News: Current Articles

Posted March 28, 2008 11:19

Find something to do for all ages!
Palm Beach County has events going on all year long. There is always a concert series and festivals, guided tours and nature exhibits, or greenmarket to visit.

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Posted March 12, 2008 12:50

Florida's My Safe Florida Home (MSFH) program wants to get the word out, and will do so in many state markets by advertising on TV and radio. And the message will be funny. The commercials will ask: "How fast can you save money?" and then use satire to compare the ease of signing up for a free home inspection with money-saving techniques that don't work nearly so well.

The MSFH program has provided more than 172,000 free wind inspections to Floridians, more than 70 percent of whom saved an average of $224 - without making a single improvement - because the report confirmed that some mitigation already existed and their current insurer dropped the rates.

Floridians whose homes have received free wind inspections from the MSFH program may also be eligible to apply for matching tax-free grants of up to $5,000 to make improvements. Floridians in single-family, site-built homes are eligible. The MSFH program has also partnered with local governments and the Volunteer Florida Foundation to offer low-income homeowners an opportunity to strengthen their homes against natural disasters. For more
information, visit www.MySafeFloridaHome.com or contact the program toll-free at (866) 513-6734.
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Posted February 29, 2008 14:08

Find something to do for all ages!
Palm Beach County has events going on all year long. There is always a concert series and festivals, guided tours and nature exhibits, or greenmarket to visit.

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Posted February 27, 2008 17:13

Friday, Feb. 29: Deadline to apply for homestead exemption and tax portability

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Feb. 26, 2008 – Only three days remain: Friday is the deadline for homeowners to apply for a homestead exemption, and, for 2007 homebuyers, the last day to apply for property tax portability – the right to take tax savings from a home protected by Florida’s Save Our Homes amendment and transfer it to a home purchased last year.

Homestead exemption

Floridians who live in their home are “homesteaded,” which grants them benefits.  However, homestead status is not automatic, and new homeowners must declare themselves to be homesteaders by March 1 of each year to their local property tax appraiser.

A major benefit of declaring a homestead is the homestead exemption, which generally deducts $25,000 from a home’s assessed value for tax purposes. Take a home’s assessed value, subtract $25,000, and apply the local millage rate to calculate the property taxes due.


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Posted February 11, 2008 10:12

You name it its happening, Green Market, Baseball, and new businesses are all happening this month at Abacoa in Jupiter. Beginning February 23rd the Green Market will open every Saturday in an open air European market featuring freshly baked artisan bread and pastries, garden fresh fruits and vegetables, beautiful plants and natural goods all while listening to acoustic music. In addition, Xpress Fitness Center will help patrons find their inner calm with yoga and tai chi demonstrations.

Celebrating 23 years, ArtiGras Fine Arts Festival has grown from a small, local art show to a nationally recognized fine arts festival attracting more than 150,000 art lovers and collectors. ArtiGras will be held President’s Day Weekend, February 16, 17 & 18, 2008 at Abacoa Town Center in Jupiter, Florida.  Produced by the North Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce, ArtiGras was recently named one of the top 50 fine art festivals in the country and features 300 juried artists along with artist demonstrations, Youth Art Competition, ArtiKids children’s interactive activity area, Private Art Preview, Celebrity Art Auction, entertainment and more!

FAU Jupiter host art exhibit by Daniel Petrov, an exhibit of his oil and acrylic painting by this famous Bradenton artist. This exhibit will be through February 29 at the Student Resources building at the FAU Abacoa campus.

New business open at Abacoa, welcome to our new neighbors the Willow Home & Garden shop, Abacoa sunglass Shop, Xpress Fitness and Main Street Station.

Spring training is just around the corner. This spring training promises to be full of energy as the Florida Marlins and St. Lucie Cardinals get ready for their 2008 season. Roger Dean Stadium will host 32 games starting on Tuesday February 26.  Come watch the many teams coming to town like the World Champion Boston Red Sox, LA Dodgers, New York Mets, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Oriels, Washington Nationals, Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins.  


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Posted February 08, 2008 10:41

Find something to do for all ages!
Palm Beach County has events going on all year long. There is always a concert series and festivals, guided tours and nature exhibits, or greenmarket to visit.

