At the end of a day-long negotiation session over the foreclosure paperwork mess at the Department of Justice, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli came out for a brief chat with reporters.

They essentially said nothing.

Miller: “We had a good first meeting with the banking and servicer industry- emphasis on good and first. It was a first meeting, it was a breaking of the ice, and that takes some time and is part of the process. The discussion was good—I think it was on a good level, given the exchange of ideas and rationale and principles. I think we have a long way to go—again emphasis on first meeting.”

Perrelli: “Tom Miller is a fantastic partner, we’re lucky to be working together. I’ll echo what Tom said, I think it was a very productive first meeting, with serious discussion of a wide range of challenges and problems in the mortgage servicing industry.”

The banks weren’t talking, at least the representatives in the meeting weren’t talking, nor were their spokespeople. But big bank executives have been commenting on the biggest sticking point in a potential settlement over foreclosure practices: Principal reduction.

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Condo sales in Miami were up 134 percent in January year-over-year, according to the Miami Association of Realtors. That’s not a typo.

“The Miami market continues to outperform the rest of the nation mostly due to the strong impact of international buyers and record affordability,” said Jack H. Levine, Chairman of the of the MAR. International buyers, low prices, and the weak dollar are certainly pushing the sales, but with those sales is coming a new phenomenon not seen since the housing boom.

Yes, prices for condos are down 36 percent annually to a median price of $91,200, but those prices are beginning to stabilize, despite the fact that there are about 3600 vacant units on the market in downtown Miami alone. Huh? How do prices stabilize with a three to four year supply??

“I think the way you get prices going up is by artificial price setting,” claims Peter Zalewski, principal at Condo Vultures, a real estate sales and consulting firm.

“I’m not going to use the C word, collusion, but there’s a certain price mechanism that all of the owners are starting to abide by and adhere to.”

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