Things To Do In SW Florida

Two more new home insurers — one opened by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and another founded by a Tampa-area philanthropist — have been approved to sell policies in Florida.

Stand Insurance Exchange, a California-based insurer, and Praxis Reciprocal Exchange, headquartered in Tampa, are the 16th and 17th new entities to enter Florida’s market since legislative reforms were enacted in 2022 and 2023, the state Office of Insurance Regulation announced in a news release on Thursday.

The 17 companies bring a combined $574 million in policyholder surplus to further shift coverage burdens away from state-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and into the private sector.

Insurance lines that will be offered by the two new companies include fire, allied lines, homeowners multi-peril, inland marine, other liability. Praxis will also sell boiler and machinery coverage.

Each will participate in Citizens’ depopulation program by taking out 25,000 Citizens policies in December, the release said. read more

By Alex Halverson, The Seattle Times

It’s a sunny, September day in SeaTac, Washington, and three kids are playing in the courtyard of Connection Angle Lake, a new 130-unit affordable housing project roughly 50 feet from the last stop on Sound Transit’s 1 Line.

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Inside, the studios, one-bedroom and multi-bedroom apartments look fresh with stainless steel appliances and views that give a peek of Mount Rainier.

The proximity to the light rail is no coincidence. The site was acquired by Sound Transit in 2013 and purchased at a discount by affordable housing organization Mercy Housing in 2022. The transit-oriented housing project made a perfect candidate for Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund, which contributed a $17 million low-interest rate loan and a $2 million grant. read more

Halloween merchandise hit some stores before the Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving items were in already stores in August.

Given that it’s mid-September, retailers are rolling out products for the next winter big holiday: Christmas.

On Tuesday, Target launched a four-pronged approach to its holiday shopping experience.

Prong one: new items. Target is debuting more than 20,000 new items for holiday shoppers, many priced at $5 and most priced under $20. In a news release, the chain announced that is selling twice as many holiday items as last year, and more than half of those are Target exclusives.

Among the items for sale this year, the store highlighted pop-culture collaborations (“Stranger Things,” “Wicked: For Good”), as well as fashion, beauty gifts, Wondershop brand holiday decor and hundreds of exclusive toys.

Prong two: discounts. From Oct. 5 to 11, the store will have its “Target Circle Week” sale, and then it will kick off a series of weekly sales with prices discounted by up to half, starting Nov. 1. Its “Circle Week” sales are for the store’s membership program, which is free to join. Look for discounts on “everyday essentials, fall style picks and holiday gifts,” a news release said. To see what’s on sale, head to its deals page: target.com/c/deals/-/N-atb3q. read more

By Victor Swezey, Bloomberg News

Gen Z borrowers took the biggest hit of any age group this year, helping pull overall credit scores lower in the worst year for U.S. consumer credit quality since the global financial crisis roiled the world’s economy.

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The average FICO score slipped to 715 in April from 717 a year earlier, marking the second consecutive year-over-year drop, according to a report released Tuesday by Fair Isaac Corp. The average score dropped three points to 687 in 2009.

Gen Z borrowers saw the largest drop, not only this year, but of any age group since 2020, with their average score falling three points to 676, the Montana-based creator of the FICO credit score said. read more

Sarah Tang and Regeant Panday were following what many consider the path to the American Dream: college, marriage, house, kids. Tang’s parents followed that formula. Her dad pushed her to do the same. 

“You need to buy a house to grow up,” Tang remembered thinking.

The couple decided to forgo a more expensive wedding and reception, opting instead for City Hall nuptials and a small dinner with friends. With savings and some family help, the millennial couple pieced together the roughly $110,000 needed for a down payment last summer on a three-bedroom Bridgeport home.

While Tang, 31, and Panday, 38, were able to achieve homeownership, it has left them “house poor”: spending an outsized portion of their income on homeownership. As a result, they’ve had to make sacrifices. They delayed buying a car. They cut back on dining out. They limit their grocery spending, shopping primarily at Aldi, a chain known for its low prices. 

Despite the austerity measures, the crushing weight of rising housing costs has forced them to press pause on their plans to have kids. read more