Rebel Cook and Sue Ellen Beryl

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One year ago, the business world was in crisis. Now, 12 months later, entrepreneurs such as Michael Cabot are finding that crisis can be great for business. Cabot’s company, Mariner Asset Management Services of West Palm Beach, is scooping up foreclosed, distressed properties and renovating them to conform to new “green” standards for energy efficiency. Aging homes with poor insulation and outdated appliances are being spruced up with central air, new windows and new appliances meeting the latest energy efficiency ratings. Mariner then rents the homes as affordable workforce housing.

Rebel Cook, a real estate broker who runs a local business group, said she’s seeing a thaw in decision-making by business leaders. Now that warehouse rental rates now have fallen below $10 per square foot, companies are once again exploring rental warehouse property in Palm Beach County. Investors with cash are starting to get serious about buying properties. They’ll offer distressed sellers a rock-bottom price and then, if it’s not accepted, move on to the next deal, she said. “This is a new economic cycle, and what that means is that properties or assets change hands. And nobody ever said that every cycle has to be a sellers’ market,” said Cook, president of the Economic Forum, a 250-member group of leaders from the real estate, banking, finance and health care industries in Palm Beach County.

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William C. Davis

Two years ago, William Davis, Past President of the Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers, told the Economic Forum that the crisis then rippling through the mortgage industry would spread. Back in the Fall of 2007, he warned that the the economy was about to get a lot worse. In an October 2009 return visit, however, he said he underestimated just how bad things were going to get, and he had few encouraging words for what lies ahead.

Many in the audience were probably hoping for better news. But Davis mostly talked about the deep systemic problems that will cause economic pain for years to come. For example, even as the economy comes back, jobs are unlikely to because during the downturn businesses have learned how to make do with fewer employees. “So jobs are lost forever,” Davis said.
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From the Palm Beach Post

The Seagate Marina, once a bucolic launching point for small boats, might soon be the site of a $25 million waterfront retreat with a 130-room hotel, expanded barns to store luxury boats and tiki bars and grills.

The location is the marina’s best asset, said North County commercial Realtor Rebel Cook. The nearest indoor large boat storage locations are in Riviera Beach and Stuart. And Jupiter Pointe is a convenient location for boat owners who live on Jupiter Island, she said. “The economy is still down. (Miller) must have strong financial backing if he is going to make it through this recession,” Cook said.

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Randy Schultz, Editorial Page Editor, the Palm Beach Post

At our September meeting, Palm Beach Post Editorial Page Editor Randy Schultz made the case against misinformation – and for the continued existence of newspapers.

“Since my part of the paper is the one that deals with comment, I would like to discuss the difference between informed comment and uninformed comment. Because it has never been more important to distinguish between the two,” Schultz said.
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During the boom, Florida’s Save Our Homes tax break pitted neighbor against neighbor. It was common for identical condos in a building, or similar houses on a block, to receive widely different tax bills depending on when the owner bought.

But during the real estate bust, the value of the Save Our Homes tax break has plummeted.

The break will shelter $14.6 billion in homesteaded property value from taxes this year, down from $29 billion in 2008, Palm Beach County Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits said this month at the Economic Forum of Palm Beach County.

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Russell Greene

Russell Greene – Grand Bank & Trust of Florida President & CEO

Attendees at Russell Greene Luncheon

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From Palm Beach Daily News:

Palm Beach County Economic Forum President Rebel Cook said she is still “reeling” from news of the alleged scam. She predicts many wealthy Palm Beachers will be forced to cut back on their personal staffs, creating a trickle-down effect of growing unemployment. In the coming weeks, area restaurants, which are already hosting fewer patrons and coping with reduced staffs, will likely receive even less business, and charitable foundations will try to survive with dwindling donations, Cook said. The only South Florida industry that might be spared from the fallout is the legal industry, which will feed off the inevitable slew of lawsuits, Cook said. But even that’s not a sure thing. “Will lawyers do well?” Cook said. “Yes, if their clients can pay them.”

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From the Palm Beach Post:

Rebel Cook took stock of the country’s financial crisis on Tuesday and wondered whether she’d prefer a hurricane. Both disasters are devastating, but one has a predictable end, said the president of the Economic Forum of Palm Beach County. “If it was a hurricane, it would blow through and it would be gone,” she said.

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