Millions spent on Longboat resort [South Florida]

Millions spent on Longboat resort [South Florida]

When Longboat Key Club General Manager Michael Welly addresses the resort’s condo owners at the group’s Aug. 17 annual meeting, he will likely focus on the slew of upgrades that have been made in the recent past.

It is both a good story for him to tell and an easy one for owners to hear.

Within the past four years, the tony 410-acre resort has improved its aging golf courses, bought hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of links equipment, punched up the 110-seat lobby of its 221-unit condo hotel and replaced worn beach furniture, to the tune of $150,000.

The 25-year-old club has also added a sumptuous spa featuring a dozen treatment rooms, beefed up its fitness center with new machines and weights, and added a dozen employees, including an agronomist and a new golf director.

Bringing down the house [South Florida]

Bringing down the house [South Florida]

Briefly this summer, a mansion in the estates section raised the question of what the town might do to protect a house that, while well-designed, is not old enough to be landmarked.

With no procedures in place for the Architectural Review Commission to deny demolition of the 1993 home, and with the Landmarks Preservation Commission opting not to vote on 101 El Bravo Way, it was razed to make way for a spec mansion with broader market appeal.

“It was gone within days, before you could blink. It’s a shame we didn’t have the means to protect a good-looking building,” architectural commissioner Morgan Wheelock said. “It was a quite beautiful coquina house, very nice, right in the ‘landmarking’ area of the El streets.”

He has spoken to some members of the Town Council about an ordinance that would allow the town to “if not landmark, then preserve something beautiful.”

Facing foreclosure? Consider a ‘short’ sale

Facing foreclosure? Consider a ‘short’ sale

It’s often the better option for an owner than foreclosure — but there are pitfalls, including tax liability.

Selling “short” is an alternative to foreclosure that has been gaining popularity as more homeowners default on their mortgages. Susan M. Wachter, a professor of real estate, finance and city and regional planning at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Clinton, talked with us about this option. Here is an edited transcript of her comments:

Housing’s ills imperil condo deals [South Florida]

Housing’s ills imperil condo deals

Horacio and Patsy Parra cashed out two retirement accounts last year to buy an Orlando condominium they couldn’t afford.

At the time, they weren’t worried. The developer, Cay Clubs Resorts & Marinas, agreed to lease back the $307,000 unit for 15 percent of the sales price — enough cash to cover the mortgage for nearly two years.

But the Parras now expect to lose their unit to foreclosure, they say, because Cay Clubs owes them about $40,000 in unpaid rent.

Fueled by investors’ hunger for resort condominiums, Cay Clubs vaulted from a small start-up in late 2004 to a major developer whose 14 properties and marinas include eight in the Florida Keys. The firm, whose billboards dot the Overseas Highway, says it manages nearly 3,000 condominium units and more than 900 boat slips.

Builder charged with stealing $700,000 [South Florida]

Builder charged with stealing $700,000 [South Florida]

An unlicensed Palm Coast contractor was accused Thursday of stealing more than $700,000 and the American dream from Russian and Ukrainian immigrants by selling houses he never finished — and in most cases never even started.

Gregory S. Bleyl, 64, was charged with six counts of forgery and grand theft totaling more than $700,000, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said. Bleyl, a former Palm Coast resident who now lives in Jacksonville, is being held at the Flagler County Inmate Facility on $500,000 bail.

Vladimir Lieberman, a real estate sales agent for Tavolacci Realty Inc. in Flagler Beach, acted as a sales agent of sorts for Bleyl, only to become a victim himself, investigators said.

“My first impression of Greg was that he was so good, and so nice and so professional,” Lieberman said in a telephone interview Thursday. That impression changed drastically. “He didn’t do nothing for you. He straight up lied to you.”

Movin’ On Down

Competition Among Top Firms Heats Up In Still Solid Sector For High-End Real Estate

There’s a new piece of ammunition in one of luxury real estate’s fiercest battles: a $34,000 trailer in Goleta, Calif.

The home is for sale through Sotheby’s International Realty, a brokerage better known for oceanfront estates and country manors. The company has greatly expanded since it was sold off by its auction house parent three years ago. New Sotheby’s Realty franchises in places like North Carolina and Colorado are marketing dozens of big-ticket properties, but they’re also taking on many less luxurious ones. One new franchise in northern Idaho, for example, is listing a small three-bedroom house for $139,500 and a double-wide manufactured home for $38,000. (The listing boasts of “newer” appliances.)

The company’s venture into the land of carports and doublewides has been the source of much delight among agents at its chief competitor, Christie’s Great Estates, some of whom email each other, especially about downscale Sotheby’s properties. Norman “Pete” Callaway, a former Sotheby’s broker who is now with Christie’s, keeps a photo of a rival listing — a hot dog stand — in his desk drawer. “They’ve lost that high-end credibility,” he says.