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Posted February 06, 2008 11:24

If you have questions about portability, the additional homestead exemption or other benefits of Amendment 1? Check out the Florida Department of Revenue’s (DOR) Web site (http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/property/sb4d.html). If you sold a homestead property in 2007 and qualified for homestead on a new home as of Jan. 1, 2008. You have only one month – until March 1, 2008 – to apply for property tax portability and the homestead exemption. The portability application and other pertinent forms can be found at the Florida Department of Revenue's Web site.
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Posted February 05, 2008 22:24

Is your local government spending twice as much as it did five years ago yet crying that it’s poor? Or have local officials been wise caretakers of your tax dollars? In an effort to educate Floridians about their own local government income and spending, Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink has announced the launch of “Your Local Government Dollars and Cents,” which can be found on her Web site at www.MyFloridaCFO.com . It gives Floridians easy access to their local government’s revenues and expenditures. “I encourage every Floridian to use this tool and get more involved in how their local tax dollars are spent,” Sink says. “With governments actively cutting their budgets, it is essential that Floridians make it clear what their priorities are for their communities.” This new tool allows you to search by city, county or special district for a variety of revenue information including: ad valorem taxes, grants, fees and fines. You can also look up a local government’s expenditure information, including amounts spent on schools, transportation, public safety, general government and more. You can create reports comparing governments, revenues and expenditures, and electronic data is available by year from 1993 through 2007. Since 1973, Florida law has required the state Department of Financial Services to collect this financial information from local governments. If you’re also interested in revenue and expenditures data for local school districts, that information can be found at Florida’s Department of Education, according to Sink.
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Posted January 18, 2008 10:10

West Palm Beach developer Robert Miller is transforming Seagate Marina in Tequesta into a luxury marina and private club where members own rather than lease their slips. With amenities such as gourmet dining, poolside cocktails and concierge service, the high end marina will cater to high-end boaters who want more than just a place to store their vessels. Renamed the Jupiter Pointe Club and Marina, the $150 million project is to include indoor dry-stack storage for 250 to 300 boats from 32 feet to 45 feet in length. It also will have a 6,000-square-foot clubhouse with a restaurant, swimming pool and tiki bar. Slips are priced between $150,000 and $250,000, or about $5,000 a foot. Boaters also will pay a $275 monthly membership fee. Construction is to start in March on the boat storage building, with the marina and club scheduled to open in early 2009.
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Posted January 11, 2008 12:28

A new report from the Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund Inc. on January 8, 2008 (The Fund) finds that Florida’s housing market slowed in 2007 in nearly every county analyzed. The report also shows that real estate markets flattened out in spring 2007, before the subprime mortgage crisis in August knocked markets down another 10 percent across the state. Since then, the state’s housing market has flattened and is expected to begin to recover during the next several years.

The 2008 Fund Real Estate Forecast, commissioned by Florida-based Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund's Consumer Education Campaign, was created by economist Dr. Hank Fishkind of Orlando-based Fishkind & Associates, Inc., using deed data for more than 30 Florida counties. The report provides a snapshot of the national economic outlook and 33 county-specific forecasts for 2008 through 2010, as well as a section detailing how actual 2007 data compared to projections that were made in last year’s Fund 2007 Real Estate Forecast report.

“Florida is one of the leading states for job creation and outperformed the rest of the country despite the housing market meltdown,” Fishkind says. ‘The state’s population growth also slowed, but is still nearly greater than all of the other Southeastern states put together. Florida has a very large and powerful economy that has gone through a cyclical downshift, but it is still outperforming compared to the rest of the nation.”

The Fund’s 2008 Real Estate Forecast shows that Orlando continues to be the strongest residential real estate market in the state because of its large share of fast-growing industries, such as tourism, healthcare, education and
defense manufacturing. Not all markets in Florida mirror Orlando’s resiliency, however. Miami-Dade is currently going through the worst condominium bust cycle that Florida has seen since 1975, according to Fishkind. Additionally, the report says that significant excess supply of single-family homes in the Fort Myers and Cape Coral markets will not begin to be absorbed until 2010.

“With Florida’s real estate market, it is important to maintain some rerspective as recent reductions in home prices come after a very lofty and unsustainable peak, and prices are still up considerably compared to 30 years ago,” said Fishkind. “Florida has created a tremendous amount of wealth and – despite many of the problems that loose lending practices and subprime mortgages have caused – the state now has the highest level of homeownership ever. The market has some indigestion now, but housing markets will return to normal during the next few years; the damage for some is significant, but in the aggregate, Florida still had some significant economic gains.”

