Real Estate

The city plans to hire a debt collector to retrieve an estimated $4 million in delinquent equipment and motor vehicle taxes. The city issued a request for proposals for debt collector services Wednesday and will close bidding Dec. 9. Supervisor of Assessments and Collections Michael Mordarski said the contract will not cost the city anything, since the collection company makes its profit by charging delinquent taxpayers up to 15 percent of the amount owed.  

In an exclusive interview with Leena Chandan of Myiris.com , brokerage house, Firstcall India Equity Advisors spoke about markets and Indian economy outlook. Firstcall India Investment Banking of Firstcall India Equity Advisors (P) (FIEA), is a leading financial services provider in India. The company's research caters to the needs of the largest news wire and media houses of the world namely Reuters, Thomson, Capital IQ, Themarkets.com, Emerging Markets Euro money Publications-UK.  

The current economy is hurting many Shelby County industries, but few are suffering more than builders and those in the associated trades. Wednesday's Shelby County Builders Association meeting at Knights of Columbus was sparsely attended, and many builders in the community feel they are currently in survival mode. "We know that a lot of our members are hurting," Rick Robinson, 2009 Builders Association president, said prior to the meeting.

It seems like we have always been dead last   -Mike Wheeler

 

The four-man, eight-woman jury deliberated over two days after hearing testimony for three weeks. The property owners sued Estate Homes of North Carolina, Carriage Park Associates, CPA Realty and Greg Youse, a former broker at Carriage Park. It was unclear how much the homeowners would actually recover, given that the contractor, who owes the majority of the damages, declared bankruptcy in 2007. "That's the tragedy of this," said one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, W. James Johnson of Asheville.  

In the late fifties, when the Mountain Ranch Hotel was last up for sale, it would have been charitably called a fixer-upper. Wallpaper hung from the stately home's high ceilings, there were rats in the water tank and, said current owner Tim Lane. The home's nearly wrap-around porch was so rotten one of his friends fell right through it. "It was quite a bit run down," said area historian Wally Motloch.  

L ast week, an investment reporter asked four prominent market strategists for their take on the market's valuation. David Rosenberg of Gluskin Sheff and Associates said: "No matter which way you look at it – forward P/E, trailing P/E – the market is vastly overpriced, (and) so the strategy is to sit on the sidelines, be selective in our equity choices, and wait for the correction to come or for the fundamentals to catch up with this overvalued, overbought, overextended market." Another said: ...  

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported this week nationwide home loan delinquencies hit 9.6% at the end of September. Also, 4.5% of loans are in some stage of foreclosure — so a total of 14% of loans are at least one payment late. The MBA expects foreclosures to peak in 2011.  

Property owners will pay less in taxes to Spokane Public Schools in 2010 than voters approved in March – $11.3 million less. The district estimated $3.56 per $1,000 assessed value. The rate will be $3.01, said Mark Anderson, assistant superintendent of school support services.  

Texas' public insurance counsel said Friday that she won't appeal an order from the state insurance commissioner that calls on State Farm to refund $310 million in overcharges on homeowners policies dating to 2003. Public Insurance Counsel Deeia Beck had sought refunds of nearly $1 billion, but she noted the delays that would be involved and the uncertain prospects of winning in deciding not to take the order to state court. "We are disappointed that the order did not award the total amount we believe State Farm Lloyds overcharged policyholders over the last six years," she said.

We are deeply disappointed with this decision as we believe State Farm Lloyds rates are, and always have been, both fair and justified   -Kevin Davis