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2023 St. Pete Grand Prix downtown St. Pete FL

The Downtown St. Petersburg FL Grand Prix is an annual motorsports event that takes place on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. This highly anticipated event draws in crowds from around the country and features some of the top drivers and teams in the world of motorsports. Here are some of the top keywords to know about the Downtown St. Petersburg FL Grand Prix:

  1. Grand Prix: The Downtown St. Petersburg FL Grand Prix is a grand prix, which is a type of auto racing event that typically features high-performance race cars and professional drivers.
  2. St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida. It’s a popular destination for tourists and is known for its beautiful beaches, cultural attractions, and lively downtown area.
  3. Motorsports: Motorsports refers to any form of competitive racing involving motorized vehicles, such as cars, motorcycles, or boats.
  4. IndyCar: IndyCar is a type of open-wheel race car that’s used in many different racing series, including the Downtown St. Petersburg FL Grand Prix.
  5. Street Circuit: The Downtown St. Petersburg FL Grand Prix takes place on a street circuit, which is a type of race course that’s set up on the city streets instead of a dedicated race track.
  6. Festival: The Downtown St. Petersburg FL Grand Prix is more than just a race – it’s also a festival that features live music, food vendors, and other activities for race-goers to enjoy.
  7. Penske: Penske is a prominent racing team that competes in the Downtown St. Petersburg FL Grand Prix and other major racing events around the world.
  8. Speed: The Downtown St. Petersburg FL Grand Prix is known for its high speeds and intense racing action, as drivers push their cars to the limit on the city streets.
  9. Florida: The Downtown St. Petersburg FL Grand Prix takes place in Florida, which is known for its warm weather, beautiful beaches, and vibrant culture.
  10. Fans: The Downtown St. Petersburg FL Grand Prix attracts fans from all over the world who come to see their favorite drivers and teams in action and to experience the excitement of this world-class motorsports event.

Overall, the Downtown St. Petersburg FL Grand Prix is a must-see event for anyone who loves motorsports and wants to experience the thrill of high-speed racing on a street circuit. With its exciting racing action, lively festival atmosphere, and beautiful location in sunny Florida, this event is sure to be a highlight of the year for race fans of all ages.

Get your tickets at https://www.gpstpete.com/tickets/pricing

Dunedin, Florida: A Look at Its History & the real estate market.

Dunedin, located on the Gulf of Mexico in Pinellas County, is a charming coastal town with a rich history. The area was first settled by Scottish immigrants in the mid-1800s, and the city was officially incorporated in 1899. The name “Dunedin” comes from the Scottish Gaelic word for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.

One of the most notable historical sites in Dunedin is the Fenway Hotel, which was built in 1926. The hotel was a popular destination for tourists and celebrities during the 1920s and 1930s and was even visited by President Calvin Coolidge. Today, the Fenway Hotel has been restored and serves as a bed and breakfast.

Another important historical site is the Dunedin Historical Museum, which was established in 1977. The museum is located in a restored 1914 cottage and features exhibits on the city’s early settlers, the citrus industry, and the military.

Dunedin is also known for its baseball history. The city has been the spring training home of the Toronto Blue Jays since 1977, and the team plays its home games at the Dunedin Stadium. The stadium was built in 1990 and has a seating capacity of 5,509.

In addition to its historical sites, Dunedin is also known for its beautiful beaches, parks, and marina. The city has several parks and nature preserves, including Hammock Park, which is home to over 200 species of birds. The marina offers a variety of water activities, including fishing and boating.

In recent years, the real estate market in Dunedin has seen steady growth, with a projected increase of 3.5% over the next year (2023). The real estate market in Dunedin is considered a seller’s market, with a low inventory of homes for sale and high demand from buyers.

One of the most sought-after neighborhoods in Dunedin is the Historic Downtown area. This neighborhood is known for its charming, tree-lined streets and historic homes. Many of the homes in this area were built in the 1920s and 1930s and have been beautifully restored. The Historic Downtown area is also home to a variety of shops, restaurants, and parks, making it a popular choice for both families and retirees.

