January 19, 2011 / Avondale, Featured Properties, Murray Hill, Press Releases, Real Estate News, Riverside, San Marco, Uncategorized / Author: beth / Comments: (0)
The year’s end brings hope for a better real estate market from the construction industry. With the two worst years on record dating back to 1959 behind us, the industry hopes for a bounce back to the 1 million homes they typically build. The number of new homes for sale is predicted by the number of new building permits. That number was up almost 17% in December. Taking into account the code changes in 2011, some builders may have been trying to avoid the additional cost of complying with the new codes by filing early. Read more below.
2010 ends as 2nd worst year for home construction
WASHINGTON (AP) – Jan. 19, 2011 – Builders began work last year on the second-fewest number of homes in more than half a century, as the weak economy kept Americans from buying houses.
Builders broke ground on a total of 587,600 homes in 2010, just barely better than the 554,000 started in 2009. Those are the two worst years on records dating back to 1959.
And the pace is getting worse. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that builders started work at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 529,000 new homes and apartments last month. That’s a drop of 4.3 percent from November and the slowest pace since October 2009.
In a healthy economy, builders start about one million units a year. They built twice as many in 2005, at the height of the housing boom. Since then the market has been in decline.
One positive sign is that builders appear to be planning more projects in 2011. Building permits, considered a good barometer for future activity, rose 16.7 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 635,000, the best pace since March.
But builders likely pulled more permits in California, New York and Pennsylvania ahead of code changes in 2011 — a factor that likely influenced the spike.
“Some builders went ahead in December with projects to beat the change,” said Jennifer Lee, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets. Lee points out that the biggest gains were in the Northeast, which was up 80.6 percent, and the West, up 43.9 percent.
People are buying fewer single-family homes, which represent nearly 80 percent of the market. Demand fell 9 percent to an annual rate of 417,000 units. Apartment building increased 17.9 percent to an annual rate of 112,000 units.
Housing construction fell in all parts of the U.S. in December except the West where activity surged 45.8 percent. Construction dropped 38.4 percent in the Midwest and was down 24.7 percent in the Northeast and 2.2 percent in the South. Severe winter weather likely affected activity in the Northeast and Midwest.
The collapse of the housing market helped push the country into a deep recession and more than a year after the recession, housing is still struggling.
Unemployment remains high. Record numbers of foreclosures have forced home prices down and tight credit has made mortgages tough to come by.
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press, Martin Crutsinger, AP economics writer.
January 06, 2011 / Uncategorized / Author: beth / Comments: (0)
Real estate mutual funds rang out the year with a 2l.6 percent gain disproving the fear of many for another real estate nightmare. Hotels and apartment showed the largest gain but even the runners up, office and industrial, showed significant gains of 21% to 19% . This year’s gain are not expected to be as high as those seen this year.
Real estate funds defy forecasts
NEW YORK – Jan. 6, 2011 – Despite rumors of an upcoming collapse in commercial real estate, real estate mutual funds continue to bring home solid returns.
Investors bracing for part two of the financial crisis, this time in commercial real estate, missed out on a 27.6 percent gain, according to Lipper, by real estate mutual funds in 2010. These funds capitalized on discounted prices for commercial property and real estate investment trusts as well as lucrative dividend yields.
“There was less of a distressed environment (for commercial real estate) than many perceived,” says David Lee, portfolio manger of the T. Rowe Price Real Estate fund, one of the top-performing real estate funds last year, returning 29.9 percent.
Using 2010 as a guide, investors are closely watching trends going into 2011 that might influence real estate mutual funds, including:
• Changing dividend yields.The fact commercial real estate investments tend to pay market-beating dividends is one of its big attractions. But thanks in part to the jump in REIT stock prices, the group is currently yielding 3.5 percent, which is low relative to historical averages and current long-term Treasury rates, says Keven Lindemann of SNL Financial.
The big wild card, though, is that many REITs are boosting their dividend payouts. During 2010, 52 REITs of the 125 that SNL tracks increased their dividends, a trend that bodes well for future yields, Lindemann says.
• Shifting real estate demand amid economic recovery.While investors tend to look at REITs as a group, mutual fund managers know to slice the market into areas that behave differently during economic cycles, Lee says. Hotel and apartment REITs, for instance, were standouts in 2010. Hotels have enjoyed higher room rates and occupancy. Hotel REITs returned 41 percent in 2010, Lindemann says. Even the laggards, office and industrial REITS, returned 21 percent and 19 percent, respectively, despite concerns of slow job growth, he says.
