Things To Do In SW Florida

David McMillin | (TNS) Bankrate.com

With limited inventory in the housing market, homebuyers in especially hot markets are still experiencing intense competition. To make themselves more attractive to sellers, some aren’t bothering to deal with borrowing any of the funds to make the purchase — instead, they’re making all-cash offers.

Here’s everything you need to know about making a cash offer in real estate.

What is an all-cash offer in real estate?

All-cash offers are just as they sound: a home offer where the buyer intends to pay cash out-of-pocket with no outside funding. This takes the need for securing a mortgage out of the homebuying equation, thus expediting the sale by eliminating the potential challenges of working with a bank or lender.

Not everyone who pays all-cash for a home intends to live there, though. Some all-cash purchases are income properties, and those owners are often looking to be landlords, paying no interest to a lender while earning money from tenants or travelers.

How common are all-cash offers?

All-cash offers are far from the most common way to purchase a home, but there are plenty of buyers who can afford to do it. According to a study from real estate data company ATTOM, all cash-purchases accounted for 34.2% of all home sales in the first quarter of 2022 alone. read more

Brian Baker | Bankrate.com (TNS)

When looking for a financial adviser, you’ll encounter various compensation arrangements, including fee-only advisers and fee-based advisers. Fee-only advisers and fee-based advisers sound very similar, but they have some major differences, and it could have a big impact on the kind of advice you receive as a client.

Here’s what you should know about fee-only and fee-based financial planners.

What is a fee-only financial planner?

A fee-only financial planner is someone who earns a fee for their services and does not receive commissions on the sale of financial products as additional compensation. The fee may be paid as an hourly rate, a flat fee or as a percentage of assets under management (typically around one percent).

Fee-only advisers typically act as fiduciaries for their clients, meaning they put their clients’ interests before their own or their firms’. Certain professional designations such as a certified financial planner (CFP) and a chartered financial analyst (CFA) are held to the fiduciary standard. read more

Prescriptions at Winn-Dixie pharmacies are expected to move to CVS Pharmacies and Walgreens stores by the end of the year as the grocery chain merges with discount grocer Aldi. 

The company does not have a specific date for the transfer, but customers should receive “sufficient advance notice,” said Meredith Hurley, senior director of communications for Winn-Dixie parent company Southeastern Grocers.

The Tampa Bay Times revealed the pharmacy move earlier this week after obtaining internal emails. 

Winn-Dixie deal could put Aldi at No. 2 in metro Orlando grocery stores

“We are working closely with CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens to ensure that our customers’ prescriptions are handled carefully and confidentially and that there won’t be any delay in service,” Hurley said in a statement provided to the Orlando Sentinel on Friday.

As for pharmacy staff, Hurley said CVS and Walgreens have expressed a desire to interview Winn-Dixie’s pharmacy associates.

Illinois-based Aldi’s deal, revealed last week, would have the business gaining 400 Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores. read more

By Sam Kemmis | NerdWallet

When I first became a digital nomad in 2018, I expected a life of adventure and ease. “No more commuting!” I thought. “No more parking tickets or forgetting to water my plants!”

Yet far from making my life simpler and better, solo travel was tough at first. For one thing, the way I was doing it was expensive. For another, it was lonely. “No more retirement savings! No more, um, friends?”

Not every traveler is looking to become a full-time digital nomad, but solo travel on the whole has become more popular over the past several years. Single-person flight searches were up 36% in 2023 compared with 2022, according to data from Kayak, a travel search platform. And Google searches for “solo travel” have increased 59% in the first half of 2023 compared with the same period in 2019, according to Google Trends.

Solo travel can certainly be expensive. Booking a $150 hotel room might not be a big deal for families, but it adds up quickly for singletons. It can also be lonely and boring — but it doesn’t have to be. read more