Another popular neighborhood in Dunedin is the Waterfront area, which is located along the Gulf of Mexico. This neighborhood is known for its beautiful beaches and marina, as well as its high-end homes. Many of the homes in the Waterfront area have private docks and offer stunning views of the Gulf.

In conclusion, the real estate market in Dunedin has seen steady growth in recent years, making it a great investment opportunity. The Historic Downtown and Waterfront areas are particularly popular among buyers, offering a variety of properties from charming historic homes to high-end waterfront properties.

Crescent Lake Park, downtown St. Petersburg FL

Crescent Lake Park is a beautiful and historic park located in the heart of St. Petersburg, Florida. The park is known for its large lake, which is shaped like a crescent, and its many recreational facilities, including a playground, picnic areas, and a large open field for playing sports. The park is a great destination for families, friends and nature lovers.

The park is situated on a large piece of land that was originally used as a hunting and fishing camp by the Tocobaga Native Americans. The area was later settled by European settlers in the 1800s, and the park was officially established in 1911. The park has undergone several renovations and improvements over the years, but it has managed to retain its natural beauty and historic charm.

One of the main attractions of Crescent Lake Park is the lake itself, which covers an area of approximately 56 acres. The lake is home to a variety of fish, including largemouth bass, bluegill, and catfish. The lake is also a popular spot for bird watching, as it is home to many species of waterfowl and wading birds. The lake is surrounded by a walking path, making it easy for visitors to enjoy the scenery and spot different kinds of birds.

The park also has a playground that is perfect for children of all ages. The playground is equipped with a variety of swings, slides, and climbing structures, and is surrounded by a large open field that is perfect for playing games and running around. The playground is also shaded by large oak trees, providing a perfect spot to take a break from the Florida sun.

For the dog lovers there are 2 fenced dog parks for small and large dogs at the South end of the park with fresh water to keep them cool on a hot day, this is a great place to meet the locals.

Anyone for Tennis or Pickleball? with 2 lighted tennis courts and 6 Pickleball courts we have you covered. Pickleball has become a popular sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton, and table tennis. It is played with a paddle and a plastic ball on a court that is similar to a tennis court, but smaller. The sport has been growing in popularity in recent years. In St. Petersburg Florida, pickleball is becoming increasingly popular. Many communities and rec centers have built pickleball courts and offer pickleball lessons and events, Wednesdays are the busiest day at the park for Pickleball.

Huggins-Stengel Field is a baseball field located within Crescent Lake Park in St. Petersburg. Was originally constructed in 1925 as a Spring Training practice field for the New York Yankees and later hosted the New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees held spring training home games until 1947. The field is currently used for various high school and collegiate baseball games. The facility was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019 you can locate the field under the water tower which is a historic landmark that was built in 1927. The tower was designed by architect J.O. Cole and was originally used to pump and store water for the city and stands at a height of 150 feet.

There are also several picnic areas throughout the park that are perfect for enjoying a meal or a snack. The picnic areas are equipped with tables and benches, and are surrounded by trees and lush vegetation that provide shade and privacy. Visitors can also bring their own grills and have a BBQ picnic.

The park also has a large open field that is perfect for playing sports such as soccer, football, and frisbee. The field is often used for organized sports games and practices, and is also open to the public for casual play. The field is also surrounded by a track, perfect for a morning jog or a light workout.

Crescent Lake Park is also home to a number of annual events and festivals. The park plays host to the St. Petersburg Arts Festival, which is a three-day event that features artwork from local and regional artists, live music, and food vendors. The park is also home to the St. Petersburg International Folk Fair, which is a two-day event that celebrates the culture and heritage of different nations and ethnic groups. Visitors can experience different cultures and enjoy the entertainment and food.

