Business
July 11, 2022
Homeowners consider renting in tight market
The majority of people in my generation and even those decades younger couldn’t wait to stop paying rent. It was drummed into our brains by our parents and grandparents that paying rent was a waste o…
July 4, 2022
Mortgage interest rates rising again
Here’s a little perspective on the continuing increase of the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage. Several months ago, I did an analysis of the average fixed-rate mortgage rates starting in 1971 recorded on…
July 4, 2022
Monkey Bus sold; new owners to focus on safety
ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Sally Dirbas and her son, Mitchell Gross, a Monkey Bus driver for more than a year, have acquired the Monkey Bus from Island Beach Monkeys LLC, operated by Roque Pastorius.
Dir…
June 28, 2022
Homebuyers getting hit every day
Buying a home was once a happy time for families. Homes were plentiful to choose from, and imagining your grandmother’s credenza in the dining room and the Christmas tree in the living room f…
June 28, 2022
Spring tourism surges on AMI
ANNA MARIA – Spring tourism was strong on Anna Maria Island, according to Anne Wittine, Director of Quantitative Research for Tampa-based Research Data Services.
The Manatee County tourism consult…
June 21, 2022
Condo living getting more complicated
Florida is the mecca for condo living. East coast, west coast, the Panhandle, Orlando – no matter where you go in Florida, it’s likely you will trip over a condominium complex. However, the carefree…
June 13, 2022
Money flowing into Florida
I recently read an interesting historical novel about the wealthy landowners in the South in the years just before the Civil War. These privileged folks moved their entire households, including their…
June 13, 2022
Getting coconutty on AMI
ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Very few things bring to mind the feeling of lazing on a white sand beach enjoying the ocean breeze like drinking from a freshly cracked coconut. The couple behind AMI Coconuts is…
June 6, 2022
Tallahassee finally at work
Just when you think it’s hopeless, there is a sliver of hope. The special session of the Florida Legislature is finally getting some changes on the books related to condominium recertification and ho…
May 30, 2022
Can’t be, not again – it’s hurricane season
As we get older, the years tick by more quickly – or so it seems – and here we are again looking down the barrel of the 2022 North Atlantic hurricane season cannon.
As usual, Colorado State Universi…













