Things To Do In SW Florida

MIAMI — After years of living in dorms and subpar apartments, Lisa Li could not wait to close on her new home.

The one-bedroom condo in Miami’s financial district had a view of the river, was in a safe neighborhood and, Li heard, had neighbors who were much like her — less party, more chill. So Li, a 28-year-old who came to the United States 11 years ago as a college student from China, put in an offer, had her bid accepted and began ordering furniture.

Then things took a sharp turn. At the last minute, the title company raised concerns about a small U.S. Coast Guard outpost near South Beach a few miles away. The company said her purchase might run afoul of a new Florida law that prohibits many Chinese citizens from buying property in the state, especially near military installations, airports or refineries.

Under the law, Li could face prison time, and the sellers and real estate agents could be held liable. The deal collapsed.

“The whole experience was very hurtful and tiring,” Li said in Miami, where she is still renting. “I just feel that, as someone who has lived and worked in this country for many years, and as a legal taxpayer, at the very least I should have the ability to buy a home that I can live in.” read more

CAPE CANAVERAL — Boeing has spent more than $1.5 billion to develop its CST-100 Starliner amid years of delays, but the payoff on its deal with NASA is on the horizon with the first human test flight set for launch Monday night.

Veteran NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will climb aboard the capsule for the Crew Flight Test atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. It’s set to lift off from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 10:34 p.m. to the International Space Station.

The duo will return after eight days with a landing in the western United States. The pair will test docking, undocking and landing procedures, including manual takeovers for what would normally be automated systems.

“The success of this mission has always been very important for us as a program for a lot of reasons,”  said Mark Nappi, Boeing’s Starliner program manager during a launch readiness review last week. “Number one, we have humans flying on this vehicle. We always take that so seriously — human spaceflight. … Second is, this is an important capability for NASA, and so you know we signed up to go do this, and we’re going to go do it and be successful at it.” read more

The Boeing CST-100 Starliner Crew Flight Test will launch two NASA veteran astronauts atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 targeting liftoff Monday, May 6, at 10:34 p.m. headed for the International Space Station.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will stay on board for eight days before returning the Starliner to Earth with a land touchdown in the western United States sometime in mid-May. The mission looks to pave the way for certification of the spacecraft as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program so that Boeing can join SpaceX with rotational astronaut missions to the ISS.

The CFT flight comes about four years after SpaceX managed its first crewed test flight because of a series of delays in Boeing’s program. In those four years, SpaceX has managed 13 flights of its fleet of Crew Dragons taking 50 people into space including eight rotational missions to the ISS during which astronauts stay for around six months. read more

Former state lawmaker Chris Dorworth’s River Cross Land Co. has filed for bankruptcy, after spending roughly $1 million in a failed bid to erect a controversial mega development within Seminole County’s rural boundary.

According to the Chapter 7 filing on April 22, the company, an LLC, has liabilities estimated to range between $500,000 and $1 million, and estimated assets of up to $50,000.

The filings in Florida’s middle district of U.S. Bankruptcy Court provide few other details. However, in a text message to the Sentinel on Friday, Dorworth said Seminole County is River Cross’ only creditor.

For more than a year, Seminole leaders have pursued $432,000 that River Cross is under court order to pay the county, an amount representing its legal fees defending itself from the development firm.

But two days after the bankruptcy filing, U.S. District Judge Anne Conway ordered a temporary halt in the fee recovery proceedings until the bankruptcy case is resolved. Seminole’s attorney Kate Latorre did not respond to an email asking for comment on Friday. read more

Jeff Ostrowski | Bankrate.com (TNS)

As homebuyers grapple with record prices this spring, mortgage rates have also crept up. On a 30-year fixed loan, the average rate was 7.39% as of May 1, according to Bankrate’s survey of large lenders, marking three straight months of 7% rates.

Blame inflation. It’s still stubbornly elevated, rising to 3.5% in March, and that’s led to dialed-back expectations about how quickly the Federal Reserve cuts rates this year, if at all. The central bank left rates unchanged at its latest meeting concluding May 1.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate was 3.98% in March, while economic growth slowed to 1.6% in the first quarter of 2024.

All of these factors have added up to an uncertain timeline for the Fed, prompting investors to bid up 10-year Treasury yields, the informal benchmark for 30-year fixed mortgage rates.

Mortgage rate predictions May 2024

As May ushers in peak real estate season, forecasters aren’t anticipating a break from the current spate of 7% mortgages.

“The wind continues to blow in the wrong direction for mortgage borrowers,” says Greg McBride, Bankrate’s chief financial analyst. “Rates have spiked as inflation runs hot, the Fed timetable for interest rate cuts gets pushed back and the supply of government debt rises. Expect mortgage rates to remain well above 7% in May, and maybe closer to 8% if the run of disappointing inflation data continues.” read more