The United States was voted as the most stable and secure country for foreign real estate investment by 56 percent of foreign investors surveyed, according to the 2007 Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE) Foreign Investment Survey. The decreasing value of the U.S. dollar is encouraging foreigners to consider America when looking for personal vacation property or profitable real estate investments. This investment of stronger currencies could inject new life into states such as Florida, where desirable vacation property is plentiful but the property market is struggling.

AFIRE’s survey ranked the top five global cities for foreign investment and the top two slots are filled by American cities: New York City and Washington, D.C. New York rose from second place and Washington, D.C., came up from its fourth place finish in 2006. The United States is gaining ground as an international real estate investment option.

In line with this trend, foreign investment in Florida is flourishing. While 18 percent of real estate agents nationwide reported brokering at least one home sales transaction with international clients in 2006, 65 percent of Floridian real estate agents reported having done so during the same time period, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Profile of International Home Buying Activity.

The largest percentage of international buyers in the state in 2005 came from the United Kingdom, according to the 2005 NAR Profile of International Home Buyers in Florida. British real estate buyers made up 33.3 percent of all international property transactions in the state, Western European countries made up 21.2 percent and Eastern European countries made up 3 percent.

Florida real estate continues to be very attractive to European buyers.   The low value of the U.S. dollar combined with ample inventories, creates an opportunity to find great deals on second homes and investment properties. 

Will increasing European investment have a positive effect on the Florida housing market?  

Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Recently, Gov. Charlie Crist signed into law a measure passed by the Legislature designed to protect homeowners facing financial trouble from unscrupulous foreclosure "rescue" outfits.

The Foreclosure Rescue Fraud Prevention Act of 2008, which goes into effect Oct. 1, ensures that homeowners are properly informed about their rights before signing a contract with a foreclosure rescue firm.

The action comes as foreclosure fillings are soaring in South Florida and nationwide.

Here are the key aspects of the issue and new law:

The new law will benefit homeowners facing foreclosure who may be tempted to work with an independent rescue firm.

The law requires a foreclosure rescue consultant — a person who tries to arrange a new payment plan with a lender or other alternative to home foreclosure — to provide a written agreement to homeowners before beginning any services.

The agreement must include a specific notice of the homeowners' right to cancel the contract, detail the procedure for canceling and a disclosure that the consumer should contact his lender first before signing a contract because the lender may be willing to negotiate a payment plan free of charge.

Violators would face up to $15,000 in fines for each infraction.

The new regulations require specific legal definitions for job titles such as "equity purchaser" or "foreclosure consultant," and prohibit foreclosure consultants from accepting payment until all services are completed.

A five-day waiting period in which consumers can cancel a foreclosure-rescue contract is required.   Furthermore, before any instrument that transfers title to the property can be executed, the homeowner must execute a separate contract with all the terms and conditions of the proposed property transfer.

There is a link between the high foreclosure rates in some states and the increase of arson incidents involving foreclosed homes, officials say.

According to fire safety officials in Nevada, Massachusetts and Ohio, the seventy year rise in the number of mortgage defaults is connected to the increase of blazes which destroyed the empty homes.

In 2006, when the median price of a U.S. home peaked to $221,900 based on data from the National Association of Realtors, 31,000 arson cases were recorded the same year by the U.S. Fire Administration. In Ohio, fires that razed vacant units rose by 18 percent in 2006, at about the same time that one in 161 households got a foreclosure notice during the first quarter.

James Quiggle, spokesman of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, said profit is usually not the only motive behind the deliberate burning of foreclosed homes since the former owner becomes a suspect and the replacement cost paid by the insurance company is normally below the value of the property.

Some fires were caused by accidents like toppled candles of intruders or neighborhood kids. But two-thirds of fires in unsecured vacant buildings were done on purpose, said John Hall, research head at the National Fire Protection Association. The arson rate went down to 32 percent for empty buildings and 7 percent for occupied units.

James Wright, chief of the Nevada State Fire Marshal Division said battling empty and foreclosed homes is more dangerous for firefighters because they are not aware of the conditions of the burning structures.

