If your short sale has not closed by 12/31/2012 YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY FEDERAL INCOME TAX on the short sale amount due to the lender.

Call me today so we can get started and avoid this tax. For more information here is an article from Florida Realtors

http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?p=1&id=269530

I can help you with any of your Real Estate needs.

By TIMOTHY O’HARA Citizen Staff

Circuit Judge David Audlin once again has thrown out a Monroe County code enforcement ruling against Big Pine Key resident Sandra Carter, who was cited in 2007 for an illegal downstairs enclosure.

Downstairs enclosures in homes built in most areas of the Florida Keys after 1975 are limited to 299 square feet for storage space only. Living area is prohibited below flood elevation in those homes.

Audlin ruled the county waited too long to cite Carter for having the illegal enclosure, and dismissed the case earlier this year. The county appealed and the 3rd District Court of Appeal overruled Audlin, remanding the case back to him.

Audlin on Thursday again ordered the case dismissed. The judge ruled the enclosure has existed since at least 1983, and the county’s comprehensive land use plan did not go into effect until 1986. The land use plan prohibits construction at ground level, Audlin wrote.

But in 1975, the county was required to pass an ordinance prohibiting habitable construction below mean flood elevation in order to participate in the National Flood Insurance Program, a federally subsidized insurance program.

Even with a prohibition against downstairs enclosures, the county waited too long to take action against Carter or her uncle, who previously owned the home, Audlin ruled. County Property Appraiser’s Office records have long shown the existence of the downstairs enclosure.

“The record shows that Monroe County was aware of the downstairs enclosure by 1983, apparently levied taxes upon it, and then took absolutely no action whatsoever to enforce against the property,” Audlin wrote in his ruling. “Carter’s uncle, and then subsequently Carter, relied upon the county’s silence and inaction for 31 years, during which time the county issued building permits, and presumably conducted inspections thereon, as well as assessing property taxes, while also documenting the very enclosure complained of, in the county’s property record system for 23 years.”

Carter’s attorney, Lee Rohe, said the county code case has been a long and difficult battle. He said some witnesses have died or moved to other parts of the country, and he had to travel to Illinois to interview one witness. Rohe said he also had to drive an 80-year-old witness from St. Petersburg to the Florida Keys for the case.

“It is impossible to put a case together that is 20 or 30 years old,” Rohe said.

It was unclear Monday whether the county will again appeal. The county most likely will ask Audlin to rehear the issue, Assistant County Attorney Bob Shillinger said. The request must be submitted by Monday.

“We are studying the opinion to determine how far-reaching it is and whether it would apply to other cases,” Shillinger said. “We disagree with some of the analysis in it.”

Audlin’s ruling comes as the county is lobbying Federal Emergency Management Agency officials to ease restrictions on downstairs enclosures. FEMA repeatedly has threatened to expel Monroe County from the National Flood Insurance Program if it does not enforce restrictions on illegal downstairs enclosures.

In 2002, the county instituted a program for inspecting homes for illegal enclosures when property owners apply for building permits.

The County Commission also has approved a proposal to FEMA that would grant amnesty for illegal rooms created before 2002, when the county launched the inspection program. Under that proposal, property owners would not be allowed to rebuild enclosures if 50 percent of the structures are destroyed in a hurricane or some other natural disaster.

tohara@keysnews.com

The Commerce Department said Monday that sales rose 11 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000, from an upwardly revised May rate of 346,000.

It was the strongest sales pace since November 2008 and exceeded the forecasts of economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who expected a pace of 360,000 units. The last time sales rose so dramatically was in December 2000.

Sales have risen for three straight months. The median sales price of $206,200, however, was down 12 percent from $234,300 a year earlier and down nearly 6 percent from $219,000 in May.

The report is another encouraging sign that the beleaguered housing sector is finally coming back to life. Last Thursday, the National Association of Realtors reported that home resales posted a monthly increase of 3.6 percent in June.

There were 281,000 new homes for sale at the end of June, down more than 4 percent from May. At the current sales pace, that represents 8.8 months of supply — the lowest level since October 2007.

Fallout from the housing crisis has played a central role in the U.S. recession, now the longest since World War II. Foreclosures have spiked, homebuilders have slashed construction, and financial companies have lost billions.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press, Alan Zibel, AP real estate writer.