Fannie Mae is offering up to 3.5% in closing-cost assistance to any owner-occupant who purchases a Fannie Mae property listed before May 1, 2010.   Eligible properties list can be obtained by emailing info@coldwellbankerackley.com or by searching on Fannie Mae’s Home Path website.

President Obama will be in Tampa today to unveil the plans for a new high speed rail to connect Tampa and Orlando.  The rail will be funded by grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  Construction will bring 1000s of jobs to the Central Florida area.  Upon completition in 2014 the rail will serve residents and visitors linking the two cities together.  Full Story 

Once again the numbers are in and the Foreclosure problem is spreading.  Yesterday RealtyTrac released the 2009 Year-End U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.  Florida and three other states accounted for more than 50 percent of the national total in 2009. “While it was expected that cities from states with the highest levels of foreclosure activity would top the charts, there is evidence that we’re entering...

“The Orlando metropolitan statistical area posted an 8.2 percent year-end foreclosure rate, with one in every 12 households receiving a filing. A total of 72,141 filings — including notices of default, auction notices and bank repossessions — were filed on Orlando MSA homes last year, a 54 percent jump when compared with 2008’s 46,843. Osceola County, meanwhile, had the highest foreclosure rate in...