As the economy slows due to rising oil prices and declining home prices, will firefighters need to be on red alert for more arson incidents involving foreclosed houses?

As lenders react to falling home prices and mortgage defaults, many have been reducing existing home-equity lines of credit or freezing them outright in markets that have been experiencing significant declines in property values

Banks involved in this practice say there is a process in place for customer to appeal their decisions. In many cases, clients who have had lines decreased often still have access to available credit.

According to a Bank of American spokesman,  “ homeowners who feel their situation is different, we will listen to them, particularly if they have an independent appraisal that shows their home has been spared from neighboring drops in home value.”  

A reduced credit line can be a challenging situation for those in the middle of a home-improvement project or those who counted on the funds for college tuition.

If your home-equity line of credit has been frozen borrowers can take the following steps:

1. Contact your lender. Ask why the available credit has been reduced, and explain why you think it shouldn't have been. 

2. Be prepared to have your home reappraised. If you argue that the value of the home hasn't dropped as much as others in the area, be prepared to pay to have your home appraised.   This will be used to distinguish your situation from your neighbors.

3. Take your business to another lender.  There are still lenders out there for those with good credit and equity built up in their homes. If you do change lenders, be prepared for a longer process. Getting a line of credit in some cases, can be more challenging than getting a new first mortgage.

4. Start saving.  If the reason you were holding a home-equity line of credit is to have it for a rainy day, start creating an emergency fund instead. 

 Is this latest freeze on credit lines a wake-up call for borrowers to start living within their means?

Here's some really good news for anyone involved in acquiring, rehabilitating and reselling foreclosed houses: The Federal Housing Administration is temporarily waiving its "anti-flipping" rules and will now insure mortgages on properties that have been owned by the current seller for less than 90 days.

The policy change opens ups the FHA fixed-rate mortgage program to investors and property disposition companies looking to move houses quickly off their books at a profit.  The temporary waiver will expire in June 2009.

The 90-day rule was adopted by HUD after it found that scam artists were buying up central city and suburban foreclosures at rock bottom prices, and then flipping them at inflated resale prices within days to home buyers using low-down payment FHA-backed loans.

Many buyers were inexperienced, unaware of the artificial increase in the price, and couldn't afford the high mortgage amounts. They defaulted in large numbers, ended up in foreclosure, and lenders hit the FHA insurance fund for claims.

Under the revised policy, FHA will require purchasers to be financially capable of handling the mortgage, and underwriters will scrutinize appraisals. However, the agency no longer will rule out insuring a mortgage simply because title to the property had changed hands within the previous three months.

FHA's return to the foreclosure resale market segment through its waiver of the 90-day anti-flipping rule should give those investors and property disposition firms working with lenders’ “REO” departments an important resource to use immediately.

You'd better hurry if you want to have shutters installed before September 10th the peak of hurricane season.  Prices will increase as we move deeper into the hurricane season.

If you have not ordered before July, expect to pay a few hundred dollars more and wait a few weeks longer for the popular accordion shutters, company officials predicted.

The cost of shutters is expected to increase by $2 a square foot, to an average of $18 per square foot, as demand increases.

A home with 350 square feet of openings would on average cost about $5,600 to protect, in July the average price will jump to $6,300.  If you are thinking about applying for a $5,000 state matching grant to help pay for the shutters, you're too late. The money ran out on May 31. However, you can apply for free windstorm inspections to get your insurance premiums reduced through the My Safe Florida Home program.

Attention single family homeowners, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation has new rules:

Effective July 1, homeowners must have storm protection for their doors and windows to take out a building permit for remodeling estimated to cost $50,000 or more. No protection, no permit.

There’s more. Effective Jan. 1, owners of single family houses $750,000 and higher, who are insured by Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state's largest home insurer, must have hurricane protection or Citizens will drop them. These provisions don’t apply to condominiums which must abide by Florida building codes and association rules.

This requirement affects about 16,000 of Citizens' 1.2 million customers, and the insurer will give six months' notice before canceling them for not having shutters.

