Symantec Corp. makers of Norton security software, announced today that they are joining the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) and will have Marian Merritt, Symantec’s Internet Safety Advocate, serve on the FOSI Board of Directors. FOSI is an international non-profit organization dedicated to identifying and promoting best practices, tools and methods for online safety. As [...]

More encouraging news for the local real-estate market: Preliminary numbers for Orlando’s industrial segment show that the amount of available space dipped by 600,000 square feet during the second quarter. It’s the first evidence of a tightening since late last year, a sign that vacancies could be stabilizing.
That’s the early reading from David Murphy, senior [...]

The federal government has seized $13.3 million in real estate from Florida venture capitalist Frank L. Amodeo amidst allegations of embezzlement.
Government officials seized the property after the Orlando businessman was accused of buying real estate with money he stole from the now-defunct Mirabilis Ventures, the Orlando Sentinel reported Saturday.
The former venture capitalist is the target [...]

The national and the local apartment vacancy rates, far apart in recent years, are much closer now.
Reis, Inc. (AMEX: WRP) a New York-based research firm, said the nation’s average apartment vacancy was 5.8 percent as of the end of the second quarter, down from 6 percent during the first three months of 2007 –reportedly the [...]

Are the Stranahan House and the land next door to it historic?
City commissioners will be asked to vote Tuesday night on that issue. It’s more complicated than it sounds, though.
The home of city pioneers Frank and Ivy Stranahan on the New River downtown is the oldest structure in Broward County, and few would disagree with [...]

If you live in an apartment or condo, you should buy renter’s or condo insurance. The building may not be yours to lose, but you have valuables inside.
Get shutters or panels for your sliding glass doors and windows. If you rent, check whether your landlord provides them and who will put them up before [...]

News of the arrests of three people so far in connection with an alleged Hallandale Beach condo kickback scheme is triggering suspicions among some South Florida owners about the honesty of their condo boards.
Residents who think their boards are doing something illegal have been seeking copies of the condo crimes screening checklist created to [...]

A Margate condo association has dropped its lawsuit against a wheelchair-bound widow for allowing two caretakers to stay with her around the clock.
Rose Normoyle, 86, who worked as a “Rosie the Riveter” in Long Island aircraft factories during World War II, had been accused of violating rules that prohibit “unauthorized and-or transient occupants from [...]

Support for a seniors condominium community at Errol Estate Country Club is wobbling like a golf ball over a bumpy green.
One city advisory board recommended approval of the condos, siding with some Errol residents who think the housing development is necessary to the financial stability of the community’s club and golf course. Another city board [...]

A Fort Lauderdale condominium board has promised Attorney General Bill McCollum that it will allow residents to attach mezuzahs to the outside doorposts of their apartments.
The controversy began in December, when Laurie Richter, 28, rented an apartment in the Port Condominium, in the 1800 block of Southeast 17th Street. She said putting up a [...]

The Hotel Council of San Francisco will honor employes March 27, with weekend hotel stays, dining certificates, Giants tickets, airline tickets, and an original Hotel Hero Award Culpture by local artist Douglas Brett.
Winners are selected by a five member panel made up of representatives in the hospitality industry. Winners will receive an original Hotel Hero [...]

More than 15,000 condo-hotel rooms could flood Central Florida during the next several years in one of the biggest, and possibly riskiest, building booms ever to sweep the region’s lodging industry.
Condo hotels are outwardly indistinguishable from their conventional counterparts. They have lobbies, room service and even affiliations with the world’s best-known hotel brands. It’s their [...]