Please mark your calenders for October 6th and 7th, for our Open House Extravaganza. This is the perfect opportunity to apply for a mortgage, view homes, and meet our Associates. More details to follow.

The Florida Association of Realtors statistics for August existing home resales is encouraging. The figure, 11,279 existing single family homes sold statewide, was closer to activity recorded in August 2001 and 2002, before the peak of the housing boom. The median sales price was $231,900.

A Leon County circuit judge ruled yesterday that the Florida Legislature’s proposed property tax constitutional amendment is misleading, and he removed it from the Jan. 29 ballot. The options are to revise the wording of the proposed constitutional amendment, appeal the judge’s ruling, or both. The amendment, as written now, would actually phase out the existing property tax system. Under the change, homeowners could choose to keep their Save-Our-Homes tax savings as long as they live in the same homesteaded property. The homeowner would lose it if they move – just as they do under current law. The homeowner could not choose Save-Our-Homes tax savings in the future should the amendment pass as it is currently written.

A free landscaping class entitled “Choosing the Right Mulch for Your Landscape” will be held Tuesday, September 25th at the Forest Oaks Government Center. For more information, call 352-754-4433.

Hernando County Commissioners agreed last Tuesday to move the next budget hearing to a larger venue, due to unexpectedly large attendance. The next meeting will be held on Thursday September 23, 2007 at Grace World Outreach Church in Brooksville, at 20366 Cortez Blvd. The meeting will start at 5:00 p.m.

NOISES OFF Stage West Community Theater 8390 Forest Oaks Blvd., Spring Hill Slapstick goes to new heights! Don’t miss this one! On the Main Stage. Evenings: 8:00 pm Matinees: 2:00 pm $18.00 (Season tix: 5 shows for $75.00) www.stagewest.net 352-683-5113

TRIBUTE TO TROPICAL MUSIC Fletcher Music Studio 13176 Cortez Blvd., Brooksville Sail away’ to the sounds of Desi Arnaz, Jimmy Buffet, Harry Belafonte! Dinner & Show. RESERVATIONS REQUIRED. 3:00 PM $4.99 per person 352-597-5658

DOO-WOP TO DISCO NIGHT The Palace Grand 275 Della Court, Spring Hill Johnny the DJ will be turning down the lights, turning up the music! Dinner, then dancing to doo-wop of the 50’s & 60’s, a bit of Motown and a little bit of Soul! Plus a dash of Disco! Buffet dinner. Cash bar. Doors open: 6:00 p.m. Dinner: 6:30 pm $25.00 + tax per person. www.palacegrand.com 727-863-7949

State Sen. Mike Fasano favors letting Citizens compete for insurance business.
Although state lawmakers have passed reforms aimed at lowering property insurance rates, homeowners have seen little relief.

State senator Mike Fasano (R-New Port Richey) said a solution may be to allow Citizens, Florida’s state-run insurance company of last resort, to compete with private insurers.

“Let’s allow citizens to be competitive statewide and I think you’ll see the insurance industry’s attitude change in a more positive direction,” Fasano said.

Some lawmakers are pushing for hearings where insurance executives would testify under oath about why rates aren’t falling. But Florida’s chief financial officer, Democrat Alex Sink, said homeowner’s insurance may not be as overpriced as some believe.

Alex Sink, the state’s chief financial officer, disputes the notion that all property insurance is overpriced. “I think this whole notion that everybody in Florida thinks that their property insurance rates are outrageous is not accurate,” Sink said.

Citizens now insures about 1.3 million homes and is the state’s largest insurer. When the state-run insurer was first formed, it was only for those who could not get insurance through a private company.

But after the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, private market rates ballooned and Citizens is now open to anyone, as long as other companies are offering rates at least 15 percent more expensive.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and the Federal Open Market Committee voted to lower interest rates Tuesday afternoon.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The Federal Reserve cut the target on a key short-term interest rate by a half of a percentage point Tuesday to 4.75%, further acknowledgment from the central bank that the mortgage meltdown plaguing Wall Street and Main Street could have a negative impact on the economy.

The cut to the federal funds rate, the first since June 2003, was widely anticipated by investors and followed a surprise cut to the Fed’s discount rate on August 17.

The only question was whether the Fed would lower the federal funds rate by 25 basis points or 50 basis points. (There are 100 basis points in a full percentage point.)

The federal funds rate, an overnight lending rate that banks charge each other, is important since it influences the amount of interest consumers must pay for various types of debt, such as credit cards, home equity lines of credit and auto loans.

The rate cut should help some beleaguered home borrowers who are set to see monthly payments on adjustable rate mortgages rise later this year.

Information from Bay News 9, Tuesday, September 18, 2007

INVERNESS (Bay News 9) — The quiet peacefulness of the Withlacoochee State Forest can easily be taken for granted.

That’s 159,000 acres of green space in four counties that escaped the devastation of the logging industry more than a century ago.

Kathy Thompson helped put together an exhibit at the Old Courthouse Heritage Museum in Inverness titled “From Devastation to Reforestation: Withlacoochee State Forest.”

It’s really the first look into that time period that anyone has had in more than 80 years.

Chronicling the cut-and run days by the logging industry to the re-planting of the forest. Ranger Sid Taylor found the 400 pictures detailing how the forest was re-made. Taylor wanted them turned into the exhibit to help people appreciate what exists today.

“We want you to come and enjoy it and appreciate the fact that it’s been set aside ever since 1935 for a multi-use,” Taylor said.

But as the exhibit shows, it wouldn’t have existed without the Depression. As a part of FDR’s New Deal, men were put back to work replanting what a newspaper at the time called “a wasteland.”

“The forest, you know, provided and put men back to work in a difficult time,” Thompson said.

And as the country came back, so did the forest. Maturing into a place that nearly a century ago no one would have thought would have lived to see the new century.

The Old Courthouse Heritage Museum is open six days a week. The forest exhibit runs through Nov. 14.

HERNANDO COUNTY (Bay News 9) — A new effort is underway to keep kids safe when they hit the trails on their dirt bikes and ATVs.

According to the Florida Division of Forestry, fatalities are on the rise.

Ken Barthelette, division of forestry supervisor, said riders need to play it safe.

“Hopefully, especially young people will look at that and it won’t go unnoticed,” Barthelette said. “That his death won’t just be something that happened in the paper.”

Saturday morning, forestry officials held their first kids day at the Croom motorcycle area in Hernando County.

The purpose of the event is to teach kids to be safe at an early age and a big part of that is the safety equipment like a helmet, eye goggles, shoulder pads, a chest pad and boots.

The Division of Forestry said parents should supervise their kids when they’re riding ATV’s or dirt bikes.

Parents should know exactly where their kids are riding, who they’re riding with and when when they’ll be back.