has conducted a new test of liquidity

The U.S. central bank (Fed) announced Tuesday it had made a new attempt to withdraw liquidity from the banking system.

The Fed has removed 180 million dollars by selling U.S. treasury bonds to banks, said a statement from the New York branch of the central bank, which led the operation said refinancing reversed.

The Federal Reserve had conducted a similar test ended in a withdrawal of liquidity from the same amount five days earlier. In both cases, all Treasury securities that were offered found buyers.

These operations "small scale" are intended to test the ability of the Fed system to remove the hundreds of billions of dollars it injected to allow the U.S. economy moving crisis.

By comparison, last refinancing operation carried inverted scale had allowed the Fed to get $ 20 billion in cash December 30, 2008.

Accounting consequences of its support to credit markets, real estate, the Fed has seen assets in its balance sheet double under the weight of financial stocks that gained mass (bonds, securities backed real estate ...) in exchange for cash that it enters the economy.

For the leaders of the central bank refinancing operations are reversed one of the instruments that will fly, in time, monetary policy to end the crisis, which will aim to remove gently injected funds into the financial system, which could eventually carry a high inflation.

Refinancing can actually reverse the central bank to deflate the stock and drain liquidity from the system.

The Fed made clear that its test withdrawals of cash were intended solely to prepare for better future.

Mr. Bernanke has made clear Monday that out of the crisis was not yet valid.

The older building boosted by a tax credit

Sales of existing homes in the United States in October reached their fastest pace for over two and a half years, buyers were eager to receive a tax credit when threatened, show figures released Monday.

Sales jumped 10.1% to $ 6.10 million on an annualized basis, the highest figure recorded since February 2007, against 5.54 million (revised) in September, announced the National Association of Realtors (NAR) , the main federation of estate agents in the country.

All 29 economists and analysts polled by Reuters on average had forecast a figure of 5.70 million resales in annualized after the 5.57 million originally announced for September. Compared to October 2008, sales are up 23.5%.

Wall Street extended its advance after the publication of these figures, while the bond market was evolving without much change.

The Dow Jones. DJI gained 1.4% to 16.45 GMT.

"Many buyers rushed to arrive before the deadline for the tax credit for first-time buyers, which would expire at the end of this month, and sales would remain strong in November for the same reasons," commented Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR.

This tax credit of $ 8,000, which was originally scheduled to expire November 30, was extended a few weeks until the next year and was completed by a credit of $ 6,500 for homeowners who purchase a new home.

The first-time buyers accounted for one third of sales in October.

HOPE FOR THE CONSUMER

The median sales price of existing homes fell by 7.1% compared to October 2008, the decline was the smallest recorded for over a year to 173,100 dollars.

"Home resales have hit their low point. The property prices are not far away. There were declines in property prices down," said Lawrence Yun.

The U.S. housing market is gradually recovering from three years of crisis. Residential construction has contributed positively to growth in the third quarter for the first time since 2005.

USA : The morale of homebuilders is stable

U.S. manufacturers have the moral hesitation. * The index NAHB / Wells Fargo confidence building professionals and real estate promotion in the United States, released Tuesday night, remained stable in November - to 17. The indicator, which had returned to 4 points in the space of three months, had yielded 1 point in October.

"When we conducted the last survey, earlier this month, the home builders had in mind the impending expiry of the tax credit of $ 8 000 granted to first-time buyers," says Joe Robson, chairman of the NAHB. Now that Congress has voted to renew the measure until the end of the first half of 2010 and has expanded its scope to the secondary-attainment, "we hope he will continue to drive sales," says leader.

The index NAHB / Wells Fargo has three components: a first sub-index on current conditions of sale, stable over one month to 17 and a second measuring traffic of prospective buyers, also unchanged, at 14 (after revision estimation of October), a third and final reflecting expectations for six months for manufacturers, up 2 points to +28.

Housing starts fall heavily housing in the United States

The construction sector is not out of the crisis. The starts of homes plummeted 10.6% in October in the United States, a severe disappointment to economists who had forecast a rise of 1.7%. A 590,000 annual rate, they fall to their lowest level since April.

The financial community expected to increase, however, thanks to state subsidies. The government has decided to extend until April 2010 its aid program for first-time buyers, which is a tax credit of $ 8,000. He had previously ended in late November.

In addition, building permits, whose variation is generally less volatile, fell 4%. They are at their lowest since May

United States: significant increase in retail sales in October (+1.4% m / m)

The nominal retail sales rebounded 1.4% m / m in October. In contrast, figures for September were revised negatively (-2.3% m / m).
Vehicle sales rebounded 7.4% m / m. Excluding the more volatile categories - gasoline, vehicles, building materials - retail sales "underlying" rose for the third consecutive month by 0.5% m / m.
The context is unfavorable to the consumer, as recently illustrated the decline in indicators of consumer confidence. However, the third consecutive increase in retail sales "underlying" in October sends a reassuring message to this subject.


Significant increase in retail sales in October

The nominal retail sales rebounded 1.4% m / m in October. They have been particularly boosted by higher purchases of vehicles. In contrast, figures for September were revised negatively (-2.3% m / m instead of -1.5% m / m initially announced).

The October report shows that:

Vehicle sales rebounded 7.4% m / m, after falling twice as fast as the previous month (because of the withdrawal mechanism scrapping bonus).

Reflecting prices roughly stable, purchases of gasoline were unchanged from September.

Purchases of building materials fell for the fifth consecutive month (-2.4% m / m), despite the improvement in the housing market.

Excluding the more volatile categories - gasoline, vehicles, building materials - retail sales "underlying" rose for the third month
row, by 0.5% m / m. In particular, health products, clothing and shopping in stores general have continued to support increased sales.

The context is unfavorable to the consumer, as recently illustrated the decline in indicators of consumer confidence from the Conference Board (from 54.5 in August to 47.7 in October) and the University of Michigan (73, 5 in September to 66.0 in November). Job losses remain high, wage growth slows and the effects of the financial crisis are still being felt (constraints on credit, etc.).

However, the third consecutive increase in retail sales "underlying" in October sends a reassuring message about the consumer.