Edition XII · Wed Oct 28

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Caricature of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier holding a filed complaint, eyes on a home listing sign whose canal-front house carries a round flood badge, before the Polk County Courthouse in Bartow. Links to the Lead story.

Plate I · Florida sues the firm whose flood scores have appeared on home listings

The Lead · Houses · Statewide

Uthmeier sues the firm behind home-listing flood scores, calling them deceptive

Florida's attorney general says First Street's scores call some homes major flood risks where federal flood maps show minimal hazard, and cost sellers sales. First Street has not answered, and no court has ruled.

On Oct. 23, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued First Street, a New York-based company whose flood and fire scores have appeared on home listings. For anyone selling a Florida home, the state says a high score makes it sell slower and for less. The suit says the scores call some homes major flood risks where FEMA, the federal agency whose maps mark flood zones, sees minimal hazard. Uthmeier, a former chief of staff to Gov. Ron DeSantis, was appointed by DeSantis last year and is on the Nov. 3 ballot, news reports say.

Why it matters: The score has sat beside Florida asking prices on Redfin and Realtor.com, two big home-listing websites. The state's lawsuit says the data also reaches Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two big mortgage buyers, and Allstate's app. So, the state says, the score can reach the buyer's mortgage and insurance, not just the buyer. The suit says MSCI bought First Street for $120 million in August. MSCI is a financial data company, and index funds pay it to use its market indexes, the suit says. First Street had not commented on the suit as of Oct. 27. It did not respond to Florida Phoenix or to HousingWire, those outlets reported. MSCI did not respond to Bloomberg. First Street's website says its models are "peer-reviewed, transparent, and validated against real-world events."

What's new: Florida is the second state to sue First Street. Nebraska's attorney general sued the company on Aug. 27 on similar claims, Lincoln TV station KOLN reported.

What's next: The state wants a jury trial in Polk County circuit court. We found no court date in what we read.

Old Florida Money desk · Wed Oct 28 · Every claim about the scores is the State of Florida's allegation; no court has ruled · Sources: the State of Florida's complaint against First Street Technology (Polk County circuit court, e-filed Oct. 23) and the attorney general's release; Florida Phoenix; HousingWire; Bloomberg via Insurance Journal; ESG Today; The Verge; KOLN via WOWT; WKMG News 6; First Street

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Linocut of the empty paved Taxi Lot at Miami International Airport seen through a chain-link fence, with Concourse D and its elevated Skytrain guideway and train behind it, and no people. Links to Money Pulse on the site.

Plate II · The mayor says Ross and Soffer’s airport hotel lease remains in effect

Money Pulse

Houses

Miami-Dade said Stephen Ross's airport hotel deal was ending. A memo says it is still in effect

Miami-Dade's aviation director told commissioners Oct. 6 the county was moving to end the lease held by Stephen Ross's and Jeffrey Soffer's venture for a Westin at Miami International Airport. Ten days later, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava wrote that the lease remains in effect, and that the airport is considering adding part of its Taxi Lot, subject to Federal Aviation Administration review. The county projected $240 million in rent over the lease's 50 years. The developers hope to recover their costs, the newspaper Miami Today reports, and no record says which lease clause would govern a payment.

Politics

Miami-Dade's sheriff is ending the $4.1 million-a-year bodyguard detail for the mayor and commissioners

Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz told the mayor and the 13 county commissioners Oct. 22 that their deputy drivers and bodyguards end Nov. 9. She says the detail costs taxpayers about $4.1 million a year, money that will help cover a budget her office says falls $42 million short; she is appealing to Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet, who rule on a sheriff's appeal of a county budget. Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who still runs the county jails, called the short notice "a significant security challenge" and plans to move jail officers into the job, the Miami Herald reports.

Houses

Fisher Island Club members sue the island's own association in federal court

Three Fisher Island Club members sued the Fisher Island Community Association in federal court Oct. 22, saying it has no right to bill members who own no home there a yearly fee for transportation and security. The suit says the fee rose from about $13,000 in 2022 to about $64,500 for 2026, and it seeks refunds for members billed since 2022. Jim Ferraro, an association board member, called the federal filing "a joke." No court has decided the claims.

Cut-paper illustration of the pool courtyard of a Palm Beach house with pale coquina walls set with thin red brick courses, red tile roofs, arched windows, a columned loggia and a fountain among coconut palms. Links to the story.

Plate III · Palm Beach’s striped ‘Ham and Cheese House’ went under contract in October

From the desks

Houses

Palm Beach's 'Ham and Cheese House' finds an unnamed buyer at a $105 million ask

The striped 1927 oceanfront landmark went under contract Oct. 20, less than two months after it was listed. Penny Antonini and her late husband, the industrialist Marion Antonini, paid about $16 million for it in 2013.

Sources: Palm Beach Daily News; The Real Deal; Palm Beach County Property Appraiser

That is the edition. Every story above, with its records, is on the site.

About

Old Florida Money is Oaktree Reserve’s public Florida capital brief: the named checks behind houses, teams, races, and public votes across the state.

Illustrations are Old Florida Money editorial art. Portraits of public figures are caricature, not photographs. Each image carries its credit.

Drawn after reference photographs: Plate II, Miami-Dade Aviation Department, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

St. Petersburg · Est. MMXXV