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Senate bills to bolster the state’s insurance sector gain ground
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – April 10, 2007 – A bill that would allow Citizens Property Insurance to expand further and solidify its tax-exempt status moved forward Monday with full approval from the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee.

The bill got a big push from Gov. Charlie Crist, who made a surprise appearance in the last minutes of the committee meeting to lobby for the bill, which was originally proposed by Sen. Rudy Garcia, a Hialeah Republican.

“It does turn things on its head, and that’s the whole idea. It gives more power back to the people for them to have the opportunity for Citizens, and other competition, as a result of this good legislation to be able to get lower rates,” said Crist.

The Garcia bill was modified to allow homeowners to opt for coverage from the state-run insurer if they have an offer from a private insurer that’s 15 percent higher than the premium charged by Citizens.

In the insurance bill passed in January, the threshold was set at 25 percent. Senate bill 2498 initially would have allowed any homeowner to stay with Citizens regardless of the rate offered by a private market insurance company.

Rep. Julio Robaina, R-Miami, has sponsored an identical bill in the House, but it hasn’t been scheduled for a hearing as of late last week.

Of course, the idea of expanding and possibly competing head on with private insurers doesn’t sit well with the insurance industry. The worry is that all Florida residents would be hit with large future assessments to make up for a shortfall in Citizens if a massive storm hits an area of the state where the company has a large concentration of policies.

William Stander, assistant vice president and regional manager for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, also questioned the wisdom of allowing homeowners who could buy insurance in the private market to stay with Citizens if its rates were lower. “We could be subsidizing homeowners who could afford to pay higher rates.”

Another bill approved by Senate committee made a few changes in the state’s My Safe Florida Home program that was started last year to provide grants to homeowners to harden their homes.

The Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Bill Posey of Rockledge, modifies the current program by lowering the value of the homes available for grants to $300,000 from $500,000. It also puts the emphasis on providing shutters for homes, rather than roof repairs and renovations.

In order to provide more grants, the grant amount also would be reduced to $2,500 with a matching grant from the homeowners. It now stands at $5,000.

“We have a perfect storm set up for the economic future of this state if we don’t beat the next eight storms to their destinations,” said Posey, noting that making homes and businesses stronger against future storms was the only way to lower insured losses down the road.

Another insurance bill passed by the Senate committee attempts to fix a few so-called “glitches” in the special-session bill.

It supports Citizens’ tax-exempt status by clearly stating that the insurer wasn’t a private insurance company.

Among its provisions, the bill would prohibit insurers from using the state’s provision that allows them to begin using new, possibly higher rates first, and it requires them to first file the paperwork for the needed regulatory approvals on any rate filings done after Jan. 27 and through Dec. 31, 2008.

It also reiterated the 90-day requirement for insurers to settle claims from residential homeowners, including condo-unit owners.
 

Copyright © 2007 The Miami Herald, Beatrice E. Garcia. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

NAR urges HUD to revamp FHA program
WASHINGTON – April 10, 2007 – The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) yesterday encouraged the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to quickly change the FHA mortgage insurance program. In a letter sent to HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, NAR President Pat Vredevoogd Combs strongly urged HUD to change FHA rules and waive the requirement that a homeowner’s mortgage be “current” in order to refinance into an FHA loan product.

“Many homeowners who were able to make timely payments under the original terms of their loan are finding it difficult to make payments after rate adjustments,” says Combs. “We believe FHA can design a mechanism where credit-worthy borrowers could refinance subject to prudent guidelines, and therefore avoid losing their homes. … The goal for all – government, lenders, banks, individuals and Realtors – should be to help keep people in their homes and to avoid or minimize foreclosures.”

NAR encouraged HUD and the FHA to undertake a “robust public education campaign” to promote foreclosure prevention and raise awareness of FHA and HUD programs. NAR has partnered with HUD and FHA in the past to create and distribute brochures designed to inform potential homebuyers about the various FHA programs. NAR also continues to be a consistent advocate for FHA modernization to keep the products and services they offer pertinent to today’s consumers and housing market.

“We believe that with some minor regulatory adjustments to the FHA program, a significant subset of borrowers facing the prospect of foreclosure could safely refinance into an FHA mortgage. We are committed to continue our efforts with HUD and FHA. We not only want to see people achieve the American dream of homeownership, but also we want them to keep it,” says Combs.
 

© 2007 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

The new geography of luxury real estate
NEW YORK – April 10, 2007 – If you could spend a few million on a modest Manhattan condo and a cozy [read: tiny] Hamptons shack, or put the same amount toward a penthouse in Minneapolis and a lakeside mansion in nearby Wayzata, Minn., which would you choose?

People continue to sacrifice size and quality for location and salary. That’s why states such as New York and California still have the hottest markets for luxury homes. And the top addresses on Fifth Avenue and in Bel-Air just keep on rising in value despite the spreading malaise at the lower end of the housing food chain. But that doesn’t mean that luxury real estate isn’t continuing to appreciate in other areas as well.

