News About Properties

Tax bill for zoo land nearly delinquent

Your window of opportunity to be part owner of a zoo is fast closing.

A fumbling of property tax payments on land under the Naples Zoo created a situation that could have allowed someone to step up, pay the delinquent amount and in turn receive a lien on the property.

The situation was so dicey that Collier County Manager Jim Mudd on Tuesday asked commissioners for permission to pay the roughly $150,000 in unpaid taxes with county money — essentially the county paying taxes to itself — in order to avoid further complications.

PIA of La. Stresses Preparation for 2006 Hurricane Season

Due to the upcoming start of Hurricane Season on June 1, the Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) of Louisiana launched a public awareness campaign that includes the following tips for insurance consumers to prepare for the upcoming season, information regarding the availability and affordability of property insurance in south Louisiana and available insurance consumer resources.

Flood insurance is NOT covered under homeowners policies in Louisiana, and wind and hail may not be covered either. No matter where you live, it is extremely important that you consider whether you should purchase a separate flood policy.

Your mortgage lender may not require you to purchase flood insurance, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need it. Almost 25 percent of all flood insurance claims come from areas with minimal flood risk, according to the National Flood Insurance Program.

A storm of trouble

As coastal residents nervously await the start of a new hurricane season in June, they’re confronting another fright: the exorbitant price and short supply of insurance for wind damage.

Huge losses from Hurricane Katrina and other hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 have sent the homeowners insurance industry into a panicked retreat from the USA’s coastline. In Florida, which was hit by eight major hurricanes in two years, insurers are refusing to renew hundreds of thousands of homeowners policies to reduce exposure to claims.

No View, No Garden, Just a Wall

Bridget O’Brian and Barnett J. Brimberg relished the small backyard behind their Upper East Side townhouse, bounded at the far end by a plain wood fence and their next door neighbor’s extensive garden. But when the neighbor died, new owners arrived with big plans: Gut the house, add a fifth floor and build a several-thousand-square-foot extension in back for a new kitchen and a private gym.

R-G Crown sorts out mess over developer [Central Florida]

The Casselberry-based thrift lent millions to Barrington Homes’ would-be home buyers.

R-G Crown Bank, one of the region’s fastest-growing financial institutions, has become ensnared by the problems of an Orlando home-building company whose former chief executive faces money-laundering charges.

The Casselberry-based thrift has loaned millions of dollars during the past year to would-be home buyers who hired Barrington Homes Inc. to build houses for them in three subdivisions the company was developing in the Apopka area.

Do Your Numbers and Think… Should I Buy a Miami Beach Condominium to Flip It?

Question: Should I buy a condominium to flip in a couple years?

Pre-building cost of a unit $300,000. Down payment is 10% or $30,000. If the unit is not completed for 6 months and the $30,000 was in a 3-month certificate of deposit earning 4%, the cost for resting the $30,000 with the developer is $600.00.

So here comes the closing and the developer has a restriction that you cannot flip the unit until a certain percentage of new units are sold or perhaps for 24 months following the closing.