RAA Group

The 1st District Court of Appeal has rejected another challenge to a state law that provides tax breaks to Florida homeowners.

The three-judge panel said in its ruling that it has already “considered and rejected virtually identical constitutional challenges.”

The constitutional amendment, which passed in 1992 and went into effect in 1995, caps the increase in annual assessments of homestead properties in Florida to 3 percent or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less. It was designed to protect full-time Florida homeowners from skyrocketing increases in property values.

To qualify, a residential property must be a primary residence that meets homestead requirements.

Last year, a challenge to the amendment was filed after voters approved a provision that allows for residents to take part of the tax break with them when they move.

Those challenging the amendment argue that it is unfair to new residents and those who are not permanent Florida residents and violates U.S. constitutional rights of travel and interstate commerce.

While Hispanics trail other U.S. populations in overall access to the Internet, they also are among the most avid users of mobile broadband, a new report finds.

In fact, 53 percent of Hispanics use mobile broadband, compared to 33 percent of whites, according to the report, published Wednesday by the nonprofit Hispanic Institute.

Hispanics also outpace the general population when it comes to digital media consumption, with 42 percent accessing and downloading digital media, compared to 35 percent of those in the general population.

The report notes that there are 48 million Hispanics living in the U.S. with 81 percent of them concentrated in 10 states, including Florida, which has 20 percent of the Hispanic population.

The report suggests that policymakers consider Hispanics’ concerns as they develop a national broadband strategy.

It recommends, among other things, that broadband access be expanded, and that consumer-friendly tax policies be implemented to ensure that not only Hispanics, but other minority and lower-income populations, can continue to afford wireless broadband services.

In addition, the report recommends that Lifeline/Link-Up programs continue to offer discounts to qualified, low-income wireless customers. “These policies are essential to help Hispanics make a complete transition to mobile participation in the new American innovation economy,” the report states.

Click here to read the full report.

Florida’s poorest residents pay a far higher share of their income in state and local taxes than do the richest families in the state, according to a newly released report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

The report notes that Florida’s lowest income group – those making about $10,500 a year – pay more than six times more of their income in taxes than those in the top 1 percent – those making about $2.4 million a year – based on income and taxes paid in 2007.

Those in the lowest group pay on average 13.5 percent of their income in state and local taxes, while those in the higher income bracket pay, on average, 2.1 percent, the report notes.

Middle-income families – those making about $37,400 a year – pay an average of 9 percent of their income, or more than four times as much as those in the highest income group.

Nationwide, the state and local tax obligation for all states averages about 10.9 percent for low-income families, 9.4 percent for middle-income and 5.2 percent for those in the top income bracket.

The findings are, in large part, due to the fact that Florida has no personal income tax, and relies on the state sales tax for revenue.

The report, which calls Florida’s tax structure “antiquated,” calls on the Legislature to revise the state’s tax system to “make it fairer and adequate to meet the need for public services.

Click here to read the full report.

Despite some positive economic news of late, Floridians are not feeling very upbeat about the economy, a new poll finds.

More than 83 percent say they are concerned about their money challenges, while 43 percent don’t expect they will be financially better off a year from now, according to the poll, which was conducted as part of a new statewide financial education initiative called Money Wise Florida.

The program is a financial literacy campaign that was created in partnership with Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.

In addition to the poll, the project will include a 30-minute television special that will be broadcast statewide in 2010.

Among other findings:

• Thirty-eight percent of those polled say they have personally suffered a financial crisis in the past year, 73 percent know someone who lost their job, and one-fourth say their home is worth less than their mortgage.
• Fifty-five percent are not confident investing in stocks, real estate, buying a new house or car.
• Seventy-two percent are not confident about changing jobs, starting a business or running debt.
• Forty-seven percent will spend less on this holiday season.
• Forty-three percent most likely will cut going out to eat from their budget.
• Twenty-one percent most likely will cut out going to the movies.

Most Floridians report good basic financial habits: 95 percent say they check their credit card bills monthly, 92 percent say they check their bank statements monthly and two-thirds say they pay off their credit cards monthly.

“All that translates into a population that is largely frozen in place, unwilling to make the kind of changes, investments or purchases that could stimulate Florida’s sluggish economy,” the report notes.

Systems integration firm Adesta, which provides security technology services for a variety of large clients including critical infrastructure projects, has been purchased by global security solutions company G4S. The purchase price is $66 million, and was based on annual revenues from Adesta of $92 million in 2008.

