​If you need affirmation that West Palm Beach is too rich rich for your blood, Forbes has you covered. More >>

U.S. Attorney Wilfredo Ferrer brings the charges.

​The three Florida men charged with reverse-mortgage fraud on Wednesday were Palm Beach County residents who worked for 1st Continental Mortgage, with offices in Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale.

A reverse mortgage allows a bank to purchase the homes of seniors 62 and above, then provide monthly mortgage payments to the residents. The theory is that the occupants will get steady income until they die or move out, at which point the house belongs to the bank. But Louis Gendason, John Incadela, and Marcos Echevarria would appraise the homes for more than they were worth, and, according to the Herald,
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Photos by Eric Barton

Vegetables used to grow here.

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For almost a year now, residents of downtown Fort Lauderdale's Flagler Village neighborhood chipped in their time and money on a community garden occupying a once-scrubby scrap of land. They built raised planter boxes and bamboo fences and just put in a new water line. They grew eggplant and broccoli and herbs -- bushels of fruits and vegetables to show for their weekly labor.

Via Facebook

The garden before the demolition. Click here for more photos

​Then, early today, they discovered that their community garden had been razed. Workers showed up this morning and quickly disposed of the raised plots, the fences, the water line, and all of the unpicked produce.

The wrecking crew had been hired by the land's new owner, City National Bank of Florida, which foreclosed on the land last month. Without word to the neighbors who had built the garden, City National sent in its demolition team.

Kate Sheffield, one of the gardeners, discovered the razed land this morning. She was More >>

Tobin created a system that will help him in his new job as a foreclosure attorney.

​If you're a foreclosure defense lawyer doing work in Broward County, there are lots of reasons to think Chief Judge Victor Tobin doesn't side with homeowners. In his tenure at the top of the county's legal system, he has instituted rules that make it tougher on homeowners to fight foreclosures and resisted changes that would protect them from cases being rushed through the system.

The widespread belief that he's biased toward banks seemed supported this week when Tobin announced that he'll be leaving the bench for a job at the law offices of Marshall C. Watson, one of the largest foreclosure firms in the state. It's a move that angers foreclosure defense lawyers who say it appears as if Tobin established a system that will favor his new position. Worse, Tobin may More >>

Stern, behind those handsome glasses, says he's owed big from his former clients.

​Imagine the audacity of running a law firm like a mortgage document factory, with employees who routinely pushed through foreclosure documents without checking to be sure the homeowners even knew it was coming.

Then, after the whole firm come crumbing down in accusations of malfeasance, imagine the giant brass balls it'd take to sue the very banks the firm allegedly cheated by filing bogus paperwork.

That's what appears to have happened in the David J. More >>

The view from the picture widows is so gorgeous that at first, it's all you notice. The sprawling condominium -- white floors, white walls, white ceiling -- opens in a glass rectangle over a white balcony that frames the ocean and sky, two strips of rippled blue glowing in the last diffusions of sunlight, uncomplicated by money, cars, or people: a perfect tableau.More >>

​The background of fallen foreclosure king David J. Stern has so far been largely a mystery. But now there's at least one piece of his past that has come to light: the years he spent as a high school soccer coach and how it ended in a spectacular failure.

New Times has learned Stern worked for about three years as soccer coach at Klein Forest High School in suburban Houston. He held the job while taking classes on the side at South Texas College of Law.

His stint as a soccer coach ended in 1984, when he took his team to the state finals, according to three people familiar with his time in Texas. There, he got into a shoutingMore >>

He's a kompas king, a diaper-dancer and a firebrand, and he just may be Haiti's best hope for a president with more efficacy than an ingrown hair. Votes are being counted, and it's between former first lady Mirlande Manigat and our boy, Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly. Why ours, exactly? Well, he's a bona-fide former Florida real-estate owner, before the market sent him packing. Behold a humble abode in far-slung Pembroke Pines, which may soon have presidential ties.

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via www.kathyhyatt.com

Lauderdale Lakes' financial troubles are part of a national issue.

​Lauderdale Lakes cannot balance its budget without aid, though it's still unclear how this aid will take shape. In November, the Juice reported that the city was behind on its payments to the Broward County Sheriff's Office, and last week, the Sun-Sentinel reported that the city is "teetering on the brink of financial ruin."

It seems Lauderdale Lakes' stark financial woes are part of a bigger trend -- a national pattern of cities strapped with pension pay-outs and expensive day-to-day operations while revenue from property taxes has taken a plunge with the recession and its sidekick, the housing crisis.

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via floridaforeclosurehelp.net

The state foreclosure fraud investigation expands.

​Fort Lauderdale law firm Ben-Ezra & Katz is the most recent subject of the state attorney general's mortgage fraud investigation. The firm "appears to be fabricating and/or presenting false and misleading documents in foreclosure cases," according to the allegation listed by the office of Florida's attorney general, Pam Bondi.

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