Worst Florida Cities / Tiny House Festival / Q4 2018 Sales Finish Up

Published: Mon, 02/18/19

1. More Florida cities are taking measures to protect the health of their local environments. Last week we mentioned Key West banning certain kinds of sunscreen because of the damage they cause to coral reefs. This week, Sarasota is considering banning plastic straws and styrofoam. - Herald Tribune

2. Four Florida cities were named among the 50 worst U.S. cities to live in. Florida City, Immokalee, Belle Glade, and Beverly Hills (yes, take that California, we have a Beverly Hills too!) are the cities that made the list. To come up with the rankings, the financial website 24/7 Wall St. measured 25 factors in four categories: affordability, economy, quality of life, and community. - Sun-Sentinel

3. Delray Beach just found out from an engineering team that it will cost upwards of $378 million to raise roads and seawalls to protect their streets from rising waters associated with climate change. A number of other coastal cities and counties including Miami and Broward County are already at work putting similar changes in place. - Sun-Sentinel

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4. Fans of Tiny Houses will want to be in St. Pete the weekend of March 23-24 for the St. Pete Tiny Home Festival. The festival will showcase 30 tiny structures, including custom homes, retail shops, and converted buses known as "skoolies." - St. Pete Tiny Home Festival

5. Minto Communities and Margaritaville Holdings held a grand opening event this week at One Particular Harbour Marina, Margaritaville’s new deep-water marina at Harbour Isle in Bradenton. While we learned last week that Minto/Margaritaville were calling off the 2nd phase of Latitude Margaritaville in Daytona Beach at least for now, this hasn’t slowed their other partnerships in the state. - YouTube

6. According to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®, Florida's housing market wrapped up 2018 with more sales, higher median sale prices and more new listings compared to the year before. - Florida Realtors

At On Top of the World Communities, active adults will find all they dream about and so much more. Located in beautiful Ocala Florida, On Top of the World residents can enjoy any schedule that suits their tastes – from activity packed to unhurried.Residents can also participate in over 175 clubs, leagues, hobbies, and lifelong learning opportunities.

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7. According to a new report, most of Florida’s metropolitan areas have greater economic freedom when compared to other metropolitan areas throughout the United States. 15 Florida metropolitan areas were among the top 50. - Brevard Times

8. Tampa area new home construction jumped at the end of 2018. Quarterly new-home starts were up 18.5 percent overall compared to the same period a year earlier. - Tampa Bay Times

9. Your local retirement community golf course is probably the last place you’d expect to witness a high-speed chase, but that’s exactly what happened this week in The Villages. - WFLA

10. Speaking of The Villages, for anyone unfamiliar, it is Florida’s most popular retirement community, selling more than 2,000 new homes just last year. Because of its popularity, I have an entire website, book, and newsletter dedicated to just this one community. Check it out here if you’re interested.

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