“As a leading systems integrator in the design and operation of security systems and command and control centers for Government and Regulated sectors, the Adesta acquisition is an important strategic step to deliver advanced secure solutions combining G4S manpower and technology to U.S. seaports, where Adesta has an impressive market penetration, and extend this to chemical/petrochemical site security and other critical infrastructure,” said Keith Whitelock, president of G4S Technology North America.

Adesta is a 20-plus-year business that provides full service systems integration for electronic and physical security, and key markets have been ports, critical infrastructure and petrochemical industries, as well as public safety. Recent contract wins have included a utility firm near Chattanooga, Tenn., and the Stafford County Public Schools in Virgina. The firm’s skill sets have include wide-ranging sensor installations, video surveillance and access control. Besides security, the firm has also worked to manage and install communications infrastructures used for non-security communications platforms.

Florida ranked second among states with the highest mortgage delinquency rates in the third quarter, at 13.3 percent, according to

TransUnion.com, a credit and information management company. At 14.5 percent, Nevada was No. 1.

Nationwide, the ratio of borrowers who were 60 days or more past due on their mortgages increased for the 11th straight quarter, hitting an all-time high of 6.25 percent in the quarter, up from 5.81 percent the previous quarter.

There is some good news, however. TransUnion found that while the rate is up, it’s not going up as much as in previous months.

For example, the delinquency rate increased almost 14 percent from the fourth quarter of 2008 to first quarter of 2009, while the percent change from first quarter to second quarter of 2009 increased by just 11.3 percent.

“While it continues to be a positive sign that the increase in mortgage borrower delinquency rates has slowed for three consecutive quarters, we have to keep things in perspective,” said FJ Guarrera, vice president of TransUnion’s financial services division, in a news release. “Delinquency rates are rising and expected to peak at record levels. Until the housing market can consistently demonstrate several months of home value appreciation and the unemployment rate improves, mortgage delinquency will likely continue to rise.”

The average national mortgage debt per borrower dropped 0.36 percent, to $193,121 from the previous quarter’s $193,811. The third quarter average represents a 0.43 percent increase over the average mortgage debt per borrower level of $192,287 for the prior-year period.

The area with the highest average mortgage debt per borrower was the District of Columbia, at $359,788, followed by California, at $354,510, and Hawaii at $312,844. The lowest average mortgage debt per borrower was in West Virginia, at $97,265.

Information for the report was culled from 27 million anonymous, randomly sampled, individual credit files, representing about 10 percent of credit-active U.S. consumers.

ADA — The economy is still in the doldrums, people are losing their jobs — and conditions couldn’t be better for Ada-based Pre-Paid Legal.

At least that’s the outlook for CEO Harland Stonecipher, whose company saw net income rise 6 percent the first half of 2009 with cash flow of $35 million, up 28 percent.

“It’s just our business model,” Stonecipher said. “We’ve reported positive net income for the past 10 years. We’re an Oklahoma company, we’ve got offices in Ada, Antlers and Duncan and we’re still rural America. You get a good work ethic, attitude and lesser cost of operations.”

Tulsa financial analyst Jake Dollarhide sees the depressed economy, however, as yet another strength for Pre-Paid Legal: people need attorneys more than ever, and the company’s “pre-paid” approach is more appealing than a hefty $2,000 retainer.

“The thing about Pre-Paid is some might consider it to be a luxury item, much like Starbucks coffee,” Dollarhide said. “But it does cater to middle income or lower income level, or anybody who finds it distasteful to pay a $2,000 retainer.”

Stonecipher agrees.

“The economic downtown has not affected our company, but it has affected our Pre-Paid members,” Stonecipher said. “They need our services more now than at any other time. Foreclosures are at record highs, and, in fact, we’re told in 2010 and 2011, more than 50 percent of mortgages will be under water. Those people will need lawyers.”

Stonecipher said Pre-Paid members are already getting good use of their service, consulting with attorneys about foreclosures and having a better shot at working out an agreement to keep their homes.

“A lot of people who get into this situation can’t afford $300 to $500 an hour,” Stonecipher said. “But with Pre-Paid, they get unlimited access.”

Pre-Paid Legal is continuing with the programs it has had for years but is adding programs designed to help small businesses deal with unions and debt collection.

“Some of these small businesses are very concerned about being unionized. They know there’s a major press in that area, but they don’t know how to respond or what to do about it,” Stonecipher said. “And our lawyers can help them with that. They can also help on debt collection — these businesses need help in tough times to collect every dollar they can.”

