Orlando is BOOMING!

Friday, November 23, 2007

Small businesses expect hiring increase in 2008

Orlando Business Journal

Job seekers in 2008 might want to look in the direction of small businesses.

That's according to a survey released this week by New Hampshire-based NFI Research. The survey of 180 senior executives and managers found that during the next 12 months, 60 percent of small businesses are expecting to see an increase in employment. NFI considers companies with fewer than 500 employees to be small businesses.

Monday, November 26, 2007 - 10:14 AM EST

Orlando one of top holiday destinations

Orlando Business Journal

Orlando is one of the top destinations for travelers during the holidays, based on Orbitz. com bookings.

Orlando is the ninth most popular destination domestically, according to Orbitz. Chicago ranked first and New York City was No. 2.

Orlando is also the sixth most popular destination domestically for New Year's.

Chicago came in first for New Year's and New York City was No. 2.

The data is based on air ticket sales on Orbitz.com through Nov. 2.

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Friday, November 23, 2007

E. Everette Huskey dies

Orlando Business Journal

E. Everette Huskey, the man known as "Mr. Real Estate," died Nov. 21.

Huskey was arguably Central Florida¹s most experienced residential real estate expert, having practiced more than 60 years. He developed 25 communities in the region but is best known for Sweetwater Oaks, an upscale, 2,000-acre development in Longwood, and his work in Heathrow.

He was the owner of Huskey Realty, which later merged with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate. Huskey's sales record placed him in the top 1 percent of Coldwell Banker agents in Florida, and he sold more than $20 million in real estate in 2000.

Huskey had been ill for several months and died in his Longwood home.

Orlando ranks No. 3 in U.S. for online holiday shopping

Orlando Business Journal

The City Beautiful hit third place nationwide for overall online holiday shopping this year in a recent poll of the top 20 U.S. markets by Zogby Interactive.

In a poll of more than 13,000 Internet users by Zogby Interactive for AOL Shopping, 78 percent of respondents in Orlando say they plan to shop online this year. Orlando tied with Seattle for the No. 3 spot, while Philadelphia topped the list with 79.3 percent of those polled saying they will Web shop, and 78.6 percent of Boston respondents say they will holiday shop online.

Central Florida Sales

Slump in existing-home sales not as great in Orlando-area
Jerry W. Jackson | Sentinel Staff Writer
November 22, 2007

Orlando recorded more single-family existing-home sales during the third quarter than any of Florida's other metropolitan areas except the far-larger Tampa-St. Petersburg market, an industry report showed Wednesday.

Sales in Orlando's four-county metro area were still down 39 percent from a year ago, when the market was cooling but still far hotter than it is now, the Florida Association of Realtors reported. But the 4,005 homes sold by Realtors in Metro Orlando bested all other metro areas except Tampa-St. Petersburg, which recorded 5,913 resales of single-family homes.

New News!

Florida job creation to accelerate

Orlando Business Journal

New job creation in Florida will accelerate next year as the state's increasingly diverse economy continues to outperform the nation, according to the University of Central Florida's Institute for Economic Competitiveness.

The institute is reporting that Florida will end the year with a 1.7 percent increase in new jobs, above the national average of 1.4 percent. In 2008, Florida will see a 2.1 percenPublish Postt increase in job growth, compared to 1.2 percent projected for the nation.

NAR survey: Americans believe buying a home still a good financial decision

LAS VEGAS – Nov. 16, 2007 – Americans remain convinced that buying a home is a good long-term investment – just one of the findings from the 2007 National Housing Pulse Survey, released during the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) annual Conference & Expo.

The survey measures how affordable housing issues affect consumers. This year’s results show that nearly nine out of 10 consumers believe that buying a home is a good financial decision. Fifty-nine percent of respondents also agree that now is a good time to buy a home; that number is higher (64 percent) in areas of recent home price declines.

Smaller Orlando-area cities face biggest hit from property-tax cut on ballot

Bedroom communities, beach-side towns would lose key revenues

Mary Shanklin |Sentinel Staff Writer

November 14, 2007

Florida's bedroom communities, such as Winter Springs and Deltona, likely will feel more pressure than cities such as Orlando to cut services or raise taxes if voters approve property-tax reforms in January.

The ballot initiative would further shift Florida's tax base away from homeowners and onto businesses -- potentially bad news for cities that have few businesses to shoulder the load.

Central Florida Business!

