Mortgage rates dip for 5th straight week

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rates on 30-year mortgages fell for a fifth consecutive week as both sales of both existing and new homes in July declined, confirming a cooling housing market.

The mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.48 percent this week, down from 6.52 percent last week.

That was the lowest level for 30-year mortgages since they averaged 6.43 percent the week of April 6.

Mortgages had risen since then, hitting a more than four-year high of 6.80 percent the week of July 20 before falling in the past five weeks.
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Analysts view the rollback in rates as further evidence that the economy is slowing, which should ease inflation pressures.

Sales of new homes dropped in July by the largest amount since February while the inventory of unsold homes climbed to a record high, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. That followed news Wednesday from the National Association of Realtors that sales of previously owned homes slid 4.1 percent in July to a 2 1/2-year low.

Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, averaged 6.18 percent this week, down from 6.20 percent last week.

For one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, rates dipped to 5.60 percent from 5.65 percent last week.

Rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages declined to 6.14 percent this week from 6.18 percent last week.

The mortgage rates do not include add-on fees known as points. Thirty-year mortgages and 15-year mortgages both carried a nationwide average fee of 0.4 point. One-year ARMS carried a nationwide average fee of 0.7 point while five-year ARMs carried an average fee of 0.5 point.

A year ago, 30-year mortgages averaged 5.77 percent, 15-year mortgages stood at 5.35 percent, one-year ARMs were at 4.56 percent and five-year ARMs averaged 5.30 percent.

***As always, the latest in Real Estate News as it pertains to Spring Hill Real Estate, Brooksville Real Estate, Weeki Wachee Real Estate, Hernando Beach North Real Estate, Hernando Beach South Real Estate, and Hudson Beach Real Estate. - Brought to you by Hernando Luxury Homes, Your Luxury Real Estate Leader in Hernando County, Florida and Pasco County, Florida.

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Leaders might double road impact fee

The fee for a single-family detatched home is now just under $4,000. The proposal would raise the fee to $8,000. Other proposed increases could raise the total for a new home by 60 percent.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP and DAVID DeCAMP
Published August 10, 2006

County officials are thinking of doubling road impact fees. The proposed move, combined with other proposed fee increases, would raise total impact fees from $12,000 per home now to $19,000.

The road impact fee increase will be proposed in a draft report due to be completed Friday.

Road impact fees vary widely, depending on the home or business, but the benchmark indicator is a single-family detached home, currently $3,928.

The proposal is to increase the fee to $8,000.

“We’re talking about doubling it,” said Michele Baker, the county’s administrator for engineering services. “That’s mostly because construction costs have doubled in the last two years.”

The news of the latest proposed increase comes a day after commissioners added $3,000 to impact fees for parks, water and sewer services and law enforcement projects.

If the road impact fee recommendation also comes to pass, this means new residents face $19,000 in impact fees overall - a nearly 60 percent increase.

Impact fees vary widely from county to county, depending on how built-out it is and what types of services are charged. A broad comparison: Pasco currently charges $12,000 on a single-family home. Hernando County charges $9,200. Pinellas County charges $2,100.

In Pasco, the proposed road impact fee increase also is blamed on an expected $7-million shortfall in revenue next fiscal year, largely because of the decline in residential growth this year.

Sales have dropped 15 percent to 75 percent among builders, said Alex Mourtakos, president of the Pasco Building Association.

Revenue from road impact fees went from $29-million in 2004-05 to $37-million in the current fiscal year but is expected to fall to $30-million in 2006-07, said Manny Lajmiri of Pasco’s Metropolitan Planning Organization.

The county also has reduced its list of planned road projects because it reflects many outdated schedules.

“None of those dates can really be depended on,” Baker said.

Projects to be dropped include the Moon Lake Road widening, the completion of the Ridge Road extension to the Suncoast Parkway and improvements to Power Line Road and Clinton Avenue in the Dade City area.

Baker said these projects would be reworked into a longer-range road improvement plan.

“This is staff’s first cut at it,” Baker said. “(County Administrator John) Gallagher has seen it, and he doesn’t like it. He wants the projects done more quickly.”

The report on road fee revisions, by Tindale-Oliver & Associates of Tampa, will be presented to Gallagher and key county staff members before it makes its way to county commissioners.

The report also will include recommendations to phase in the changes over a period of years - possibly six - and to index future increases to some form of market indicator, Baker said.

“We could be looking at adoption by the end of the calendar year,” Baker said.

