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Talk of the Bay: Try before you buy, even with a new home

Builders complain it's hard to sell new homes these days. So hard that Lennar is letting prospective customers sleep two nights for free in its model homes.

By Times Staff
Published August 27, 2007

Builders complain it's hard to sell new homes these days. So hard that Lennar is letting prospective customers sleep two nights for free in its model homes. The company will offer what it calls "stay and play mini vacations" at Heritage Pines in Pasco County and Hernando Oaks in Brooksville. They're golf course communities geared to retirees. The builder will offer free golf and full run of neighborhood amenities for three days and two nights. Then you get to slip between the sheets in professionally decorated bedrooms. Of course, the goal is that you'll love the Lennar experience so much that you'll sign on the dotted line.

Florida gets to research ethanol

Sweet! The University of Florida picked Florida Crystals' Okeelanta facility as the site of a new cellulosic ethanol research center. (That's crystals as in sugar. Not jewelry.) Last week, the university chose Florida Crystals to construct a plant that will produce 1-million to 2-million gallons of ethanol a year. The $20-million project in Palm Beach County is financed through a state grant to spur development of alternative energy resources. Florida Crystals will convert sugarcane bagasse - the leftover fiber from crushing the cane - and other biomass into ethanol using technology developed by university researchers. Gaston Cantens, vice president of corporate relations for Florida Crystals, called the partnership "an important step in developing reliable, clean energy resources for Florida."

He's free! - from Lou Pearlman

Aspiring young artist Sean van der Wilt is a free man. An Orlando bankruptcy judge released him last week from contracts with three of Lou Pearlman's companies. Van der Wilt had been in limbo since Pearlman's Orlando entertainment empire collapsed in January amid accusations of fraud. The bankruptcy estate will get royalties if van der Wilt records any songs he wrote while under contract to Pearlman. "He's certainly relieved to be free from this," said Jason Turner, van der Wilt's lawyer. Pearlman remains in the Orange County Jail, scheduled to go on trial March 3 on federal bank fraud charges.

We leave the lights on in hotels

Travelers who'd never leave the tap running or the lights on in their house don't worry about it on the road. So says a survey conducted for a new hotel brand, Starwood's Element hotels. While 70 percent of respondents said they try to save water "as much as possible" at home, 18 percent do in a hotel. Nearly two-thirds admit they're more likely to walk out of a hotel room with the lights than they would at home. Element will promote "eco-etiquette" when the hotels open next year, encouraging guests to unplug cell phone chargers and reuse day-old bed linens. Of course, it's that much easier to remember to limit the drips and utilize natural lighting when you're the one paying the water and electric bill.

[Last modified August 24, 2007, 21:13:50]