Lawyer defends official’s role in wooing Scripps [South Florida]

Lawyer defends official’s role in wooing Scripps [South Florida]

In October 2003, Greg Fagan served as tour guide for Scripps executives sizing up Palm Beach County real estate by helicopter and on foot.

That’s because Fagan, a civil engineer, had information almost no one else had, and a position of power as the outgoing chairman of the Business Development Board, the agency the county hired to help recruit major employers.

But as Fagan arranged meetings and meals aimed at luring the biotech executives here, officials involved with the deal said Fagan did not disclose to them his own interest in vacant rural land along Northlake Boulevard, across the street from the Vavrus Ranch and a short distance from Mecca Farms.

‘Mistake’ costs family its home at The Springs [Central Florida]

‘Mistake’ costs family its home at The Springs [Central Florida]

Because of someone else’s mistake, Sharon Rousey lost her Longwood home at a courthouse auction two weeks ago over $1,200 in unpaid homeowners association dues.

On Wednesday, she tried to persuade a judge to give it back. He refused.

That means Rousey, 48, a single mom who is raising two disabled teenagers on a fixed income, must now pack up her belongings and get out.

“Things don’t always work out the way you desire,” she said after the hearing.

A Landlord Seeks a Solid Foundation

A Landlord Seeks a Solid Foundation

Chicagoan Yan Searcy exudes entrepreneurial zeal. Yan, who is 37 and single, has invested in a carwash and aspires to own an ice-cream franchise on the city’s South Side, where he resides. In 1998, Yan bought a three-flat apartment building, which he still owns. After buying and selling other nearby properties, he acquired a two-unit condo a year ago. Despite living in one of the five units he owns, he breaks even on cash flow. “I’m trying to own the whole block,” quips Yan, who estimates that the real estate is worth $850,000, or $300,000 more than he owes on the mortgages.

Although real estate is his passion, Yan has no thoughts of giving up his day job. He’s a professor of social work at Chicago State University, which provides a 403(b) retirement plan, a pension and other benefits. Yan has about $40,000 in a few stocks and mutual funds, held mostly in retirement accounts.

With little debt except the mortgages, which have favorable fixed rates, Yan’s finances should improve as long as he maintains the properties and keeps the units occupied. But he has two major problems. First, he knows he needs a sizable cash reserve, which he lacks. “In two years or less, I’d like to have $100,000,” he says. Second, with the overwhelming majority of his assets in real estate, Yan’s portfolio is extremely unbalanced.

Foreclosed options

Foreclosed options

More people in Alabama are losing their homes to foreclosure, thanks partly to bad homeowner choices, market fluctuations and bankruptcy laws.

The good news, if you can call it that, is that Alabama’s foreclosure rate is still well below the national average. The bad news is that the number of foreclosures here is growing at alarming levels.

In November, 690 Alabama homes were involved in foreclosure proceedings at some level, according to RealtyTrac Inc., a California company that tracks such things.

That equals one per 2,800 households. While the national rate is one per 961 households, Alabama’s foreclosure numbers are unsettling all the same.

Rent to sell

Rent to sell

House for rent. Brand-new kitchen. Quiet suburban location. Could rent-to-buy.

Please, somebody, take this house!

Homeowners Aaron and Jen May are trying not to sound desperate, but beneath their determined demeanor is an edge of fear.

They lived in their 20-year-old suburban Wales house for a couple of years and put more than $60,000 into a shiny new kitchen. Then came a new baby, a new job and a move to Colorado, all this fall.

Briny Breezes’ mobile home owners could soon be millionaires [South Florida]

Briny Breezes’ mobile home owners could soon be millionaires [South Florida]

Nestled conspicuously amid multimillion-dollar homes and splashy high-rise condos, the coastal trailer-park town of Briny Breezes seems out of place, a relic of Old Florida that may soon vanish.

If residents approve the Palm Beach County community’s sale to a developer for more than a half-billion dollars, almost every owner of the 488 trailers would become an instant millionaire. Not a bad return on investment if you consider that some bought their homes as recent as a decade ago for $35,000.

But just how much is a lifestyle worth?

It’s quiet here in one of the last remaining coastal trailer-park communities between Miami and Palm Beach, an island of unpretentiousness surrounded by glitz and glamour.