Something new for Palm Coast

Oaks Development Group Launches Physician Incubator Space in Palm Coast Medical Office Building
Thu Oct 15, 2009 2:58pm EDT

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Oaks Development Group Launches Physician Incubator Space in Palm Coast
Medical Office Building





PALM COAST, Fla., Oct. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Technology companies have been doing
it for years. Why not the medical profession? Incubator space has recently
gathered some thoughtful discussion in hospitals and as a way to generate
interest in the expansion of medical care into secondary markets. One
developer, North Carolina-based Oaks Development Group, believes there's
application in off-campus medical office buildings (MOBs). As such, the
innovative developer is rolling out the concept in its Palm Coast, Florida,
building.


Oaks broke ground on the 20,000-square-foot building over the summer. Located
across from Florida Hospital Flagler on State Road 100, it is expected to be
completed in early 2010.


The incubator space will consist of 2,200 square feet and eight offices. Oaks
is making the space available for as little as two, half days a week with just
a one-year commitment for physicians looking to expand into new markets. Oaks
provides exam tables, chairs, permanent equipment, high-speed internet, phone
system and cleaning services, with no cash outlay for physicians. "It's shared
space, providing opportunities for physicians to open second practices or move
into new markets. It's available to them while they build up their practices,
until they are ready to move into permanent space," said Charlie Barker, Oaks'
director of Florida development.


"In addition, our model for tenanting our office buildings is focused on
nesting practices that serve as natural referral sources for each other,"
added Barker. "This contributes to a start-up practice's ability to attract
new patients."


Such space also provides an option for physicians who are coming in from
competing markets where they may not yet be affiliated with any hospital or
are connected with a competing hospital. "Our workspace gives them an
opportunity to start up in that market, at a fraction of what they'd pay to
rent traditional office space," added Barker.


The rest of the Palm Coast building is reserved for Oaks' unique ownership
model that provides tenants with a piece of the ownership pie without
requiring upfront equity. The architect on the project Thomas Miller &
Associates. M.J. Harris, Inc. is the contractor. Cornelia Manfre, Prudential
Commercial Realty, is exclusive broker.


For leasing and ownership information regarding the Palm Coast medical office
building, please contact Charlie Barker of Oaks Development Group at:
1-866-676-7453 or cbarker@oaksdevelopment.net.


About Oaks Development Group
Oaks Development Group, http://www.oaksdevelopment.net, is a private equity
funded real estate investment group specializing in the acquisition,
construction, conversion, restructuring and management of medical/professional
properties to achieve a consistent long term and stable return for private
investments. The Oaks model involves strategically sharing equity in
transactions with individual tenants and equity partners. Oaks Development
Group is headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, with additional offices in
Wilmington, NC; Savannah, GA; Tampa, FL; and San Antonio, TX. For more
information on Oaks projects, please call 1-866-780-5095 or visit
www.oaksdevelopment.net for more information.






SOURCE Oaks Development Group

Kim Oaks of Oaks Development Group, +1-910-763-5737, ext. 204,
kloaks@oaksdevelopment.net; or Debi Pfitzenmaier of PfitzPR, +1-210-669-6911,
debi@pfitzpr.com, for Oaks Development Group

Another toxic drywall problem: No insurance

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. ? Oct. 8, 2009 ? Homeowners living in houses with suspect Chinese drywall are already in a bind: Their air conditioners stop working, a rotten-egg smell permeates their homes, they suffer a litany of health problems including troubled breathing, nosebleeds and headaches.

Now, some of them could lose their property insurance coverage.

Many homeowners have filed claims with their home insurers to repair the drywall damage. That?s turning out to be a dead end: Most property insurers are denying the claims because homeowners policies don?t cover contamination or building material defects.

But once an insurer knows there is drywall damage in a home, the existing damage could be the trigger for not renewing a policy unless repairs are made.

That?s the dilemma for James and Maria Ivory. The couple retired to Punta Gorda from Colorado in February, buying a home for $109,000 that was built in 2006. The Ivorys had to have the air conditioner replaced right away and noticed metals were corroding shortly after moving into their home, which had never been lived in.

They filed a claim with their insurer, Citizens Property Insurance, to rehabilitate the home, asking for the drywall to be ripped out and corroded items be replaced, among other repairs.

The Ivorys? claim didn?t specify a dollar amount, but some builders have estimated repair work generally can run at least one-third of the original construction costs.

The state-run insurer, the largest in Florida, denied the claim. Then last month, the couple received a notice from Citizens, saying their homeowners policy won?t be renewed in March because it has no proof the damage the Ivorys wanted their insurance money to pay for has been repaired.

