Lee families bitter over builder [South Florida]

Lee families bitter over builder [South Florida]

RL Homes goes broke, won’t finish 120 projects

Ken Smith’s family should have celebrated Thanksgiving in their new Lehigh home.

Instead, Smith, his wife, Barbara Pandoff, 35, and boys Adam, 14 and Cayleb, 5, remain in a two-bedroom Fort Myers apartment where mom and dad sleep on a pull-out sofa.

Their $185,000 dream home at 714 Sheldon Ave. in Lehigh Acres is only a skeleton. It was to be ready by last spring. The couple have paid $63,575 on a home that likely won’t be built.

Only the Strongest Survive [New York City]

Only the Strongest Survive [New York City]

Although qualifying to rent an apartment in New York City is not yet as tough as winning admission to Harvard or Yale, it increasingly feels that way to a large contingent of aspiring tenants — even if they actually attended Harvard or Yale and easily passed muster with their previous landlord.

Among the 50,000 background checks run this year on Manhattan tenants by On-Site.com, a national background-checking and leasing service used by some landlords and managing agents, fully 41 percent of applicants garnered a rating of either “reject” or “maybe” (21 and 20 percent respectively).

Wal-Mart construction sends land prices soaring [Central Florida]

Wal-Mart construction sends land prices soaring

Since construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter began across the street, Debbie Leahy has been bombarded with offers to buy her home.

For-sale signs dot her neighbors’ lots and line the rural highway. And she can’t go into town without being asked, “Have you sold yet?” or told the latest rumor about other big-box stores coming to town.

This is what it’s like when the world’s largest retailer moves in next door. It’s also a sign that this area of southwest Volusia County, where it’s easier to find a horse barn than a Home Depot, is undergoing a major change.

Wealth gap swallows up American dream [South Florida]

Wealth gap swallows up American dream [South Florida]

In the luxurious neighborhood of Port Royal, home to the likes of mystery writer Janet Evanovich and mutual fund magnate John Donahue, homeowners are insulated from many of life’s daily cares — including the real estate slump. This year, 15 estates in the country club community have sold for $5 million to $16 million. But in the rest of Collier County, home sales have plunged a gut-wrenching 50%.

Elsewhere across the USA, the megarich are still snapping up homes in such enclaves as Vail, Colo., and Beverly Hills, and often paying cash. Sales of homes above $5 million are up 11% this year and are on track to break another record, according to an analysis by DataQuick Information Systems for USA TODAY. As for the national average, by contrast, sales are off about 8%. Prices fell in September for a second-consecutive month, partly because they’d soared beyond the reach of many.

Crime fighters fall prey to pitch [Central Florida]

Crime fighters fall prey to pitch [Central Florida]

Crime fighters fall prey to pitch

As many as a dozen Orange County sheriff’s employees, including a top administrator, believed so strongly in an investment venture that they never questioned it or its executives.

Despite years of law-enforcement experience and exposure to scam alerts and fraud investigations, they got bilked, federal officials say.

Along with at least 100 other people, some of the deputies were told they could invest in a newly converted condo unit and not have to make mortgage payments for two years. Others bought into real-estate-investment trusts that promised to earn them double-digit returns on their cash.

Proposal tees off some in Errol [Central Florida]

Proposal tees off some in Errol [Central Florida]

It’s a subdivision divided.

Amid the undulating green hills and century-old oaks of Errol Estate, residents are lining up on either side of the tee about how best to get the golf-course community on firm financial footing.

It is longtime residents versus new, and club members versus nonmembers.

At the center of the controversy is a land swap between Apopka and Errol. Club investors — worried about declining membership — want to build 52 golf-friendly, 55-and-over condominiums on 6 acres that is now a parking area.