If you choose to protect your home with impact-resistant windows and doors, your wait isn't likely to increase from the current four to six weeks.  But you'll pay about twice what you would for accordion shutters.

Look on the bright side; shutters are still much cheaper than after Hurricane Wilma in October 2005.

What level of service would you expect from someone you paid $9000? For that kind of money, you'd probably demand personal attention, prompt responses to inquiries and expert insight.

That's what you should expect from a real estate agent, since he or she stands to make a profit once the transaction is complete.

So, what are the characteristics of agents earning their keep? An excellent agent:

• Stays on top of deadlines with home repairs, inspections, appraisals, and paperwork.
• Helps prepare your home for sale. The agent provides honest and helpful insight about what will be a turn-off to potential buyers and offers to help spruce up the place.
• Returns calls and emails quickly and answers questions completely.
• Evaluates all aspects of a house you're interested in, including the size of the water heater, the type of heating source, the ages of the appliances, and suspicious stains.
• Continues working for you even after the deal is done. The agent makes sure you get your checks from escrow, gets you copies of all important documents, and answers questions.
• Is a vigorous but fair advocate. A real estate agent is your guide and counsel during what can be a complicated process. This person defends your interests without offending the other party.

Does your agent fit this description?    If not, strongly consider hiring someone else.  There is a large pool of real estate agents, why pay thousands of dollars for anything but the best?

Buying a house is one of the biggest investments you will ever make.  Therefore, it is important to learn the true value of the property and then negotiate the right price and terms.  Here are some tools that can help you:

Use county tax records information sites
Information in country records, allows you to check the legitimacy of seller claims.  For example, a property may be listed as a 4 bedroom, 3 bathrooms, but the county records say it is a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom.  A red flag should go off in your head.

Look at comparable prices in the neighborhood
Ask your real estate agent, to provide property comparables for your review.  Make sure this includes information on:

• Active Sales: These are current properties listed in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
• Pending Sales:  These are current properties listed in the MLS in which a purchase contract has been submitted and the buyer is exercising due diligence. The property has not been sold.
• Closed Sales of Properties from the last six months: Multiple listings and no sales may be a good sign.  Neighborhood stability is the key.

If you are not using a real estate agent, you can do your own research and get comparable home prices on websites for free.

Submit your offer to purchase
Once you have determined a realistic value for the property, there are two ways to make an offer: by price or by terms.

• Negotiating by price: There is room to negotiate the price and still produce a win-win deal for both the Buyer and Seller.
• Negotiating by terms: This option does not allow much room for a price reduction, but the Seller can provide better terms for the Buyer.  Examples of better terms could be:
  • The property is sold through seller-financing.
  • The Seller requires “No Money Down”.   The Buyer should negotiate the smallest realistic deposit possible.  In Florida, the minimum amount is $10.
  • The Buyer and Seller exchange one asset for another asset.

The market slowdown doesn't mean your home won't sell, but it demands a different approach.  Here are some tips that will help your property sell in a slow market:

Make those necessary repairs. In previous markets it was enough just to cut the grass and retouch the paint.  In today’s market, sellers will have to take care of those more onerous repair projects as well.

Price realistically.   Unfortunate, the demand for real estate has softened significantly. This means, sellers will have to adjust the asking price to below what the house might have fetched a year ago.   When setting an asking price above market value, homeowners risk driving potential buyers away.   There is a buyer for every property if the pricing is right.

Be flexible.  Ensuring that your house is ready to show at all times will make it easier for prospective buyers to see it. So make your bed each morning and clean up the dishes before heading off to work, just in case someone may want to come by at the last minute. In addition, homeowners should be willing to disappear on Saturday and Sunday afternoons if potential buyers are free to see the property.

Bite your tongue:  If a potential buyer comes in with an offer you consider too low, resist the urge to turn up your nose.    Remember, even a low bid signals interest.

Maximum Internet exposure:    Your home should be placed on the Multiple Listing Service.  The MLS is a complete inventory of homes on the market.   Also, online property listings should have multiple high quality, digital photographs of the home's interior and exterior. In addition, a yard sign will attract people driving by the home.