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Posted December 28, 2007 16:52

Find something to do for all ages!
Palm Beach County has events going on all year long. There is always a concert series and festivals, guided tours and nature exhibits, or greenmarket to visit.

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Posted December 21, 2007 00:45

Christmas comes early to millions of homeowners in foreclosure! The President just signed into law the Mortgage Relief Act which among many items suspends the issuance of a 1099 to a homeowner who executes a short sale. No more tax ramifications on a short sale for a homeowner in foreclosure. When a debt is forgiven on a home loan, the homeowner must count that debt forgiveness as income and pay taxes on it.  Senator Bill Nelson of Florida  cosponsored a bill, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 that creates a three-year exception for debt forgiveness on home loans, helping families already unable to meet their mortgage payments to avoid incurring large tax bills as well. The legislation also extends a provision allowing homeowners to deduct mortgage insurance payments from their taxable income.
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Posted December 18, 2007 20:37

TALLAHASSEE — It's official - the state has signed off on $94 million for the much-anticipated Max Planck Institute at the Jupiter campus of Florida Atlantic University.

Gov. Charlie Crist and Senate President Ken Pruitt this morning gave the Max Planck Society its blessing and the financial incentive to open the bio-imaging center near the Scripps Research Institute.

In addition to the state's contribution, Palm Beach County has committed $93 million to the project, which Crist's office said will bring 1,824 jobs to the region over 20 years, adding up to $2.4 billion in wages and boost the state economy by $5.3 billion over the same period.

"It's an enormous investment in our future," said Crist, accompanied at a news conference by Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, and Max Planck Society President and CEO Peter Gruss and Kelly Smallridge, president of the Palm Beach County Business Development Board.

"For us, it's a big deal. This is a really big deal," Crist said.
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Posted December 07, 2007 10:23

First Order of Business

News from Brazil...
After participating in Governor Crist's highly enlightening and successul trade mission to Brazil last month, I'm happy to bring you a summary report, including a brief overview of our regional presence attending in Sào Paolo and some commentary on why this mission was so significant.
Article Here

I'm assisted in this task by fellow attendee Carlo Barbieri of the
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Posted December 04, 2007 23:13

Find something to do for all ages!
Palm Beach County has events going on all year long. There is always a concert series and festivals, guided tours and nature exhibits, or greenmarket to visit.

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Posted November 10, 2007 20:17

Tenants at the Riviera Municipal Marina have 30 days to buy $300,000 in boat insurance to avoid being evicted, according to a plan approved by the city council after months of negotiations. The council voted unanimously Wednesday night to lower its insurance requirement from $500,000 after tenants complained the amount was excessive and not the industry norm. Next year, however, those same boat owners will to have to increase their coverage to $500,000, City Manager Bill Wilkins said.

The push for adequate insurance is part of the new lease at the marina, designed to limit the city's liability. It also requires new tenants to have $500,000 in coverage and commercial vessels to have $1 million. The insurance debate began in the summer when the city proposed changing the lease for marina tenants. Marina officials said they were going to make tenants show proof of insurance and boat registrations. The changes were prompted by two boat fires at the 150-slip marina, where none of the six vessels involved were insured. The lack of insurance cost the city $25,000 in cleanup and boat salvage costs.

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Posted November 10, 2007 19:03

On Thursday, November 08, 2007 The city's redevelopment board approved builder Dan Catalfumo's site plan to redevelop the Ocean Mall on Singer Island, although it has been scaled back by $230 million. The site plan was approved 4-1 Wednesday, with Councilwoman Lynne Hubbard dissenting. Hubbard wanted the board to postpone the vote until the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council could provide more feedback. The Community Redevelopment Agency hired the planning council in September to reevaluate its $2.4 billion waterfront redevelopment plan. The council presented its preliminary findings last month but won't release a final report until December. The CRA board granted approval for Ocean Mall Redevelopment to build 60,000 square feet of retail shops and restaurants on the 11-acre, city-owned site. OMRD, as the company is known, consists of Catalfumo and Boca Raton developer Norton Herrick.