Dollarhide said that when the economy recovers, Pre-Paid is in good position to do even better — if it can survive a recently launched Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of Pre-Paid’s marketing practices and stock repurchase program.

Pre-Paid has had a mixed bag in its dealings with the SEC. Several years ago, the company restated its earnings steeply downward after regulators disagreed with the way it booked its sales staff’s commissions. But the last time the SEC came around Ada, the end was nothing but a hit on the stock price.

“Investors hate bad headlines,” Dollarhide said. “Obviously a subpoena casts a cloud. How dark that cloud is remains to be seen. The sooner they can get through that, the better.”

Stonecipher said he was surprised, but not shocked, by the latest investigation. He suspects the probe is related to his company’s repurchase program, in which Pre-Paid has spent $421 million buying back 14 million of 24 million shares the past several years.

“We’re a public company, and that’s the price you pay when you’re a public company. It’s not the best use of our resources, not best for shareholders. It’s only in the interest of the short-sellers. The shorts don’t like our stock buyback program.”

Stonecipher’s response makes sense to Dollarhide.

“The executive founder of a company will always put something in a good light,” Dollarhide said. “And I’m sure the short-sellers don’t like it or anything that might limit them. Some blame short-sellers for the entire crash.”

Could Pre-Paid go private?

“We don’t really need to be public anymore, we don’t need the cash,” Stonecipher said. “We’re buying back one day at a time.”

via newsok.com

Florida experienced the first year-over-year decrease in foreclosure activity since July 2006 – down 4 percent, year-over-year, in October, according to RealtyTrac.

Still, the state posted the third-highest foreclosure rate in the nation, with one in every 168 housing units going into default.

October saw 51,911 Florida properties file for foreclosure, down nearly 6 percent from the previous month, according to the Irvine, Calif.-based online marketplace for foreclosures.

“It’s not that the economy is so much better and that everyone is getting jobs, it’s that the banks are more willing to work things out,” said Scott Coloney, who leads the

Foreclosure Response Team in Fort Lauderdale. “I don’t think the banks want the houses back, and that’s probably why it’s going down. It’s like hot potato.”

Coloney said his company has been working with lenders’ loss mitigation departments, which are granting extensions, giving homeowners who face foreclosure the time to conduct a short sale.

And, while at first blush it might appear that the foreclosure tide is turning, RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio said in a news release that “the fundamental forces driving foreclosure activity in this housing downturn – high-risk mortgages, negative equity and unemployment – continue to loom over any nascent recovery.”

In the tri-county area, Miami-Dade County saw 7,741 homes, or one in every 126, fall into foreclosure last month. In Broward, there were 6,797 homes, or one in every 118, going into default. Palm Beach fared best, with 3,350 homes, or one in every 191, going into foreclosure.

Only Nevada – which experienced a 26 percent decline in foreclosure activity month over month – and California – which experienced just a 1 percent month-over-month decline – had higher foreclosure rates than Florida.

Nationwide, 332,292 homes fell into foreclosure in October, down 3 percent from the previous month, but up nearly 19 percent from October 2008.

The decline in foreclosure rates follows Tuesday’s news that sales of existing homes and condos rose in the third quarter, both in Florida and nationwide.

Still, prices remain significantly depressed. A report released Monday by Zillow found that South Florida homeowners continued to drown in negative equity, with more than 46 percent, or 387,157 of all single-family homes, under water at the end of the third quarter.

Even there, however, was a glimmer of hope, as the number was down slightly from the 47 percent, or 393,473 homes, under water in the second quarter.

Last week, President Barack Obama extended the first-time homebuyer credit, leading to speculation that it will help to push more potential homebuyers off the fence, stimulating home sales even further.

It might be the ultimate in retail technology: A way to make huge profits by selling things that do not need to be acquired, stocked or shipped. But these items—perhaps a diamond-lined collar for a virtual pet or a special power in a shared game—are becoming big money. Virtual goods sales are projected to hit $5 billion this year, according to The New York Times.

But virtual goods are hardly free. The paper of record said the revenue was “all for things that, aside from perhaps a few hours of work by an artist and a programmer, cost nothing to produce.” Would they have said the same thing about a bestselling—albeit basic—applet? What is software other than the work of artists and programmers? The more important thing about virtual gifts, though, is what they say about the gift buyers. As Winston Churchill’s Web designer said, “Never before have so many spent so much on so little.” Is this pent up demand for immediacy? Entertainment? Is it a sign that consumers are now ready to embrace micropayments? Regardless, $5 billion is nothing to virtually sneeze at.