?Safety net?

?There?s nothing that?s ever happened to this home other than Chinese drywall,? said David Durkee, a Coral Gables attorney who is representing the couple. ?He needed to go to Citizens because he couldn?t get insurance elsewhere. That was supposed to be the safety net for residents in Florida.?

Durkee, who is handling several lawsuits against builders and drywall suppliers, said this is the first time he has seen an insurer use drywall damage as a reason for dropping a policy.

Durkee has written to Gov. Charlie Crist, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Congressman Robert Wexler of Boca Raton about Citizens.

?We cannot let that safety net have a hole in it, period,? Durkee said.

For its part, Citizens has received about 20 drywall claims so far, and each are handled on a case by case basis, said John Kuczwanski, Citizens? spokesman. Not all the claims are resolved yet.

Thousands of homes in South Florida and tens of thousands nationwide are suspected of having the tainted imported drywall. Large amounts of drywall were imported into Florida to deal with demand from the home-building boom and reconstruction following hurricanes of 2004 and 2005.

So far, there is no scientific proof that the imports are causing the problems, but homeowners with the material have similar complaints of malfunctioning air conditioner metals, a chemical or rotten-egg smell, and breathing trouble and nosebleeds, among other health problems.

The Ivorys aren?t the only Florida residents who have had Chinese drywall claims denied by the homeowners insurance companies.

Many of Miami attorney Jeremy Alters clients have experienced the same thing.

?A shame?

?It?s a shame because it?s an immediate solution for the homeowners,? Alters said. Instead, many are waiting on lawsuits to work their way through the legal system. But if insurers honored the claims, then they could go after the drywall manufacturers, instead of homeowners, he said.

Homeowners insurance policies are designed to cover ?sudden accidental losses? such as the water damage caused by busted pipes or ripped out roof due to a hurricane, explained Dick Luedke, a spokesman for State Farm Insurance. However, homeowners policies generally exclude pollution or contamination damage or problems stemming from defects in building materials.

State Farm has had fewer than two dozen claims with drywall damage. Luedke says no policy so far has been canceled because of a drywall problem. But the company can reevaluate a policy if the risk of insuring a home has increased dramatically.

The giant international reinsurer Swiss Re said in report issued last month that most homeowners insurance companies are using those two exclusions to deny claims from damage stemming from imported drywall.

Durkee says none of the claims he has reviewed have been denied improperly. Homeowners are turning to builders, drywall suppliers and manufacturers to recover remediation costs. Some builders, including Lennar and GL Homes, have taken on the cost of gutting and rebuilding homes and providing temporary living quarters until the repairs are done.

Hearing held

Earlier this week, a state Senate committee held its first hearing in Tallahassee to discuss potential remedies to help affected homeowners. Requiring home insurers to cover drywall claims hasn?t been discussed.

Boca Raton attorney Allison Grant sued American Home Insurance Company in federal district court in March on behalf of Fort Myers residents Keith Baker and Linda Leri after the insurance company denied their insurance claim for damages related to Chinese drywall.

Although they said their 9,200-square-foot home was inspected after they filed their claim, it was denied because of a contamination exemption in their policy, the lawsuit says. American Home Insurance denies even inspecting the couple?s home, in court documents, but says contamination or pollution exemptions would apply anyway.

?The same thing?

?Most of the companies are doing the same thing,? said Grant, who has a list of clients who have been denied help from their insurance companies. Grant said she?s waiting to see what happens with this lawsuit before going after other insurance companies.

?With Chinese drywall, what?s so unique about it, is that when these policies were written, they didn?t know what Chinese drywall was,? Grant said. ?To exclude it, I think it?s wrong.?

Copyright ? 2009 The Miami Herald, Beatrice E. Garcia and Nirvi Shah. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Flagler school enrollment increase

Flagler school enrollment increase: "Palm Coast, FL – September 8, 2009 – Recent news of Florida's population has been gloomy. The state's population reportedly declined for the first time since 1946. Flagler County unemployment stands at 15.9%, second highest in the state. Today's release of Flagler County School Districts confirmed entering enrollment brings a little light into a dark room. The total current enrollment of 13,249 is 3% above the number ending the last school year.
The rise is good news to local families and taxpayers. State education money is allocated to school districts based on enrollment. This means the district will get more money from the state. The number only became available today because students cannot be dropped from the rolls until they have been absent for 10 days."

Nes about home sales

Lawrence Yun, the National Association of Realtors' chief economist is optomistic

A new tool to use for Real Estate

Want to look for real estate from your cell phone? An easy way to do it is to text "cflguy" to 87778 and within minutes, an application will be sent to you. Happy Hunting.