• Improving health of real estate companies. Real estate companies, relatively high borrowers, were mostly able to refinance their debt during 2009 and are in much better health now, says Ron Florance, managing director of investment strategy for Wells Fargo Private Bank.
Apartment REITs have also benefited, as people didn’t rush to buy homes or were unable to get mortgages, he says. Apartment REITs returned 48 percent in 2010, making them the top performers, SNL says.
But commercial real estate funds face dangers. REITs’ dividend yields are less attractive as Treasury yields rise, Florance says. Many commercial real estate companies, meanwhile, face debt payments the next four years that could become onerous if the economy isn’t healthy, Lindemann says. “It would be very surprising … if we saw another year of such significant outperformance.”
© Copyright 2011 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
January 06, 2011 / Avondale, Featured Properties, Murray Hill, Ortega, Real Estate News, Riverside, Uncategorized / Author: beth / Comments: (0)
Yes, the good ole days have come and gone again…..but could this actually help the housing industry? Some experts think it will by providing a sense of urgency to the buyers sitting on the fence. Read more below.
Kiss 4% mortgage rates goodbye
NEW YORK – Jan. 4, 2011 – The era of near 4 percent mortgage rates has ended after a quick rate rise since early November. However, some industry experts think that may be a good thing for the flagging housing market.
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has risen to 4.86 percent from 4.17 percent, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage market survey. In the Bankrate.com weekly survey, the rate has risen to 5.02 percent after being as low as 4.42 percent in early November. Forecasters now predict rates will remain between 5 percent and 6 percent for all of 2011.
“You can kiss those record lows goodbye,” says Greg McBride, chief economist for Bankrate.com.
Higher interest rates may actually prove stimulating to the still quiet housing market in which sales volume and prices are scraping near their bottoms, however.
“The initial phase of an interest rate increase generally does not hurt markets,” says Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. “In fact, it can help.” Yun says the rapid rise introduces an element of urgency for potential homebuyers, who may now rush to buy before rates spurt even more.
Source: CNN Money (01/01/11) Christie, Les
© Copyright 2011 INFORMATION, INC. Bethesda, MD (301) 215-4688
December 22, 2010 / Uncategorized / Author: beth / Comments: (0)
HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM TRADITIONS REALTY!
December 08, 2010 / Avondale, Featured Properties, Murray Hill, Ortega, Real Estate News, Riverside, San Marco, Uncategorized / Author: beth / Comments: (0)
Fears and realities of the housing market have many baby boomers searching for new options for their existing homes. Unable or unwilling to sell at today’s prices, remodeling has become an answer to the problem for some. New bathrooms and kitchens are re- made to accommodate health and mobility constrictions. Read more below.
Stuck in old homes, baby boomers turn to remodeling
PHILADELPHIA – Dec. 7, 2010 – Uneasiness is keeping some aging baby boomers in their current homes, even though that’s not what they had in mind.
As Realtor Allan Domb, who sells condos in Philadelphia, sees it, “The decline in prices in the suburbs appears to be keeping a lot of aging boomers … from selling and moving to something befitting their changed lifestyle.”
That, and “general uncertainty over the economy and personal finances, and a desire to see house/condo prices bottom before making a move,” said Philadelphia economist Kevin Gillen, vice president at Econsult Corp.
Gillen received a call from a “boomer nearing retirement,” who had just placed a $60,000 deposit on a condo in a Philadelphia high-rise.
The caller and his wife “were going to spend their golden years splitting time between there and another new condo they put a deposit down on in Florida,” he said. Developers told him both units were complete, and it was time to go to closing. “He worried that his retirement income wouldn’t be sufficient to service both mortgages; that the units were going to depreciate in value after his purchase, and that he wouldn’t be able to get a sufficiently high price for his home to allow him to upgrade,” Gillen said.
The man ended up walking away from both deposits and staying put, telling Gillen that “he was looking forward to never having to shovel snow or mow the lawn again, and that this hurt more than losing the deposits.”
David Crowe, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, sees data supporting anecdotal evidence like this.
“National conditions for this sector have not yet turned the corner,” Crowe said, and they will not improve “until employment improves and consumers are more confident of keeping their jobs.”
And in the meantime?
Boomer-watchers say this wants-to-move-but-can’t generation is engaging in “recession remodeling,” making small and not-so-expensive changes to their houses to accommodate health or other life-changing issues.
Considerable evidence now shows that relatively few aging boomers pull up stakes altogether and move to 55-plus communities in the Sun Belt. Even the nervous boomer who contacted Gillen planned to live in Florida only part of the time.
Eighty percent of those 65 and older responding to a July telephone poll of 1,616 adults ages 45 and up conducted in July for AARP said they wanted to stay in their houses as long as possible. Eighty-two percent said they had a full bath on the main level of their homes, and 81 percent had first-floor spaces that could become bedrooms if the need arose.
“Far too often, a person has to break a leg or contract a serious illness to discover that the home they love could restrict their comfortable lifestyle,” said Elinor Ginzler, AARP senior vice president for livable communities. A few tweaks to remodeling plans can make a house more user-friendly. And to drive home the point, AARP sponsored a “recession remodel” contest to demonstrate that comfort and efficiency were achievable, even in hard times.
The winners: a kitchen in a farmhouse in Richfield, N.C., about an hour from Charlotte, and a bathroom in a house in Snohomish, Wash., near Seattle. The kitchen renovation was the result of a move to the house by the owner’s 67-year-old mother, Jamie Hammill, after the death of the owner’s father, who had built the house.
The kitchen was outdated and difficult to use. AARP’s makeover expanded and brightened the room, and added an open floor plan, cabinet and counter space, multilevel work and eating space, and easy-to-reach appliances.
The bathroom renovation was for Mary Waggoner, who cares for her eighty-something parents, Louise and Clarence Waggoner, on weekends at her house. Louise Waggoner uses a wheelchair because of Parkinson’s disease. Clarence Waggoner has had hip and knee replacements, and uses a walker and a cane to get around. His eyesight is failing because of macular degeneration. A cramped bathroom that could accommodate neither parent was changed to remove barriers and add a walk-in shower, a heated nonslip floor and glare-free lighting.
AARP arranged donations to the two winners of appliances, fixtures and other building products, along with designer and contractor services, so it is difficult to determine the actual cost of each makeover. But the changes appear to be similar to those included in kitchen and bathroom remodels described in Remodeling magazine’s “Cost vs. Value Report” for 2011. If such projects were done in the Philadelphia region, the bathroom changes might cost about $19,000, the kitchen renovation $64,000, according to the report.
“These makeovers demonstrate what homeowners can do when they finally get around to remodeling,” AARP’s Ginzler said. The work “can make them ready for whatever surprises life can bring.”
Videos and photographs of the makeovers can be found at http://www.aarp.org/remodel/.
© 2010 The Philadelphia Inquirer. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
December 08, 2010 / Avondale, Featured Properties, Murray Hill, Open Houses, Ortega, Real Estate News, Riverside, San Marco, Uncategorized / Author: beth / Comments: (0)
The wide reaching effects of a decrease in mortgage interest deductions could be hard on Florida. The tax benefit of home ownership has long been an advantage to buying property. Without that benefit, the value of home ownership declines. The governments recent reduction report recommended that second homes and equity be removed from the program. Opponents fear that any reduction will result in a struggle for our already gasping economy. Read more below.
Mortgage tax changes would impact Floridians
ORLANDO, Fla. – Dec. 7, 2010 – Losing the mortgage interest deduction as proposed recently by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform would do more than hurt taxpayers – it would also devalue homes and could even impact Florida home sales. The tax benefit of homeownership has long been touted as an advantage to buying property. Without that benefit, the value of homeownership declines.
“It’s quite clear: We can’t afford to lose the mortgage interest deduction,” says Florida Realtors 2010 President Wendell Davis. “The real estate industry – still struggling to get on its feet – would take yet another hit if some homebuyers decide it makes more sense to rent rather than buy. The loss would also hurt small businesses as homeowners cut back on spending; and it would hurt the state when sales tax revenue drops.”
In 2008, about 2.2 million Florida taxpayers claimed a mortgage interest deduction on their federal taxes, representing a total tax deduction of about $29.5 billion statewide, or roughly $13,375 for the average taxpayer who had a mortgage. Assuming a marginal tax rate of 25 percent (tax bracket), that mortgage interest deduction translates into an actual tax savings of $3,344 for the average taxpayer.
While it’s unlikely that the federal government would get rid of the mortgage interest deduction for all homeowners, the commission’s recent deficit reduction report recommended that second homes and equity be removed from the program.
“Any decrease in the mortgage interest deduction would result in slowing our already struggling economy,” says Davis. “Go to the Realtor Action Center and follow the instructions to call your representative’s office and let them know that Realtors in Florida are opposed to reducing the mortgage interest deduction!”
Property tax deduction
Another proposal to cut the federal deficit would change the way the IRS allows individuals to deduct real estate taxes from their federal taxes. Currently, real estate taxes can be deducted from income; but under the recent deficit-reduction proposal, they would not. This, too, would impact Floridians.
According to NAR research, about 2.4 million Floridians claimed the real estate tax deduction in 2008 totaling about $10.7 billion. To the average taxpayer, that represents a tax deduction of $4,506. In real dollars – and again assuming a marginal tax rate of 25 percent – that translates into a savings of $1,127 per taxpayer.
Effect on home prices
Proposed changes to the mortgage interest deduction and real estate tax deductions are not one-year events, however. While NAR looked at 2008 data, Americans pay taxes every year, and the deductions could be lost forever. As an ongoing expense imposed only on homeowners, it would raise the cost of homeownership and even tip the scales toward renting in some cases.
With that in mind, NAR extended the numbers and determined that the average Florida home would lose 17 percent in value. It based that estimate on a median home price of $130,800 in the third quarter of 2010. At 17 percent, that comes out to a $22,645 loss on the average home.
Proposed changes
It’s unclear how the U.S. Congress will move forward to cut the deficit. The bipartisan commission established by President Obama voted 11-7 in support of its final report; however, that number falls short of the super majority (14 out of 18 votes) needed to automatically send the recommendations to Congress. Still, the recommendations are considered a blueprint for possible action.
In its report, the commission recommended turning the mortgage interest deduction into a tax credit, capping eligible mortgages at $500,000 and completely eliminating tax benefits for second homes and home equity loans.
© 2010 Florida Realtors®
December 03, 2010 / Avondale, Featured Properties, Murray Hill, Ortega, Riverside, San Marco, Uncategorized / Author: beth / Comments: (0)
Good reports on the economy as it starts showing steady improvement for the last month of the year. The private sector hired the most workers in 3 years, factory out put grew for the 16th straight month and a survey by the Federal Reserve found that most of the nation is growing economically- 10 out of 12 regions. Measures of spending, consumer confidence and personal income are all up as we are heading into the Holiday gift giving season. Read more below.
Economy appears headed for strong finish for 2010
WASHINGTON (AP) – Dec. 3, 2010 – The economy is showing new life in the final months of the year.
Factories are busier, construction spending is up, and auto sales are rising. And on Wednesday the stock market had its best day since September after a report that the private sector hired the most workers in three years.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped more than 2 percent, enough to erase nearly two weeks of losses. Analysts said investors concluded that a stronger job market would support higher stock prices.
“The economy is starting to show better overall momentum,” said Brian Bethune, an economist at IHS Global Insight. “There’s a steady improvement in the overall tone.”
A private trade group said U.S. factory output grew for the 16th straight month in November as auto sales rebounded and businesses invested more in industrial machinery.
The Institute for Supply Management said its index of manufacturing activity came in at 56.6 for November. Any reading above 50 indicates growth. The October figure was 56.9. At the depths of the recession, it was closer to 30.
And a new survey by the Federal Reserve finds that most of the nation – 10 of its 12 regions – is growing economically. Only two regions, those around Philadelphia and St. Louis, report that business conditions are mixed.
Automakers are behind much of the growth in manufacturing. Ford, General Motors and Chrysler all reported double-digit sales increases for November. The news is particularly welcome for GM, which just returned as a public company.
The positive economic news comes on top of other signs that Americans are increasingly willing to spend money, raising hopes for the holiday shopping season. Measures of spending, consumer confidence and personal incomes are all up.
Research firm comScore Inc. said people spent more than $1 billion online on the Monday after Thanksgiving, 16 percent more than last year and the first time so-called Cyber Monday has ever hit that milestone.
The Dow closed at 11,255, its best finish since Sept. 1 and about 200 points shy of its highest close since the financial meltdown in the fall of 2008.
Investors were mostly responding to strong manufacturing data out of China and a report showing that small U.S. companies hired the most workers in three years. ADP Employer Services said employment at private companies jumped by 93,000 in November, the largest increase since November 2007 – right before the recession began.
Small businesses, which have struggled to get credit since the recession, had the biggest gains.
While some economists cautioned against reading too much into the ADP report because it has frequently diverged from the government’s employment figures, it was enough to raise economists’ hopes that the Labor Department’s November jobs report, due Friday, will be strong. Bethune said his firm now forecasts that 180,000 jobs were added in November, up from a previous estimate of 150,000.
There’s even improvement in the troubled construction industry. The Commerce Department said spending rose in October for the second straight month, mostly because of a jump in spending on home improvement. Spending on new home construction fell.
One CEO, Daryl Dulaney of Siemens Industry Inc., reported strong demand for industrial equipment from automakers, railroad companies and renewable-energy firms. Siemens just took a $466 million order from Amtrak for 70 electric locomotives.
Auto companies are also ordering industrial automation equipment to be more productive, Dulaney said.
The manufacturing report showed that new orders and production also grew, but at a slower pace. Factory employment grew for the 12th month in a row, although slightly slower than in October.
At the same time, American exports are being helped by a cheaper dollar. The institute’s export index grew, but not as quickly as in October.
“Manufacturing continues to benefit from the recovery in autos, but those industries reliant upon housing continue to struggle,” said Norbert Ore, chairman of the ISM’s survey committee. The ISM is a trade group of purchasing executives.
The institute surveys purchasing managers at about 350 companies around the country to compile the index.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press, Christopher S. Rugaber, AP economics writer.
December 01, 2010 / Avondale, Featured Properties, Murray Hill, Ortega, Real Estate News, Riverside, San Marco, Uncategorized / Author: beth / Comments: (0)
With all the economic hits Florida has taken with the real estate market and oils spills this year, we have survied another hurricane season without a major storm hitting our coast line. Five years of calms could expand to a six year record should the same low-pressure system be around in 2011. Other areas did not fair so well. Read more year.
U.S. escapes major hurricanes for 5th straight year
MIAMI (AP) – Dec. 1, 2010 – The Atlantic hurricane season ends Tuesday, going down as one of the busiest on record with extreme weather ravaging Haiti, Mexico and elsewhere, but sparing the U.S. coastline a major hurricane for a fifth straight year.
U.S. forecasters are wondering if America can make history and extend its luck into 2011. If so, it would be the first time ever that the U.S. escaped a major hurricane for six years.
“That would be a record I would like to break,” said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
All told, 19 named storms formed in the Atlantic, tying with the 1887 and 1995 seasons for third highest on record. Twelve became hurricanes, tying with the 1969 season for the second highest on record.
In the U.S., Texas suffered the worst of the tropical weather.
Flooding spurred by Tropical Storm Hermine was blamed for the deaths of at least seven people in Texas. Hurricane Alex damaged or destroyed more than 300 homes in Texas and caused an estimated $42 million in damage to infrastructure.
Aside from that, Tropical Storm Bonnie sent crews working to stop the flow of oil from a blown-out rig in the Gulf of Mexico into a fury. And Hurricane Earl brought flooding to North Carolina’s Outer Banks and some rain to Cape Cod, but little damage.
“Fortunately most storms avoided the U.S.,” said Jack Hayes, director of the National Weather Service. “You could say the season was a gentle giant.”
Not so elsewhere, though.
Hurricane Tomas killed 14 people in St. Lucia and at least eight in Haiti. Hurricane Alex caused flooding that killed 12 people in Mexico. Hurricane Igor knocked out power to half of Bermuda but spared the country major damage or injuries.
A persistent low-pressure system through the height of hurricane season is credited with the U.S. escaping major harm. The western edge of the high-pressure system that drove tropical weather from the coast of Africa was eroded by the low pressure, and ultimately helped propel it away from the U.S. shore.
“That’s not an unusual pattern at all,” Feltgen said, “and we’re fortunate that it was in place at the height of the season.”
The last major hurricane of Category 3 or stronger to hit the U.S. was Wilma in 2005.
Online: National Hurricane Center:
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press, Matt Sedensky.
November 20, 2010 / Uncategorized / Author: beth / Comments: (0)
Florida’s weak job and distressed real estate markets continue to contribute to the high foreclosure rate. The state still leads the nation in delinquent loans. Some claim states with non-judicial foreclosures fair better in clearing the inventory. But more importantly, a collapsing real estate market and 11.9% jobless rate seem to be the major culprits. The foreclosure freeze earlier this year did not appear to have the impact feared. Read more below.
