Naples Real Estate News - 01/14/08

REAL ESTATE TAX REFORM - Governor Crist will spend a lot of time this week advocating passage of Amendment 1, the property tax reform proposal voters will consider on January 29. The governor continues to visit families who will benefit from passage, and plans a promotional bus tour around the state on Wednesday. Early voting begins today.

CITIZENS PROPERTY INSURANCE

- Citizens Property Insurance Corp. hopes its investments in a troubled state investment pool bounce back before hurricane season starts. In a big move to protect its investments, Citizens officials said Friday they plan to diversify by moving $5.1 billion, or about half of the insurer’s total assets, to private money managers.

COUNTRYWIDE - The current credit crisis and housing slowdown resulted in huge losses for Countrywide Financial Corp before the rescue buyout by Bank of America announced late last week. The $4.1 billion deal should spare Countrywide from bankruptcy, but still spells the end for one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders.

SUBPRIME MORTGAGES - Authorities in New York and Connecticut are investigating whether Wall Street banks hid high-risk loans from investors by bundling them into securities. The investigations center around “no-doc” or “exception” loans that did not even meet subprime standards, according to Connecticut’s Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.