Things To Do In SW Florida

TJ Porter | Bankrate.com (TNS)

Unless it’s an all-cash deal, most homebuyers turn to a mortgage to purchase property. There are many financial institutions that offer mortgages, including banks and independent organizations. Each has pros and cons.

What’s the difference between a mortgage lender and a bank?

A bank is a depository institution that typically offers various financial services, such as banking accounts, various types of loans — including mortgages — investing services and more. In contrast, mortgage lenders focus specifically on home loans for purchases and refinances, and some offer home equity products.

Aside from the differences in product slate, banks often have more overhead to support branch locations (versus a mortgage lender that operates solely online, for example) and sometimes stricter compliance requirements. This can mean that their mortgages are more expensive in terms of interest rate, fees or both and might take longer to approve.

On the flip side, mortgage lenders only offer home loans — you won’t be able to do all your financial business in one place if you work with a lender over a bank. read more

By Stephanie Zito, Bankrate

Travelers are more eager than ever to hit the road and travel since restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have ended. But since the very onset of the pandemic, renting a car has come with its own particularly frustrating baggage.

As travel dropped in 2020, rental car companies were undoubtedly hit hard. Companies like Hertz were forced to file for bankruptcy (having since bounced back) and others had to sell off thousands of cars from their fleets. Unfortunately for travelers, this has often meant higher car rental prices and lower availability.

Usually, I almost never recommend using rewards for rental car bookings since you can almost always find a rental car deal through AutoSlash, Hotwire, Kayak or Priceline if you don’t care what company you’re renting from. When these kinds of deals don’t exist, however, here’s what you need to know about booking a car rental with miles or points.

Using miles or points to book a car

Airline miles and points

Nearly every airline has a frequent flyer program that has the option to redeem your points or miles for rental car bookings. The exchange value of airline miles for rental cars typically isn’t as good as using miles for booking flights, but it is an option. It might be worthwhile if you’re earning more miles than you can spend on flights through a co-branded airline credit card. read more

By Alana Benson | NerdWallet

I don’t have Taylor Swift tickets. I didn’t survive Ticketmaster’s Great War, I haven’t been blessed with a magical code, and Mama Swift likely won’t pluck me from obscurity to watch from the VIP section.

None of this has stopped me from buying friendship bracelet-making supplies, multiple concert outfit options and a clear stadium-approved bag — and I’m not alone.

Since Taylor Swift embarked on her record-shattering Eras Tour, her fans have brought shocking economic activity to each city she visits. Resale ticket prices alone are in the thousands, but participating in the Swiftdom extends far beyond a seat at the show.

Who’s Taylor Swift anyway?

Why are people so willing to spend enormous amounts of money on a concert? Well, this isn’t just any concert.

The Eras Tour is a rewind through not just Taylor’s most formative years, but mine as well. How often can you hear songs that were played at your middle school dances on the same night as the songs that kept you company during the pandemic? For many of us, Taylor Swift isn’t just the music industry, she’s the soundtrack to our best and hardest moments. read more

DETROIT (AP) — Ford is resuming production of the F-150 Lightning electric pickup after closing a factory in Dearborn, Michigan, for six weeks to triple production capacity.

The move comes just two weeks after the company cut prices on all versions of the trucks, some by as much as $10,000, fueling speculation that demand had fallen.

But company officials said Tuesday that they’re getting six times the orders now than before the price cuts, and Ford has an order bank big enough to take up 45 days of production at the reworked Rouge Electric Vehicle Center. The company wouldn’t give an exact number of orders.

Lightning sales in the second quarter of the year were more than double the same period in 2022, but there were up only 4% from the first quarter.

Ford says that’s because they stopped production at the Rouge Electric Vehicle center in June to add equipment and expand the plant so it can make more vehicles. The plant, which now employs about 2,000 workers, will be able to produce electric trucks at a rate of 150,000 per year starting this fall. read more

The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday it is eliminating all minority-based hiring and contracting under its authority at Disney World.

In a news release sent from the district, District Administrator Glen Gilzean also said Reedy Creek’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs discriminated against Americans based on race and gender and cost “taxpayers millions of dollars.”

The district’s DEI committee and any related job duties will be abolished, and staff won’t be allowed to pursue DEI initiatives.

“Our district will no longer participate in any attempt to divide us by race or advance the notion that we are not created equal,” said Gilzean, who was head of the Central Florida Urban League when DeSantis appointed him to the $400,000 a year position earlier this year.

The Reedy Creek Minority/ Women Business Enterprise and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise programs led to contracts awarded based on racially and gender-driven goals, using quotas to ensure those goals were met, Gilzean said. read more