Since the burden of impact fee hikes fall on new consumers, the report also includes recommendations on reduced fee schedules to preserve some semblance of affordable housing in Pasco, Baker said.

Mourtakos said the fee hikes are so new that the association has not had time to discuss whether to challenge the increases.

“It would be foolhardy for me to sit here and not say the people who are agreeing to build houses will pass on the cost to the consumer,” Mourtakos said.

Times staff writer Will Van Sant contributed to this report.

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Developer keeps trying for ‘clusters’

He proposes a change to allow more density on environmentally valuable land if only half of the property is used.
By DAN DEWITT
Published August 15, 2006
St. Petersburg Times

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BROOKSVILLE - Developer Gary Schraut, who last month talked about abandoning his plans to build “clustered” developments in rural areas, said Monday that he is pushing ahead with his projects.

He got some help from the county Planning and Zoning Commission, which backed his plan to build a clustered development on 251 acres of farmland in northern Hernando.

This came despite the objections of county planners and a letter from the state Department of Community Affairs, which said the clustered pattern that Schraut proposed would contribute to sprawl.

The Brooksville developer said the opposite is true.

The policy allows only one house on every 10 acres, meaning a few homeowners consume vast tracts of the county’s countryside.

He wants to change the comprehensive plan to allow owners of environmentally valuable land to build dense clusters of homes on about half of the land if they agree to preserve the other half.

Schraut and fellow investors own two parcels, covering 435 acres on County Road 491 in northern Hernando. With his proposed change to the comprehensive plan, they would divide this property into 184 1-acre lots instead of the 43 lots currently allowed.

The county had previously agreed to forward this idea to the Department of Community Affairs for review, as well as Schraut’s plan to apply it to the first of the two parcels, covering 184 acres.

But in its letter to the county in June, the department said the change to the comprehensive plan had not shown the need for more development in rural areas. It said the rules defining the program were vague and that the cluster policy “appears to be inconsistent with and inferior to the current standards.”

Until these issues are cleared up, the planning department said in a memo written for Monday’s meeting, “it is premature to consider any additional parcels” for rural clustering.

That means, because of state policy on submitting changes to the comprehensive plan, the county would not be able to submit the plan for the 251-acre parcel until next year.

Schraut, who said last month that it would cost him too much to prepare additional studies that the department asked for, now said he is trying to answer its objections.

He may be able to do so in the next month, he said, and the delay in submitting the second parcel would cause a problem: He would have approval for one parcel and not the other.

That would force him to develop the two parcels separately. That, in turn, would make it impossible for him to save the views from County Road 491 and the most environmentally significant land on the property, an oak hammock.

This argument convinced Commissioner Robert Widmar, who argued that the planning commission should recommend that the plan for the 251-acre parcel be forwarded for the state’s review along with Schraut’s other property.

“I don’t have a problem with sending it up,” Widmar said. “They pass or fail together.”

But Commissioner Anthony Palmieri, who, along with Commissioner Anna Liisa Covell, voted against the action, said he could not support it until the Department of Community Affairs’ questions were answered.

He said the department’s letter states that the plan for rural clusters violates 12 of the goals and objectives of the county’s comprehensive plan.

“I have no idea what those goals and objectives are,” Palmieri said. “But when this has 12 of them, I cannot approve.”

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Floridians flock to get home hurricane-preparedness inspections from state

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Aug. 16, 2006 — Florida homeowners flocked to a new state program Tuesday that offers free hurricane-preparedness inspections and grants to help cover the cost of improvements.

More than 3,500 people applied online within hours after the state began accepting applications. The $250 million My Safe Florida Home program, passed by the Legislature in May, was supported by insurers as a way to help control skyrocketing costs in Florida’s insurance market.

“Retrofitting homes must be a part of our culture of preparedness,” said state Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, whose agency is running the program.

With eight hurricanes in two years and insurance company losses hitting nearly $40 billion, insurance premiums have spiraled, and some residents have said they cannot find private coverage at any price.

The program provides free home inspections outlining ways in which homeowners can protect their property from storm damage.

Inspectors will look for things such as whether the roof-to-wall connections should be reinforced, whether stronger garage doors are needed and whether shutters should be installed.

“It’s not hundreds of things that need to be done,” Governor Jeb Bush said. “It’s a handful of things.”

Homeowners can apply for matching funds from the state to make recommended improvements, and some low-income homeowners can get grants of up to $5,000 with no matching requirement.

Gallagher said the goal is for 12,000 inspections to happen before November and possibly as many as 50,000 could be evaluated in the next year. After that, it would be up to legislators to continue the program. Bush, who leaves office in January, said the program should be made permanent.

Officials in Gallagher’s office said the first inspections will be done in South Florida, primarily in Miami-Dade, Broward and Lee counties, where more than 100 inspectors have already been hired and trained.

After that, inspections will move to several other coastal counties.

The program is open to permanent Florida residents living in single-family homes with an insured value of $500,000 or less.

On the Net: http://www.mysafefloridahome.com/

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Governor’s group reviews Save Our Homes tax break, other issues

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Aug. 16, 2006 — Realtors and other members of Gov. Jeb Bush’s Property Tax Reform Committee met for the first time Tuesday to discuss ways to deal with property tax inequities resulting from the Save Our Homes amendment approved by voters in 1992.

“We covered the basics in this meeting — what our charge is, the restrictions on what we can and can’t do, and reviewed information from the Florida Department of Revenue and the Florida Association of Counties,” says Realtor Cynthia Shelton of Lake Mary, director of investment sales for Colliers Arnold. “We’ll be meeting once a month at public meetings to be scheduled around the state. We plan to allow 30 minutes for public comment at each meeting, and we’d really like to hear from people coming forward with possible solutions to some of these issues.”

Realtor Dennis Nelson of Wellington, who works with the Keyes Company, also serves on the 15-member committee.

Realtors bring a lot of resources and valuable expertise to the table, says Shelton. The group’s goal is to offer recommendations to the next Florida governor and state lawmakers on how to deal with Save Our Homes and other property tax issues by Dec. 1, 2007. Bush also asked the committee to take a look at increases in local government property tax revenues.

Shelton says the group should serve as a bridge between two groups — a Department of Revenue study of the same issues ordered by the Legislature and the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission that will meet for the first time in 2007, as required by the Florida Constitution.

Speaking to the group, Lee County Property Appraiser Kenneth M. Wilkinson, who led the Save Our Homes campaign, said he supports the idea of allowing homeowners to take the tax break with them if they move to another home in the state, called portability, but suggests the cap be limited according to the percentage of the old home’s sale price that is represented by its taxable value.

“The purpose of Save Our Homes was to provide a safety net,” Wilkinson said. “I can’t imagine what it would be like in our state today if we were without it.”

Save Our Homes limits annual increases in assessed value of homesteads — homes lived in by their owners — to 3 percent or the percentage growth in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less. As a result, it has shifted more of the tax burden to owners of newly purchased homes, second homes and businesses. Another issue: recent homebuyers pay more in tax than owners who have lived in homes of equal market value for a longer time. Some residents are afraid to move because they will lose their accumulated Save Our Tax benefit.

“From my perspective, as a Realtor, a business person and a homeowner, I’ve benefited from Save Our Homes since I’ve lived in my home for many years,” Shelton said. “But, my being able to receive that means that someone else is bearing a bigger share of the load. Is there a way to balance the intent of Save Our Homes with what’s happening to new Florida homeowners or to those who would like to move to a different home? We’ve got to consider the potential consequences.”

Legislation was introduced this year to let homeowners take the tax break with them when moving but only within the boundaries of a county. It did not pass but is likely to come up again next year. The Florida Association of Realtors (FAR) supports limited portability, provided local governments have a choice in the matter. FAR also supports allowing homeowners to move Save Our Homes tax savings to new homes when they are forced to move by the exercise of eminent domain. FAR also supports allowing homeowners to repair and replace homes damaged in casualty events without losing the Save Our Homes tax savings.

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IMPORTANT BULLETIN RE: FREE HURRICANE INSPECTIONS & REPAIRS

Want a free hurricane home inspection? Want the state to pay half the cost of any recommended repair to prepare your home for the next storm? As of today, inspection applications are available at http://www.mysafefloridahome.com/, a Web site operated by the Florida Comprehensive Hurricane Damage Mitigation Program. If you have an inspection and hurricane upgrades are recommended, the state will pay up to $5,000 in matching funds to qualified Florida homeowners; and low-income homeowners will be eligible for $5,000 grants with no match required. There are rules: The program applies only to Floridians who own a single-family, site-built home with an insured value less than $500,000; or owners in a residential building of up to four units providing all unit owners agree to participate. Mobile homes, manufactured homes, second homes, rental properties, apartments and businesses are not eligible. Interested homeowners should apply as soon as possible — the program’s funding, part of the state budget, has a limit.
For immediate assistance, visit the Web site or call toll-free:
(800) 342-2762 in Florida or out-of-state (850) 413-3089.