$510 million Briny Breezes deal collapses

$510 million Briny Breezes deal collapses

A dream of riches, a shimmering city by the sea, a final battle for Florida.

The story is over. At least for now.

Two years after a wealthy suitor came courting, eight months after $510 million became too good a deal to pass up, and 17 days after the developer said it had “every intention of seeing this through,” this oceanfront gaggle of mobile homes is back to square one.

Monday morning, just five days before a $500,000 deposit would have jumped to $5 million, Boca Raton-based Ocean Land Investments wrote a “Dear John” letter. It told the corporate board that runs Briny Breezes that it was calling off the deal to buy the 43-acre park – a deal that would have made many residents millionaires – and convert it to a resort.

Statewide bankruptcy involves condo [South Florida]

Statewide bankruptcy involves condo [South Florida]

In Southwest Florida, Warren Hickernell was the king of condo conversions.

But his $60 million in deals to convert motels rooms and apartments from Manasota Key to Anna Maria Island was child’s play compared with the more than $200 million in apartment building conversions that Hialeah businessman Juan Puig became involved in during the real estate boom of 2004-06.

Like Hickernell, Puig is now mired in bankruptcy. Fifteen of his companies filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in May, citing $91 million in assets and $113 million in liabilities.

Though Puig’s unpaid debts are about five times higher than those claimed by Hickernell in bankruptcy filings and foreclosure suits, the two men have a lot in common.

10 Steps To Sell More Quickly In Stalled Markets

10 Steps To Sell More Quickly In Stalled Markets

We’re well into the prime real estate selling season for much of the country, a marketplace less certain in many areas than in the past few years.

We don’t fully know what will happen in 2007, but to date many markets have stalled if not declined. For most long-term owners selling in such a marketplace, appreciation from past years assures profitable sales, but perhaps not as profitable would have been the case in 2006.

But still, owners in all cases would like to maximize their profits. What to do? If you’re a seller, there are 10 negotiating steps you can take to make sure your home has the best chance for a top price and a quick sale.

Step 1: Get a local broker. In a slow market there are relatively fewer buyers. It follows that to generate the most demand you want your property exposed to as many purchasers as possible. Who do buyers contact when they want a house? Brokers. Figures from the National Association of Realtors show that 85 percent off all buyers rely on real estate brokers when buying a home while 80 percent rely on the Internet. Who posts real estate information on the Internet? Local brokers.

As deadline looms, Lee eyes Weeks property [South Florida]

As deadline looms, Lee eyes Weeks property [South Florida]

County is interested, but can’t make promises, in a last-minute deal for land that includes one of the few boat ramps on eastern Estero Bay

Lee County and state officials are looking hard at Weeks Fish Camp, and the historic home of one of the area’s oldest families may yet become a county-owned boat ramp.

Current owner Michele Pessin of the 131 Group is staring at a Tuesday deadline to get a deal done — or at least started. A bankruptcy court judge has held off creditors that long.

Condos can’t post names of people late paying fees, attorneys say [South Florida]

Condos can’t post names of people late paying fees, attorneys say [South Florida]

It’s a common problem.

When your neighbors don’t pay their maintenance and assessments for months at a time, the rest of you pick up the tab. If you don’t, the grass doesn’t get cut, roads don’t get maintained and the pool doesn’t get cleaned.

All owners promise to pay their fair share when they buy into association-run communities, but some continually refuse to do so.

To encourage on-time payments, the law firms for many associations send demand letters immediately after the due date and quickly follow up with liens and foreclosures.

Divorcing in a down market

Divorcing in a down market

Here is a divorce clause you probably would not have seen during the real estate boom: “Either party may unilaterally demand a 10 percent drop in the acceptable selling price and listing price every 60 days.”

It is something that a Sarasota couple parting ways agreed to in January.

Stacked-up listings and double-digit price declines — phenomena that have plagued the Southwest Florida residential real estate since mid-2005 — have skewed the rules for getting divorced.

Selling requires a lot more patience now, something often lacking in a divorce case for a variety of reasons. Couples severing their marital ties are being forced to either submit to a sacrifice sale or put up with each other longer. With homes often representing their biggest shared asset, the decision to wait is a weighty one.