TALLAHASSEE: Report: Citizens insures thousands of out-of-state policyholders

When Citizens Property Insurance sends out its monthly customer bills, only 31 percent of them go to the same house that is insured.

The rest go to other mailboxes in Florida — and around the globe, according to data analyzed by the American Consumer Institute of Citizen Research.

More than 19,000 bills go to people who live in Canada, nearly 27,000 go to New Yorkers, almost 12,000 go to folks in New Jersey and hundreds more go to England, Germany and France.

via TALLAHASSEE: Report: Citizens insures thousands of out-of-state policyholders.

Foreclosures decline in Orlando

Foreclosures in Orlando —- and the rest of Florida — have dropped dramatically since the state started expediting them under a new law that took effect July 1.Compared with a year ago, the number of new foreclosure filings has been cut at least in half, new reports show. According to one of those reports, by RealtyTrac Inc., the number of houses in four-county Metro Orlando that got their first foreclosure notice in August dropped to 678 — a decrease of 63 percent from a year earlier.A new statewide report from the Florida Supreme Court system shows the number of foreclosure cases filed in July fell 75 percent compared with July 2012.

via Foreclosures decline in Orlando.

Lenders provide nearly $900 million in financing for new South Florida condo projects

Some seven years after the dramatic South Florida real estate crash of 2007, lenders have begun to open the financing spigot for proposed condo towers east of Interstate 95 in the tricounty region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.In the past 20 months, lenders have provided nearly $900 million in financing to condo developers — excluding the massive Brickell CityCentre mixed-use project that includes a trio of condo towers — who are proposing more than 150 new projects in South Florida.This condo financing figure is addition to the untold number of loans currently being provided to developers of rental apartments in South Florida.

via Lenders provide nearly $900 million in financing for new South Florida condo projects.

Sarasota Quay property to hit market

One of the most prominent urban properties in Florida will hit the market for sale following a four-year foreclosure saga.

The Irish government, acting as receiver for the defunct Anglo-Irish Bank, repossessed the former Sarasota Quay property Monday after no other bidders made a viable offer at its long-awaited foreclosure auction, court records show.

The acquisition caps years of limbo for the 15-acre bayfront property, considered one of the most coveted along the Gulfcoast of Florida. Once planned for a $1 billion mix of condominiums, retail space and hotel rooms, the tract is worth only a fraction of the $100 million that Anglo-Irish has into it.

via Sarasota Quay property to hit market.

South Miami commission gets mixed up over small development

To the would-be developer of seven new houses, it was a routine “ministerial” decision.

To neighbors, it was a seal of approval on new “McMansions.”

But to South Miami city commissioners, a Tuesday night decision on whether to waive land-use regulations was a case study in confusion.

The City Commission cast six votes on the matter, with one commissioner switching sides twice — the second time after the city attorney said his first flip was invalid because it was based on a private conversation during a break in the quasi-judicial proceeding, in which commissioners are supposed to act like judges and base decisions only on facts presented in public.

via South Miami commission gets mixed up over small development.