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Talk of the Bay: Home glut sparks rent competition

Remember when everyone was buying up apartments to convert them into condos?

By Times Staff
Published October 21, 2007

Home glut sparks rent competition

Remember when everyone was buying up apartments to convert them into condos? Well, despite the resulting constriction of the apartment supply, vacancies are up the past year in the Tampa Bay area. The firm RealFact tracks about 200 apartment buildings in our region. It said occupancy has worsened 2.9 percent to 92.5 percent, while average rents have increased 2 percent to $863. Among 12 Florida metro areas, we're in the middle of the pack. Miami has the highest rent at $1,224. Naples is worst off for occupancy at 82.8 percent. A glut of vacant investor homes for rent has increased competition for apartments.

It's a Roomba for your gutters

If cleaning the gutters makes you question why you have gutters, HSN stages the national debut Oct. 27 of a gadget that might ease your mind. Yes, the MIT engineers who created Roomba, those disc-shaped, battery-powered vacuum cleaner robots, shifted their automation energies to another dirty job. Using robotics developed for roadside bomb disposal in Afghanistan, Loojis a self-propelled robot augur that burrows through and scatters detritus piled up in gutters with brushes spinning at 500 RPM. Made by iRobot Corp., the self-propelled robot retails for $99. Just stick it in the gutter and watch it go. Looj comes with a belt-loop holster so owners have free hands climbing ladders for deployment.

Health insurers live it up this week

The special $250-a-night room rate might still be a little stiff for the 3.5-million Floridians who can't afford health insurance. But the Four Seasons Resort in Palm Beach is apparently quite affordable for the state's health insurers, who will kick off their annual two-day convention at the oceanfront resort today. The group's members, who have been reporting healthy profits this year, will hear from Florida's lieutenant governor, as well as the head of the Agency for Health Care Administration and deputy commissioner with the Office of Insurance Regulation. While Congress has been unable to overturn President Bush's veto of an expansion of the children's health program, Florida's insurance executives will make their contribution to kids' health. Proceeds of their golf tournament will benefit Florida's Healthy Start, which offers limited services to pregnant women and infants. Toddlers are on their own.

Bone up on all this biotech stuff

Now there's an online encyclopedia of sorts with facts about Florida's growing biotech industry. The University of Florida's Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator has unveiled FloridaBiodatabase.com. The Web site details the state's top three regions with the greatest concentration of biotech and bio-med devices and how much venture capital is being invested.

[Last modified October 19, 2007, 22:17:51]