In conclusion, Crescent Lake Park is a wonderful place to visit and spend a day with your family and friends. With its beautiful lake, playground, picnic areas, sports fields, and historic sites, the park is a great place to relax, have fun, and learn about the history of the city. The park is also a great destination for nature lovers, bird watchers and sports enthusiasts. With many events and festivals happening throughout the year, Crescent Lake Park is a must-visit spot for residents and tourists alike

Downtown St. Pete Events 1-20 to 1-22

So much to do in St Pete this weekend! The St Pete Power and Boat Show is going on now through Sunday and the Festival of Speed is on Sunday at Vinoy Park. For more information and tickets, click the images below.

The St. Petersburg Power & Sailboat Show, Presented by Progressive, is the largest boat show on the Gulf Coast! The show takes place Thursday, Jan. 19, through Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023, at the Duke Energy Center for the Arts, Mahaffey Theater Yacht Basin, and Albert Whitted Park in St. Petersburg, Florida. Come aboard and explore an extraordinary selection of powerboats and sailboats in water and on land, including a 40,000-square-foot clear-span tent housing all types of marine gear.

Catch up with boating experts and learn about the latest features and innovations in the marine industry. Show-goers will be excited to find hundreds of powerboats and sailboats, including family cruisers, runabouts, fishing boats, magnificent sailing yachts, personal watercraft, and so much more! In addition to the large selection of exhibits at the show, there will be special events and the Kids Fishing Clinics presented by the non-profit Hook The Future.

Festivals of Speed was founded in 2004 and  produces large-scale, luxury lifestyle high-end car show events. Our mission is to provide upscale festivals where car enthusiasts and collectors of automobiles, motorcycles, aircraft, yachts and luxury products can join for a weekend of camaraderie and relaxation. We mainly operate in Florida (Orlando, Amelia Island,  Ocala and St. Petersburg) and Georgia (Atlanta/Avalon). We have also operated in California and New York.

Festivals of Speed only operates at properties that offer the finest accommodations and services. These properties currently include the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes, the Omni Amelia Island Plantation, the Renaissance Vinoy Hotel in St. Petersburg, the World Equestrian Center Resort in Ocala, and the Mission Inn Resort & Golf Club in NW Orlando.

Weekend events offer guests the opportunity to sample and explore the wide variety of exceptional products and services our sponsors provide. Events include Luxury Lifestyle Jetport Receptions, Wine Connoisseurs dinners, Yacht Displays, Ride & Drive experiences, Fine Art & Jewelry displays and more. We boast 20,000 plus attendees on main event show days and 700 plus attendees for Luxury Lifestyle receptions. Our boutique experiences such as Wine Connoisseurs Dinners, Italian dining experiences, and others are typically attended by 100-250 attendees for a very exclusive and intimate experience. In addition to large-scale event production, Festivals of Speed specializes in automobile and luxury brand advertising and marketing. With access to the finest venues, exotic vehicles, rare wines/spirits, and an exclusive customer database, we have helped brands develop qualified leads and raise client retention for 18 consecutive years.

Insurance Market

One of the insurance companies who works really hard to keep their clients and Realtor partners informed send this email out today. We wanted to make sure our clients know what’s going on with the insurance market.

Dear Insured,
As we focus our May newsletter, we typically focus on hurricane season being 30 days away from starting.  However, this year we have a different storm forming in the Florida insurance marketplace.  While we have not had a major hurricane hit Florida since Hurricane Michael in 2018, we have seen a significant deterioration in the Florida insurance marketplace. 
We at HH Insurance, feel your pain of continued rate increases without a justified reason as most insured’s have not had a claim.  We sincerely feel for al our policyholders who have had an abnormal rate increase compared to typical market conditions on a year over year basis.  As a result, we have continued to maintain our position of annually shopping your policy proactively to always maintain the best rate and coverage for your homes & properties.
With that being said, we are optimistic that relief is on the way, but we need your help to enact real change and rate stabilization in the marketplace.  The Florida Senate,specifically Senator Jeff Brandis and Senator Jim Boyd, fought for rate stabilization this year and passed legislation that would have immediately provided rate impact with bipartisan support.  Unfortunately, the Florida House of Representatives did not feel that rates were increasing enough to justify passing legislative relief for Floridians.  The speaker of the Florida House, Chris Sprowls was publicly quoted stating that we need to use a wait and see approach to market conditions. Unfortunately, just in the past 90 or so days, we have seen 4 of the top 20 Florida homeowners insurance carriers lose their “A” rated financial strength and 3 of them were declared insolvent with potentially more on the way.  (Within HH Insurance, we have proactively monitored financial strength so that our policyholders are continuously protected, and we have proactively rewritten policies ahead of a carrier losing their financial strength). 
As a result of this, Governor DeSantis has declared a legislative special session to help deal with the issues.  However, without your support and voice being heard to the Florida House of Representatives we will not see the meaningful needed reform to provide rate stabilization. 
Here are the facts that are driving up all Floridians homeowners insurance rates:

  • Only 3 companies have a cumulative positive net income in the last 5 years out of 52 residential carriers.  As a consumer, you want your homeowners insurance carrier to be profitable as it provides rate stabilization and claims paying ability. 
  • Florida had 85,000 industry wide lawsuits in 2020 vs 100,000 in 2021. Intent to Litigate Notices (ITL) not included. 49 other states had an average of ~730 lawsuits in 2021.  Within perspective that means that Florida has 1,000 lawsuits against a homeowners insurance carrier per 1 lawsuit in all other states combined.  This would make sense if Florida had 1,000 claims per 1 claim in all other states combined, except that per capita Florida has an equal contribution of claims, it is just lawsuits that are out of proportion. 
  • Across Florida, 75% of all roof claims end up in litigation and 70% of total litigated claims in Florida are roof-related.  The “not-so-free” roof scheme that has been occurring across Florida, specifically in areas like Orlando, are significantly driving up litigation.  The reason it is driven up is that in Florida we have a one way attorney fee statute with a fee multiplier.  This means that if a homeowner files a claim for wear and tear on roof that was never designed to be covered in a policy and the carrier denies the claim, the roofer refers the homeowner to an attorney.  The attorney files a lawsuit against the insurance carrier.  If the carrier wins at the lawsuit (which they typically do win) they still are required to pay all of their attorney’s fees without recourse.  If the insurance carrier loses the lawsuit or loses part of the lawsuit, the carrier is required to pay all their legal along with all of the plaintiff attorney’s legal fees with a fee multiplier.  A fee multiplier means that if the plaintiff attorney would typically charge $500 an hour, the insurance carrier has to pay them $1,500 an hour.  As a result, Between 2013 and 2020, Florida’s property insurers paid out $15 billion in claims costs. Only 8% percent of that was paid to consumers, while 71% was paid to plaintiff attorneys (more than $10 billion).

As a result of the legal environment that is allowed in Florida, we have seen an exponential increase in litigation activity with 384 lawsuits filed per day against homeowners insurance carriers compared to an average of 2 lawsuits filed per day in every other state.  This means that Florida comprises 8% of property insurance claims nationwide, but almost 80% of property insurance claims-related lawsuits in the nation.

That creates the question: How can we fix this type of operating environment in Florida? The Florida Senate passed 3 bills that would drastically help the market and stop the abuse of the system on all claims but particularly roofing claims.  However, we also need the Florida House to participate and understand the pain and frustration of rising premium rates occurring on your homeowners insurance policy.  To do so, your elected officials need to hear from you!  To get in touch with your elected officials, you can use this link to find the contact information for your representative and we highly encourage you to send an email and call and express your frustration for the failure to pass any meaningful legislature for the past two years.  You can also use the website, Floridian’s for Lawsuit Reform to send a pre-form email to your elected officials based on your property address.

