The Anna Maria Island Sun Newspaper



Vol. 17 No. 15 - January 25, 2017

BUSINESS

Hometown Desserts opens second location

LaPensee Plumbing Pools Air

LOUISE BOLGER | SUN

From left: Lori Howard, Cindy Tutterow and Gretchen VonCloedt
are ready to serve you at Hometown Desserts.

The holidays are over, and you're really trying to fulfil those New Year's resolutions, but I'm here to tell you that you don't have a chance since one of the best bakeries in Manatee County opened a second location.

You may have visited Hometown Desserts on Pine Avenue located in one of Anna Maria City's Green Village shops and fell in love with the variety of baked goods that come out of that little space. Well now you don't have to fight the winter beach traffic out to the Island and pray for a parking spot. If you're craving one of Cindy Tutterow's coconut cakes, you just have to run up Manatee Avenue to 51st Street and park in front of the second Hometown Desserts' location.

Tutterow has been baking since she was a little girl in North Carolina. After a career as a Manatee County school teacher, she had a seven-year home based baking business, which grew into her first location on Anna Maria. After four years on the Island, it was time to expand to be more convenient to non-Island visitors and residents. In July of last year, a shop that was formerly The Cupcake Bakery became available, and Tutterow snapped it up right along with the staff and the cupcake sign on the wall.

Some of Hometown Desserts' menu includes cakes, pies, cupcakes, scones, cookies, brownies and wedding cakes. However, the star of Hometown Desserts are Tutterow's coconut cakes from her grandmother's secret recipe in your choice of chocolate, lemon, red velvet, strawberry and everyone's absolute favorite, key lime. Everything that is offered at the Pine Avenue location is also available on Manatee Avenue, and she will gladly import from or to the Island as needed.

You can also select from other layer cakes which are available in 6-, 8- and 9-inch sizes including carrot, chocolate fudge, chocolate mousse, red velvet and more. She also carries an assortment of pies and cheesecake, as well as a variety of quiches. She has a thriving business baking wedding cakes and now you can design the top of your wedding cake and even have it monogrammed. Hometown also has some of the most creative cookies around packaged in baskets and buckets with a beach, wedding or other specialty theme.

Tutterow and her staff in both locations continue to supply many local restaurants, and the list is growing. They provide catering for office and home breakfast get togethers or parties with bite size sweets for upcoming Super Bowl, Valentine's Day and Easter events or for just about any type of party with just about anything.

So forget those New Year's resolutions, and visit Hometown Desserts on Manatee Avenue. Sit down one morning at one of the bistro tables, have a cup of coffee, a scone, cookie or a slice of cake and leave with a key lime coconut cake. I promise you, you'll be back and back and back.

HOMETOWN DESSERTS

5120 Manatee Ave. W.

Bradenton

941-896-9735

Monday – Saturday: 10a.m. – 6p.m.

Closed Sunday

All major credit cards accepted

Anna Maria Island Sun News Story

Reverse mortgages worth another look

Investment Corner

I have written about reverse mortgages over the years, at least twice here in the Sun. My advice was that reverse mortgages were expensive for the borrower, but in the case where a retired person or couple had run out of assets, using the equity in their home through a reverse mortgage wasn’t the worst idea in the world.

I’m bringing the topic back one more time because some changes in federal guidelines have made the reverse mortgage a more attractive option for those who are over age 62, that own their home free and clear of another mortgage and who are concerned about the possibility of running low on retirement income during their lifetime

Space limitations don’t’ allow us to go into a full primer on reverse mortgages, but let’s hit some of the highlights.

• Fees are down: The up front mortgage insurance premium applied to all reverse mortgages was reduced from 2.5 percent of the loan amount to 0.5 percent by the Reverse Mortgage Stabilization Act of 2013, as long as the borrower doesn’t tap more than 60 percent of the available credit balance in the first year. Other fees have been standardized and are roughly in line with a traditional home mortgage, but often lenders will issue credits to offset some or all of these other expenses.

• Education: Borrowers are required to attend a consumer counseling session to make sure they understand the nature of the reverse mortgage. The cost of this session is $125

• Borrowing limit: The limit for reverse mortgage credit lines depends on the age of the youngest borrower, current interest rates and the lenders margin. Generally, you can access about half of the value of your principal resident, up to a current maximum value of $625,000.

• Payments: You don’t need to make payment on a reverse mortgage. The money you borrow and accrued interest must be repaid when you no longer live in the home. This can be through a move to another location, or if you pass away. The home will then be sold, the reverse mortgage paid off and any excess above that can be left to heirs.

In the past, advice was generally to take out the reverse mortgage as a last resort when it was obvious additional funds may be needed. Under current guidelines, that advice is outdated. Reverse mortgage lines of credit actually grow over time, giving the borrower the ability to borrow more. So, the current advice in most situations is to establish the line of credit in your mid-60s, when eligible, and instead of borrowing, just let the line of credit rest with a zero balance.

A line of credit for about $125,000 will grow to about $190,000 in 10 years, 290,000 in 20 years and over $440,000 in 30 years. Establishing, but not accessing the line of credit until later in retirement gives the retiree a lot of flexibility. The exact loan characteristics are influenced by the age(s) of the borrowers as well as the current level of interest rates.

In summary, for those who may find themselves real estate rich and liquid asset challenged, a reverse mortgage may be a good option.

Tom Breiter is president of Breiter Capital Management, Inc., an Anna Maria based investment advisor. He can be reached at 778-1900. Some of the investment concepts highlighted in this column may carry the risk of loss of principal, and investors should determine appropriateness for their personal situation before investing. Visit www.breitercapital.com.

 


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