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Talk of the bay: Title company prepares for final landing

By Times staff
Published June 8, 2007

The Talon Group, the once high-flying title company, has been grounded by its parent company. Talon soared into the Tampa Bay area in 2003 and quickly spread to offices in St. Petersburg, Palm Harbor and Carrollwood. The offices will close by the end of the month, with some of the 35 employees to be absorbed by parent company First American Title Insurance. Despite the housing slump, Talon's sales were up this year. But the brand had begun to compete with First American for a dwindling supply of home closings. Another company affiliated with Talon, Bayshore Title Insurance Co., will continue to operate independently.

For same jobs, we get paid a bit less
Feeling short-changed or flush? New Department of Labor data out Thursday show that the average pay in 2005 across all occupations in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area was 7 percent below the national average. Put simply, if the average pay nationwide was $1, folks in the Tampa Bay area would be making 93 cents. That pay differential has been hard to overcome but is increasingly a sore spot as housing and other area costs soar. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the average pay across all occupations for six metropolitan areas (Tampa Bay, Miami, Orlando, Tallahassee, Melbourne and Ocala) surveyed in Florida were lower than the national average. But some occupations in the Tampa Bay area fared better than others. Example: Office and administrative support jobs averaged 98 cents vs. the $1 national average. But sales-related jobs paid an average 89 cents vs. the national $1 average.

Insurance puzzle tough to solve
Despite all the insurance news over the past three years, we still apparently don't know much about homeowners policies. That was the message this week from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which cited a nationwide survey that showed that about 33 percent of heads of households mistakenly believe flood and mold damage are covered under a standard homeowners policy. Many people also didn't know whether they were insured for the actual cash value or the replacement cost of their home. In the event of a claim, an actual cash-value payout could be considerably less than a replacement-cost benefit.

[Last modified June 7, 2007, 23:17:11]