Gulf Coast Associates' Blog: All Categories

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist signed a bill today giving more relief to Florida homeowner's burdened by high home insurance costs. The new law extends the freeze on rates for the state-created Citizens Property Insurance Corporation through the end of 2008 and prohibits national property insurance companies from setting up any new Florida-only subsidiaries.

While the new law is welcome relief for some, it still doesn't address the issue of the national insurers who set up Florida-only subsidiaries previously and who continue to seek higher rates by claiming they are losing money in Florida while making huge profits throughout the rest of the country. Until the legislators in Tallahassee reverse this mistake, many Florida homeowners will continue to suffer…

Well, its finally happened. The bond market has accepted the Federal Reserve is not going to be decreasing interest rates any time soon. Up until last Tuesday's hawkish inflation comments from Fed Chief Bernanke, the market had spent the first part of this year believing the Fed's next move would be downward. But, not anymore. In the span of less than 14 days, we have risen from a 10-Year Treasury yield of 4.84% to 5.15% on Friday morning. Mortgage Backed Securities followed suit and thus interest rates on 30 year mortgages were up to 6.75%. It would not be surprising if we hit the dreaded 7% level in short order.

Now we know people like to say "were still at historically good rate levels", but that is just so much hot air. Housing sales are in the tank…

The governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, set up a Board known as the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission to search for answers to provide real estate tax relief for Floridians. Real Estate Tax Reform is a true issue for both new, and current, residents of the state. Every registered voter in our State should pay close attention to this measure and the relief it will afford us for moving "up or down" from an existing residence, as should new residents purchasing homes in our state.

For the past few months we've been working with the Honorable Ken Wilkinson, the Lee County Property Appraiser, regarding legislative action to permit homesteaded owners to take up to $400,000 of their current homesteaded tax value with them when they purchase "upwards" and 50%…

With Hurricane season officially underway, we thought it would be good reminder for those home buyers getting close to closing on their recent Florida purchases to remember two very important homeowner and flood insurance facts:

• If you're going to need flood insurance on your home and haven't gotten it in place yet, you're going to have to wait 30 days for the policy to go into effect. Once the season starts, you are locked out of coverage for a month from the time you apply. The lone exclusion to the 30 day rule, is if you are getting a mortgage and the lender requires flood coverage to close on the loan.
• If you wait till the last minute to get your homeowner's or flood policies and a named storm pops up, you may have to delay your closing…

It should come as no surprise that Lee County in Florida is the third fastest growing Metro area in the United States. Combining absolutely year round gorgeous weather (average mean temperature 83 degrees), 50 miles of white sandy beaches, and being named as one of the Top 10 U.S. Travel Destinations has produced a 30% increase in residents during the past six years. Already known as a retirement mecca, the Lee Island Coast, encompassing Bonita Springs, Cape Coral, Estero, Ft. Myers and Lehigh Acres, is rapidly growing due to increasing employment opportunities and peoples' desires to live and work in a sub-tropical paradise.

Both Bonita Springs and Estero accounted for the most increased population in the late 1990's, but now Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres…