Posts Tagged ‘SW Florida’

Cape Coral and Fort Myers No Oil

Monday, August 9th, 2010

The Forbidden Zone of SW Florida. We in SW Florida are located in the best place possible in Florida. The #1 concern today is over the Gulf Oil spill. But, we are looking very good. Not only does the Gulf loop current stay away from our shore, BP has the leak under control and is cleaning the water.

I didn’t know until recently that their are organisms in the water that feed on the oil. Over time this helps dissipate what is not picked up.

A team of researchers from the University of South Florida, Scripps Oceanographic Institute, Florida State University, and the Minerals Management Service (Yang et al. 1999) identify SW Florida as the ” Forbidden Zone”.  This project placed over 300 passive drifters at various locations in the northern Gulf, from the Mississippi-Alabama border eastward to off Cedar Key, Florida, and tracked their changes in location via satellite.
Here is the link for the map of the passive drifters placed in the Gulf and the path that they took. This is what identified SW Florida as the “Forbidden Zone” http://www.fgcu.edu/CWI/files/Forbidden_Zone_CWI.pdf .

So, come on down. The water is clear, the weather is great and the deals are plentiful. Boating, fishing and our beaches are all top notch.

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Flood Insurance and Tax Credit

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

WASHINGTON – July 1, 2010 – The deadline for closing on a home and qualifying for the federal homebuyer tax credit ended at midnight, and the National Flood Insurance Programs expired May 31, 2010. But two bills reauthorizing each program received Congressional approval yesterday, though both still need President Obama’s signature to become law, a move expected shortly.

Once the president signs the bills, both extensions become retroactive, meaning the law will not recognize a lapse in coverage for either program.

Homebuyer tax credit

The only thing that changes under the new tax credit bill – The Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act (H.R. 5623) – is the deadline for closing on a home. Under the latest version of the tax credit, buyers had to secure a signed contract by April 30, 2010, and close by June 30, 2010. The bill extends the closing deadline to Sept. 30, 2010.

Short sales, however, can take considerably longer than two months to close. And an onslaught of buyers trying to beat the June 30 deadline proved challenging to Realtors, title companies and lawyers trying to beat the clock.

The National Association of Realtors lobbied heavily to get the tax credit extended, but Congress took the issue down to the wire before eventually approving the change.

National Flood Insurance Program

The federal flood insurance program has general support among lawmakers, but they continue to disagree on the details. As a result, it has expired three times this year, only to be reauthorized after the fact by Congress. Each extension is considered a short-term fix so lawmakers have time to consider a long-term solution.

Officially, NFIP is still on hiatus until the president signs the bill, HR 5569, into law; but once that happens, it’s official again back to May 31, 2010.

© 2010 Florida Realtors®

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