23% of Florida home loans past due or in foreclosure in second quarter

WASHINGTON – Aug. 21, 2009 – As home prices fell and the job picture worsened, the percentage of Florida home loans either past due or in foreclosure hit 23 percent in the second quarter, outpacing any other state in the nation.The figure represents 807,000 loans, a staggering sum of the roughly 3.5 million mortgages outstanding in Florida.“Florida deserves special mention as the worst state in the country,” said Jay Brinkmann, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association that released the numbers Thursday. “Nevada is a close second, but everyone else is far behind.”Florida, along with California, Arizona and Nevada – states that saw some of the headiest home price increases during the boom – represented 44 percent of the total number of loans in foreclosure nationally.Twelve percent of all Florida loans were in some stage of the foreclosure process as of June 30, with 10.8 percent past due by a month or more.Nationwide, 4.3 percent were in foreclosure and 9.2 percent were 30 or more days delinquent.Barring loan modifications that would help homeowners stay in their properties, the high number of foreclosures will likely result in more homes being put on the market for resale by lenders, potentially contributing to further price declines.Florida’s mortgage hardships swept across all loan categories, with so-called prime borrowers, or those with good credit, showing the biggest increases in delinquencies. This indicates job losses and falling home prices are taking a toll on a new set of homeowners.Between the first and second quarter, the percentage increase in delinquencies and foreclosures among borrowers with fixed loans even outpaced borrowers with subprime loans – or those sold to borrowers with spotty credit histories and staggering default rates.Delinquencies and foreclosures among prime borrowers rose from 10.7 percent to 12.42 percent in the second quarter.Among subprime loans, 52 percent of roughly 536,000 subprime loans tracked by the MBA were past due or in foreclosure in the second quarter, up from 51 percent in the previous three-month period.Delinquencies among prime-fixed borrowers are key because they reflect problems with the underlying economy rather than problems arising from the structure or underwriting of loans.“This is further confirmation of what we have been saying and expecting for the last year or more,” that these problems are being driven by fundamental issues in the economy, Brinkmann said.Falling real estate values often lead borrowers to walk away from their homes rather than continue to pay off loans worth far more than the properties. Until the employment picture improves – sometime in the middle of next year, Brinkmann predicted – delinquencies will continue to rise.Foreclosures should start tapering off about six months after that as the foreclosures cases are worked through the system and the homes are taken back by lenders or sold at auction.
Copyright © 2009 The Miami Herald, Monica Hatcher. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Home buyers' fair

City Of Palm Coast To Participate In The Flagler County Association Of Realtors® Free Home Buyers Fair
13 Jul, 2009 Palm Coast
If you’re interested in buying or selling a home, now or in the future, plan on taking part in the Home Buyers Fair sponsored by the Flagler County Association of REALTORS® on July 18, 2009.
Scheduled from 10:00 AM to 2:30 PM on July 18, 2009 at the Flagler County Association of REALTORS® office at 4101 East Moody Blvd., Bunnell, FL. This free event offers information covering all aspects of the homebuying, selling, and homeownership process. Flagler County residents participating in the Home Buyers Fair also will receive information about financing, affordable housing programs and how to take advantage of the temporary $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers. For anyone concerned about their mortgage, experts will be available to discuss options and offer foreclosure prevention tips.
“Buying or selling a home is a major life experience,” says Rus Saboe, 2009 FCAR President, “It can be exhilarating, confusing, exciting and terrifying, all at the same time. The more you know, the better prepared you are for a great experience. And, here at our Home Buying Fair, we have gathered together experts and a wealth of information for you – all at one time, in one location. We encourage everyone to come out and take advantage of the Fair. You’ll be glad you did!”
Participants will include:
Flagler County Association of REALTORS®
City of Palm Coast – Neighborhood Stabilization Program – Beau Falgout
Flagler County – Ship Program – Valerie Bradley
Mid Florida Housing Partnership- Lydia Gregg
FCAR Affiliated Mortgage Professionals
For more information about the Flagler County Association of REALTORS® Home Buyers Fair, go to www.FlaglerCountyRealtors.com (click on Events) or call (386) 437-0095.
For more information about the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers or guidance on foreclosure prevention, go to the Florida Association of Realtors® website at: http://www.floridarealtors.org. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) also offers a helpful resource for Florida homeowners facing foreclosure at: http://www.hud.gov/local/fl/homeownership/foreclosure.cfm.
The Flagler County Association of REALTORS® serves as the voice for real estate in Flagler County and provides programs, services, continuing education, research and legislative representation to its 967 members