Florida builder goes green in a big, big way, designing a luxury mansion that’s eco-friendly With an asking price of $29 million, the 15,000-square-foot seaside mansion real estate “artist” Frank McKinney is building south of Palm Beach will have every luxury imaginable. And a projected utility bill of $800 a month. The bargain bill — …
Category Archives: General
Start-Up Banks: ‘Hog-Wild’ to Humble [South Florida]
Start-Up Banks: ‘Hog-Wild’ to Humble [South Florida] The future looked bright when several small banks decided to open in this city along the Gulf of Mexico. Property values in southwest Florida were surging, and older start-up banks had sold themselves for handsome profits after just a few years in business. Now, though, for-sale signs dot …
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Market leaves housing flippers flopping
Market leaves housing flippers flopping At the peak of the real estate boom, they inspired TV shows, how-to Web sites and the envy of friends and neighbors. Then the tumbling economy snagged “house flippers” like Mark Lepzinski of Clearwater. After 36 whirlwind months buying and selling dozens of homes throughout the Tampa Bay area, Lepzinski, …
Great payout wasn’t sale motive [South Florida]
Great payout wasn’t sale motive [South Florida] Looking back, it was a heck of a land deal. Seven investors, five of whom were Bradenton High School chums from the late 1940s, bought 60 acres along a scenic stretch of the Braden River in 1978 for $350,000, about $1.2 million in current dollars. There, in the …
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High and Low Finance – Trail of Bad Loans Leads to the Couple Next Door
High and Low Finance – Trail of Bad Loans Leads to the Couple Next Door In the spreading mortgage crisis, there are many homeowners who were tricked into taking out loans they could not afford, or who failed to understand the risks they were taking. This column is not about them. Instead it highlights a …
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Lead damages lawsuit settled
Lead damages lawsuit settled Paul W. Nochumowitz, who has been one of Baltimore’s biggest ground rent owners, has agreed to a $1.53 million settlement of a lawsuit that accused him of living lavishly from ground-rent income while claiming he was too poor to compensate former tenants harmed by exposure to lead paint. The settlement ends …