“The hot luxury markets are moving around, based on where the lifestyle is wonderful and the economic fundamentals are solid,” says Laurie Moore-Moore, president of the Dallas-based Institute for Luxury Home Marketing. “Today, we’re looking at a whole different group.”

Pro-business, pro-wealth

In 2000, only 0.37 percent of the homes in Virginia were valued at $1 million or more, according to the decennial census. The Census Bureau’s 2005 survey revealed that the number of homes valued in the $1 million-plus range had increased 470 percent. Luxury homes now accounted for 1.92 percent of total existing homes – nearly as much as Florida’s 2.08 percent.

The Washington [D.C.] metro area, including the affluent suburbs of Alexandria and Arlington, Va., has always attracted well-heeled homeowners, many of them lobbyists, high-ranking government officials, and senior business executives. Luxury buyers are still flocking to homes along the Potomac and driving up prices, says Valerie Moss, a realtor at Coldwell Banker Elite in Stafford, Va. Oceanfront towns like Virginia Beach also remain popular spots for vacation homes. “You’re going to see them anywhere there’s water or golf courses,” says Moss.

Virginia’s economy continues to grow, bringing in wealthy business leaders. Business-site selector Pollina Corporate Real Estate chose the state as the top pro-business state in the U.S. for 2007, citing its strong job creation and low corporate income taxes. Companies headquartered in the state include Capital One Financial (COF) in McLean, electronics retailer Circuit City (CC) in Richmond, and Argon ST (STST), an engineering company in Fairfax that designs and produces systems and sensors for U.S. military and intelligence clients.

Second-home secrets

Booming business isn’t the only thing fueling the emergence of luxury home hot spots. Alternative markets for second homes and retirement have popped up across the country as traditional markets grew unaffordable to many in the first half of the decade. In Rhode Island, the high-end market for oceanfront property has grown well beyond Newport’s fabled Gilded Age mansions – the number of homes valued at $1 million or more jumped from 898 in 2000 to 4,209 in 2005.

“The smart money has started to appear,” says Melanie Delman, president of Lila Delman Real Estate, an affiliate of Christie’s Great Estates in Narragansett. “But the pricing here is still better compared to the Hamptons and Nantucket. It’s still a little bit undiscovered.” According to Delman, Rhode Island coastal towns such as Watch Hill, Westerly, and Misquamicut are winning the attention of professionals from New York City and Boston, as well as retirees.

Price appreciation in the past few years has also played a role in the expansion of luxury markets in many states. “There were many homes in the mid-to-late ‘90s in the $700,000-$900,000 price range that because of the significant appreciation were pushed into the price category north of $1 million,” says Robert Hare, a Realtor at White Oak Real Estate Advisors in Wayzata, Minn., specializing in upper-bracket homes.

In Minnesota, however, price appreciation rates remained lower than in more speculative markets, so relatively lower home prices to begin with may also account for some of the state’s recent high-end home growth. “Minnesota has always been a conservative market, even though there are many wealthy people,” says Hare. “In the past it wasn’t unusual for someone to have a home in Florida or Arizona of greater value than their principal residence in Minnesota.”

But in recent years, Hare says it has become more “socially acceptable” to live in a $1 million-plus home in the state. Between 2000 and 2005, the number of Minnesota homes valued at $1 million or more increased from 3,500, or 0.25 percent of total homes, to nearly 14,000, or 0.91 percent of total homes. This growth is concentrated in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro and around the lakes in the Brainerd-Nisswa region.

Wealth overspill

In the Southwest, the Arizona luxury market started to sizzle when California’s prices skyrocketed and people wanted more for their money. The percentage of total homes in the $1 million-plus range went from 0.47 percent in 2000 to 1.32 percent in 2005, with a large part of that increase occurring in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area. “There are no hurricanes or fires here,” says Laura Mance, regional vice-president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage for Southern Arizona.

The Tucson-area luxury home market is also up and coming. Mance remembers the first time one of her agents sold a $1 million home in that market in the late 1990s: “It was the first $1 million home anyone remembered selling.” Now, Mance says it’s common for homes to sell north of $1 million, mostly to baby boomers and retirees from all over California, New York, New Jersey, and the Midwest. “Two million gets you twice as much here,” she notes.

As “spillover” markets like Arizona shift across the country, new luxury real estate markets should surface in 2007. Moore-Moore of the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing expects to see strong showings from the Carolinas and Texas cities like Austin and Houston.

“We have a new group of hot markets for 2007 where economic fundamentals are good, homes have not gone through rapid appreciation, and lifestyle is attractive,” Moore-Moore says. “These markets will be the big winners in 2007.”
 

Copyright © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Cos., Maya Roney, Business Week Online. All rights reserved.