WASHINGTON – Nov. 19, 2010 – Florida still leads the nation in the percentage of homeowners who are “seriously delinquent” on their loans, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday.
In the state, 19.52 percent of borrowers were either 90 days past due or in foreclosure in the third quarter. Add in borrowers who are 30 and 60 days late, and nearly one in four Floridians are behind on their loans.
The good news is that Florida’s seriously delinquent rate is down from 20.13 percent in the second quarter. But no other state met Florida’s lofty level of late payers. Nevada was No. 2 at 17.83 percent, while Illinois’ 10.77 percent ranked third.
With Florida’s job market still weak and home prices way down from a few years ago, it’s no surprise that the state’s delinquency rates are so high, said Jack McCabe, a real estate analyst in Deerfield Beach.
“With 48 percent of the state’s homeowners underwater, we’re going to continue to see delinquencies go up,” McCabe said. “The truth is a lot of people have given up and have stopped paying their mortgages.”
Part of the blame lies with the way foreclosures are handled in Florida, said Michael Fratantoni, the Mortgage Bankers’ vice president of research and economics. Florida and other states where foreclosures go through the courts have foreclosure inventories that are twice as high as so-called non-judicial states, he said.
Of course, the court system is only partly to blame for Florida’s delinquency problem. The bigger culprits are a withering collapse in prices and an 11.9 percent jobless rate that’s well above the national unemployment rate of 9.6 percent.
Nationally, the delinquency rate fell, too, which the Mortgage Bankers Association attributed to modest improvements in the job market. The foreclosure freeze at some lenders hasn’t played a role in falling delinquencies.
“The foreclosure paperwork issues announced by several large servicers in late September and early October are unlikely to have had a large impact on the third-quarter numbers,” Fratantoni said.
Copyright © 2010 The Palm Beach Post, Fla., Jeff Ostrowski. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
November 03, 2010 / Real Estate News, Uncategorized / Author: beth / Comments: (0)
After months of debate, voters rejected Amendment 4 in the polls yesterday. The addition would have caused a local vote for any and all development projects in counties of Florida. Soaring taxes cost and legal fees were sited by opponents of the amendment. Control of spawling developments was sited as the reason for the change. Read more below.
Voters overwhelmingly rejected Amendment 4, which would have given them final say over many development projects in their communities.
With 72 percent of precincts statewide reporting, 67 percent of ballots counted were opposed and 33 percent were in support of the proposed amendment, which needed 60 percent for approval.
Amendment 4 called for local elections to be held to approve proposed changes in land-use plans. The initiative was put on the ballot by Florida Hometown Democracy, a group founded by lawyers Lesley Blackner of Palm Beachand Ross Burnaman of Tallahassee, both veterans of battles to protect Florida’s environment.
Their proposal, which began to take shape seven years ago, appeared earlier this year to be an easy sell for voters sick of sprawling development.
But opponents to Amendment 4 fought back, claiming it would hurt an already ailing economy and cause breakdowns in local governments.
Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy, the committee leading the opposition to Amendment 4, financed an aggressive advertising campaign by raising $12.1 million as of late last week, or four times more than the $2.8 million collected by Florida Hometown Democracy.
“Floridians saw through the rhetoric and recognized Amendment 4 for what it was — a dangerous, costly and job-killing anti-growth measure,” said Ryan Houck, the group’s executive director. “They want Florida’s leaders to get Florida’s economy back on track.”
Blackner said voters were “subjected to the full financial power of those special interests that are committed to maintaining a death grip on their ability to control the status quo of sprawl.”
She said Florida Hometown Democracy will disband and that it’s up to “our state’s elected leaders and residents to find an answer to Florida’s addiction to promiscuous construction before it is too late.”
Leading all contributors to Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy was the Florida Association of Realtors, which chipped in $4.3 million. Also making large contributions were homebuilders and agricultural interests.
Among Florida Hometown Democracy’s biggest backers were Blackner and Christopher Findlater, a South Florida resident also has been a heavy contributor to sponsors of Amendments 5 and 6, which called for legislative districts to be drawn in compact districts.
Scott Powers of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Kevin Spear can be reached at kspear@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5062.
Copyright © 2010, Orlando Sentinel
