Fixed rates on mortgages fall again

Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to a record level for a fourth straight week, dropping to the lowest mark since Freddie Mac started tracking the data nearly 28 years ago.

BANKING

Citi, lawmakers reach deal

Citigroup and Democratic lawmakers agreed on a foreclosure- prevention plan.

REAL ESTATE

Tere Blanca leaving Cushman to start own realty firm

Commercial real estate veteran Tere Blanca is giving up the helm at Cushman & Wakefield to start her own firm.

Royal Palm hotel heads for bankruptcy

An owner of the Royal Palm Hotel has taken defensive measures while attempts are made to foreclose on the 417-room South Beach property.

Royal Palm hotel in bankruptcy fight

Six years after opening the Royal Palm, developer R. Donahue Peebles has put the entity that owns the South Beach hotel into bankruptcy protection amid a dispute with the lender trying to foreclose on the property.

Cushman & Wakefield exec to launch own real estate firm

Tere Blanca, a top commercial real estate executive in Florida and current chair of Miami-Dade County's economic development arm, The Beacon Council, is going out on her own.

National Association of Home Builders push $150 billion plan

With lawmakers angling to pass an economic recovery package by the middle of next month, desperate home builders from around the country flew to Washington to spend Wednesday pushing a $150 billion plan to revive the housing market.

Home-equity credit delinquencies rise

Late payments on home-equity lines of credit rose to a record in the third quarter, showing consumers remain under financial stress as unemployment rises amid the credit crisis, the American Bankers Association reported.

COVER STORY

Goldman family bets on a Wynwood revival

On a recent Wednesday afternoon, Joey Goldman sat at the bar of his new Wynwood restaurant, looked out at empty tables, and figured the place would end the day losing money.

Real estate listings from Michael Y. Cannon

Location: 2734 E. Oakland Park Blvd. Seller: A.T.2.B, represented by Andree Brocvielle, president. Buyer: Aurea Investments, represented by Bernel Alfredo, managing member.

Affordable Victoria's Armoire has evolved over the years

Seventeen years ago, Eddie and Anna Fuentes opened Victoria's Armoire in the Coral Gables building that house his father's printing business with a self-serving motive: Newly married, they wanted good furniture but couldn't afford the antiques they liked.

OMBUDSMAN OFFICE

Mediators foresee gloom, doom in condo industry

Working for the state's Office of the Condominium Ombudsman is dirty, sometimes even ''disgusting,'' work, say Bill and Susan Raphan, who supervise the Fort Lauderdale satellite office.

Wildflower auto tag sales pay for butterfly gardens, science projects

Bright red spikes of salvia flowers swayed in the winter breeze next to blue-flowering porterweed. Yellowtops, with flattish clusters of flowers, were forming a little colony, while the black-eyed Susans and the red-yellow Indian blankets formed sweeps of color in the wildflower beds at Broward College's north campus in Coconut Creek.

Whole Foods pulls out of Met Miami project

Whole Foods, the upscale grocery store slated for the Met Miami complex in downtown Miami, has pulled out of the project. Whole Foods was supposed to go on the ground floor of a tower that has not yet started construction. Its arrival would have given downtown Miami its first high-end grocery store, and a spokesman for Met Miami said the complex plans to recruit another grocer for the space.

30-year rates at new low

Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to a record low for the third straight week and borrowers took advantage of the drop, sending new applications soaring.

REAL ESTATE

Miami-Dade applies new state law aimed at cutting taxes inflated by mortgage fraud

In compliance with a new Florida law, the Miami-Dade property appraiser's office is reexamining tax assessments that may have been inflated by fraudulent home sales.

REAL ESTATE

Extension for Herald land deal

A provision in McClatchy's agreement to extend the closing date for the $190 million sale of 10 acres next to The Miami Herald's bayfront headquarters may now make it easier for the media company to sell the newspaper's longstanding home.

Miami Herald land sale won't close by Dec. 31

Developer Mark Siffin is being given more time to close on the purchase of 10 acres of parking lots surrounding The Miami Herald Media Company. He needs an extension to arrange financing.

Home prices drop across country

Home prices across the country fell faster than ever in October, according to a closely watched 20-city index released Tuesday, providing fresh evidence that the nationwide housing slump is nowhere near an end.