To provide some additional context on the reform, we at HH Insurance do not believe that there should not be a fee multiplier in certain lawsuit cases.  A fee multiplier was an essential part of most civil rights reform across the country in the 1960’s and 1970’s as it encouraged an attorney who would not typically put in the manpower for a challenging case to be financially incentivized to help a plaintiff.  Within our office, we insure a law firm who has taken on Vaping Manufacturer’s who advertise towards teenagers and helped harmed families be restored and they should receive a fee multiplier in these rare and exceptional David versus Goliath type cases.  However, when you see 8% of claim dollars are going to policyholders while 71% of the dollars are paid to plaintiff attorney’s with 1,000 to 1 type statistics, it indicates that change should occur as the small minority are abusing the system and harming the vast majority of homeowners.  There are always some extenuating circumstances that create a need for litigation in all industries, I personally do not believe that 75% of roofing claims were underpaid. It this intent of the insurance policy to offer sudden and accidental loss, not a maintenance policy of a house.  The legislation that was passed by the Florida Senate did not remove the fee multiplier language, but it does restore that it should only be used in rare cases, not in over 100,000 lawsuits in a year. 

In addition to the need for legislative reform, inflation is also a huge driver on homeowners insurance pricing right now.  We are seeing record gains in the real estate market as well as the construction cost basis for claims.  What would have been a $15,000 kitchen claim in 2019 is now a $35,000 claim in 2022 as a result of record construction inflation.  Unfortunately, when you multiply that across hundreds of thousands of claims across the industry, that creates massive pricing pressure that is then multiplied by the roofing and legal fee crisis occurring in Florida. 

Our goal has been, and continues to be, advocating for our policyholders.  We want to see a healthy insurance marketplace where carriers are creating a profit as that would create the opportunity for rate decreases in Florida.  Florida is an expensive state for homeowners insurance due to our catastrophic activity of hurricane risk, however, it should not be seeing rate increase in the double digit range annually, year after year.  We highly encourage you to take 5 minutes and take control of your homeowners insurance rates by getting involved and expressing your frustration to your Florida legislative representative that we need reform and they should be following the lead of Governor DeSantis and the Florida Senate to create a healthly Florida insurance marketplace. 

Thank you for your continued support of HH Insurance!  Our commitment is to continue advocating for you and providing annualized policy reviews fighting for you in this market.

Sincerely,

Jake Holehouse

February 2022 Pinellas County data

Listings continue to be the issues for Feb 2022, with the lack of inventory and the huge number of new residents flooding the state, home prices are up 21% from 2021. The number of days on the market is down from 2021 by 50% which is putting pressure on buyers to make offers over asking price.

As new homes hit the market, we are seeing multiple offers, in some cases 40+ offers on a home. Buyers are looking for any advantage to win a home today, from letting Sellers stay in the home for days or weeks after closing to zero day inspection periods, I had one Buyer offer a kidney! This is when you know things are getting crazy!

Working with a local expert who has their finger on the market can be the difference between missing out of a home and being a new homeowner. Cash buyers are king in this market! Knowing how to make an offer to compete with a cash buyer or having the backing of a lender who’s approved you to make an offer as if your a cash buyer is a great way to win a home today. Interested in knowing how to make a cash offer even if your going to get a mortgage? call us today.

Relocation Chart

One of the questions our clients keep asking: “when will our real estate market is Pinellas County slow down?” That’s a hard question to answer when we had over 220,000 people move to our state in 2021 and this year looks like we could have more new FL residents. We are expecting a 20% increase in home values for 2022.

If you have been thinking of making a move, now’s is the best time, interest rates are setup to go up through 2022, but a 5% interest rate is still great. Don’t wait and pay 20% more, call us today and let’s talk about your dream home.

Things to do this weekend

BEACH BASH AT THE PIER


March 5th 12pm – 7pm Spa Beach Park downtown St. Pete – tickets and more info below.
https://www.stpetebeachbash.com/index.html


Vintage Marche 2200 2nd Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33712 Phone:727-914-7707

Tampa Bay’s largest monthly vintage market is back with 30+ vendors and thousands of square feet of treasures. The market is open with free admission on Saturday from 9 am – 6 pm and on Sunday from 9 am – 5  pm. “First Dibs Friday” is $5.