| Home foreclosure rate soars in 2007
LOS ANGELES — The number of U.S. homes that slipped into some stage of foreclosure in 2007 was 79 percent higher than in the previous year, a real estate tracking company said Tuesday. Many homeowners started to fall behind on mortgage payments in the last three months, setting the stage for more foreclosures this year. About 1.3 million homes received foreclosure-related warnings last year, up from 717,522 in 2006, Irvine-based RealtyTrac Inc. said. Foreclosure filings rose 75 percent from the previous year to 2.2 million. More than 1 percent of all U.S. households were in some phase of the foreclosure process last year, up from about half a percent in 2006, RealtyTrac said. Nevada, Florida, Michigan and California posted the highest foreclosure rates, the company said.
Florida's midsection key to GOP hopefuls
LAKELAND, FLA. -- Linda Ivell is an ardent supporter of President Bush, leads the state Republican women's club and has met all of the major GOP presidential candidates. Yet the effervescent 53-year-old real estate agent, who lives in this former citrus and phosphate mining hub in central Florida, simply can't make up her mind about whom to vote for Tuesday in Florida's crucial presidential primary.
"I honestly don't know," said Ivell, who is torn by the candidates' appeals as conservatives on economic, national security and social issues.
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Study shows 'power' of S. Fla. multinationals
South Florida is home to almost 1,200 multinational corporations from 56 countries. And if their $203-billion combined revenue was measured as gross domestic product, they would rank as the world's 46th largest economy -- just behind Portugal and just ahead of Chile. Yet South Florida's multinational sector is largely overshadowed by the glitzy tourism industry and the roller-coaster real estate market. A new study by WorldCity Business Magazine with the backing of the Beacon Council, Miami-Dade's economic development agency, hopes to shed some light on the ''submerged'' multinational economy. The study, which will be officially unveiled Thursday, found that at least 1,183 multinationals call South Florida home. And the top-20 multinational employers account for 180,000 local jobs.
Here's another Patriot team in tiptop form
But Anderson is planning to retire in February after 19 years on the job at the transportation and real estate company. That's the longest current tenure of any CEO of a Jacksonville public company. "It seemed to be time," Anderson said Thursday. "Its human capital and its financial position are in good shape. I would not leave if it weren't," he said. Anderson will be succeeded as president and chief executive of Patriot by John Baker, the former CEO of Florida Rock Industries Inc. Patriot was spun off from Florida Rock as a separate public company in 1986, and Baker has been on the board all that time. Anderson will turn 63 in March and while he's retiring from Patriot, he doesn't plan on being idle. "I intend to look for an opportunity. I don't know what that might be," he said.
BoatshedUSA.com launches new Florida operation
BoatshedUSA.com, the North American subsidiary of yacht brokerage organisation Boatshed.com, will open 15 new Boatshed sales offices throughout the state of Florida under the banner BoatshedFlorida.com.Located in Sarasota, Florida, BoatshedFlorida.com will oversee a 'fast and aggressive' roll-out plan with offices on both the west and east coast of the state already confirmed in Sarasota and Miami.Headed by Scott McNally and Erik Maltby, owners of a real estate company with 120 agents across Florida and Georgia, the boat brokerage will have offices from the Florida Keys to Destin, at locations including Tampa, Daytona, Melbourne and Ft Myers."With the rollout of the Florida offices and Boatshed's current network across the USA, Europe and Canada, Boatshed will be heading for 60 global locations" said Roger Bailey, from Boatshed.com.
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