REAL ESTATE TAXES – Look for another real estate tax reduction attempt from Florida’s Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, which will probably place a constitutional amendment proposal on the ballot. Two different tax-cutting proposals have received tentative approval so far, but only one is expected to survive and go before voters in November.
MORTGAGE RATES – Reflecting investors’ worries about the country’s economic health, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to an average of 6.03 percent this week, down from last week’s 6.24 percent, which had been the highest in more than three months, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly nationwide survey.
FORECLOSURES – Home foreclosures soared to an all-time high in the final three months of 2007 and probably will keep rising, the Mortgage Bankers Association said yesterday. Florida and California represent a disproportionate share of the new foreclosures.
ECONOMY – For the first time since the Federal Reserve started tracking the data in 1945, the amount of debt tied up in American homes now exceeds the equity homeowners have built. The Fed reported that homeowner equity actually slipped below 50 percent in the second quarter of last year, and fell to just below 48 percent in the fourth quarter.
You can make a blog on each one of those subjects. There are a lot of things going on at once. I think a lot of people will just wait not knowing what to do. Oil hit $108 today. I will be happy when that oil bubble pops but it still should be an issue to cut back.