Ruth's Chris Buying Mitchell's for $94M

By Bob Howard

HEATHROW, FL-Ruth's Chris Steak House chain has struck a deal to buy Columbus, OH-based Mitchell's Fish Market for $94 million, announcing the acquisition Tuesday on the same day that the Heathrow-based chain reported financial results for the third quarter. The 114-restaurant Ruth's Chris chain will gain 33 new locations with the acquisition of Mitchell's, which operates its restaurants under nine formats.

The two restaurant chains expect the acquisition, which will be funded through the Ruth's Chris line of credit, to close in the first quarter of 2008. Craig S. Miller, chairman of the board, president and CEO of Ruth's Chris says that the deal illustrates that the steak house chain is “open to innovative concepts that are compatible with our own” in addition to expanding the Ruth's Chris brand.

Florida's Population Still on the Rise!

UF: Florida population growth slows but still remains high

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Nov. 8, 2007 – According to the University of Florida (UF), Florida’s population growth slowed considerably last year as the housing boom went bust, but it remained relatively strong and likely will stay that way for the next few years.

“There have been a number of news articles lately focusing on the idea that population growth has fallen off the table top in Florida and practically come to a standstill, and that simply isn’t true,” says Stan Smith, director of the UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research, who led the research. “Florida has a strong economy and adds jobs every year. That is a major factor in last year still being a big year for population growth, even though it was less than in the previous three years.”

The estimates released this week show the Sunshine State’s population grew by 331,000 between 2006 and 2007, compared with 431,000 between 2005 and 2006; 402,000 between 2004 and 2005; and 448,000 between 2003 and 2004, Smith said. Florida’s total population was estimated at 18,680,367 as of April 1, 2007.

This is a Good Time for First Time Home Buyers!

First-time buyers can be in the money

MILWAUKEE – Nov. 8, 2007 – Caught in the shifting rapids of mortgage lending, Billy Alt and Kim Le are just now moving into the condo they thought they were buying in August.

The condo they were buying was in the process of being converted from a rental unit to a condo, and that involved some fancy financial footwork – the kind of transactional footnote that caused barely a blip until this summer’s upheaval in the mortgage market.

They quickly reorganized the finances of the deal to keep it on track.

“If we had been looking just a few weeks earlier, it would have been perfectly timed,” said Le.

While credit standards have clenched up, driving many too-lax lenders from the field, plenty of financiers are looking for customers, say home lenders.

“It’s a very good time for first-time buyers,” said Susan Wommack, national account manager with LoanSifter.com, an industry database business in Little Chute, Wis. “The lenders who are still standing are very competitive, and service levels have gone up, too.”

Environmentally conscious tenants want green buildings

Jerry W. Jackson

Sentinel Staff Writer

November 5, 2007

Green is the color for commercial construction in Central Florida these days.

Offices, schools, apartments and mixed-use towers that use less energy and soften their footprint on the environment are in. Energy-gobbling properties that need lots of water for irrigation and other scarce resources are out.

Companies are scrambling to get up to speed with this hot, "new" trend, now being touted by an unlikely spectrum of special interests, including politicians of all stripes, business people, industries and environmental groups.

The Orlando area, long a hotbed for construction innovation -- from "tilt-wall" commercial buildings to homes made of concrete poured into frames on site -- is at the forefront of this "green" movement as well.

Central Florida Housing!!!

Price points

Orlando Business Journal - by Anjali Fluker Staff Writer

The slow Orlando residential real estate market hasn't hit all home builders the same way. In fact, builders are finding their pace of sales this year has been determined mainly by one factor: price.

• Luxury homebuilder

Cahill Homes is on track to match sales results of past years.

• Production homebuilder Mercedes Homes has turned to pricing homes lower than in previous years, and at times, having to lose some profits to move inventory.
• And Winter Park-based Swann Building Group, which divested $70 million worth of its home development investments well before home sales began to slide, is now on the verge of getting back into home building initiatives -- at affordable prices.

Central Florida to get 1,703 new home sites

Orlando Business Journal - by Nicole Blake Contributing Writer

Despite the stagnant housing market, the local division of Engle Homes has begun construction on five new Central Florida residential communities with a total of 1,703 new home sites.

Since the September launch of its 2008 home collection, Engle has sold 22 townhomes and 24 single-family homes. The target buyers are second- and third-time move-up buyers seeking larger homes because their family size has grown. "A lot of our lineup will appeal to that type of buyer," says Jeff Kaizer, division vice president of sales for Engle Homes.