The original plan,  included a 28-story condominium-hotel. Opposition to the condo-hotel sparked a referendum, in which residents voted to limit the building height to five stories. By cutting the condo-hotel from 28 to five stories, the project's value dropped to $50 million. The plan approved by the CRA did not include the hotel. Catalfumo company officials plan to build a five-story hotel and to present that phase of the project in the future. The plan now goes to the city council, which also sits as the CRA board, for approval. It's expected to vote during a Dec. 5 meeting. Construction may begin as early as March and it would take about 10 months to build the shops and restaurants. The city has been working for years to get the Ocean Mall redeveloped. Built in the 1970s, the buildings are aging and need renovations. Last year, the northern portion of the mall was razed. A few tenants remain in the mall's southern section, which still attracts locals and tourists.
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Posted November 07, 2007 11:22

John Adams said, “Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty.” His words reflect the principles that have guided the Florida Legislature through the process of bringing property tax relief to the people of our state. The right to property is essential to the American dream, and when that right is threatened by unexpected, unbearable spikes in property taxes, relief must be provided. This week the Legislature passed a comprehensive constitutional amendment that, if approved by voters, will provide thatrelief.

One of the key provisions in our relief package allows homeowners to transfer their Save Our Homes tax benefit to a new home. This policy, called portability, will spark Florida’s economy with only a minimal impact on local government. When one family downsizes into a smaller home that better meets their needs, thanks to portability, another family can afford to move into that home. This policy eliminates the “lock-in effect,” which has prevented homeowners – often seniors or empty nesters – from moving into smaller homes as their needs or lifestyles changed. Portability gives Floridians the freedom to choose where to live and what sort of home to buy based on the needs of their families, not on a failed tax policy.

The amendment also doubles the homestead exemption, providing an additional $25,000 exemption for the value of homestead property above $50,000 (excluding school taxes). This will allow the tax benefit to keep pace with the increased price of housing; more than 94% of Florida homeowners will enjoy tax relief under the increased exemption. Once approved by the voters, this benefit will provide relief on your next tax bill.

The proposed constitutional amendment creates a new exemption from taxes on tangible personal property (TPP) of $25,000 and eliminates the need for businesses to file a return if they have less than $25,000 in tangible personal property. This change will exempt over 1 million Floridians from this tax, out of a total of 1.2 million who currently pay it. Many Floridians actually spent more money complying with related paperwork than they owed in TPP taxes. This proposed amendment will cut away that red tape.

Small business owners, second home owners, renters, and others will benefit from the fourth component of the Legislature’s tax relief plan, which places a 10% cap on assessments of non-homestead properties. Most non-homestead property owners have experienced “sticker shock” when looking at their tax bills in recent years. This cap provides predictability for all properties in Florida; no longer will property owners have to fear unexpected, large assessment spikes.


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Posted November 07, 2007 11:18

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Nov. 6, 2007 – The Florida Office of Insurance regulation (FOIR) announced yesterday that it approved a new multi-peril commercial non-residential insurance program for Citizens Property Insurance Corp. (Citizens), the result of a legislative change that authorized Citizens to assume the policies of the Property and Casualty Joint Underwriting Association (PCJUA).

Citizens completed two parts of a three-part plan by June: It assumed the policyholders of the PCJUA, and then it began to sell its temporary wind-only policy for businesses that are not located in the high-risk or “wind pool” area. The third part of the plan was to develop a comprehensive program that offers multi-peril property coverage for businesses throughout the state.

The new multi-peril product provides up to $2.5 million in coverage for damage from wind, fire and other perils traditionally included in a commercial property insurance policy. FOIR has approved the policy forms and rates for Citizens to proceed with its program no later than Jan. 1, 2008.

As Citizens begins selling its new commercial multi-peril policy statewide, FOIR also ordered it to stop selling its wind-only policies – business it had assumed from the PCJUA – in areas of the state outside the high-risk coastal areas. Citizens still offers wind-only coverage in the coastal “wind pool” area.

FOIR’s order (http://www.floir.com/pdf/Citizens92481-07-FO.pdf ) also approved a 15 percent rate increase for commercial wind-only policies. Effective Jan. 1, the increase will bring the cost of Citizens’ wind coverage closer to the cost of the wind portion of the coverage offered by private insurers in the rest of the state.


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Posted November 05, 2007 16:59

First Order of Business

Brazil Bound
As I've noted previously, I'm traveling to Brazil this month as a presenter in the "Doing Business in Florida" panel that will be featured during the Governor and Enterprise Florida's big Trade Mission to Sao Paulo.
I'm posting my presentation materials here for my readers to review.
Immigration Options For Brazilians 1MB PowerPoint
Immigration Options For Brazilians 550KB PDF Version


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