For years, Florida utilities resisted giving rebates that are offered in states like Ohio and Kentucky for devices that save consumers energy and money, such as compact fluorescent light bulbs, water-heater blankets, low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators.

They may get their way once again.

At a meeting with utility and renewable energy industry officials on Thursday, Gov. Rick Scott's policy advisers told attendees that he wants the state's Public Service Commission to lower energy conservation goals it set for major utilities.

That's according to Mike Antheil, executive director of the Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy, who attended the meeting. The group represents about 100 renewable energy companies.

In 2009, the PSC ordered aggressive new energy conservation goals that required beefed-up rebates for energy-saving home upgrades. Florida Power & Light, the state's largest utility, hasn't implemented most of the rebates and programs to meet the new goals because the agency has mysteriously postponed weighing the issue three times this year.

The agency did not give much of a reason for the delays, except to say all issues scheduled for its most recent meeting were canceled, not just the energy efficiency item. Although the PSC typically makes decisions independent of the influence of elected officials, it's possible Scott's emerging views on the issue may affect what it ultimately decides.

FPL was opposed to the higher new energy saving goals because it said they would require its general body of customers to pay more to support energy conservation programs and rebates.

Scott's advisers apparently echoed that point. They said "the cost of [energy efficiency] programs are under consideration, with the cost appearing too high for many systems," Antheil summarized in a press release Thursday.

He said the advisers also said Scott opposes providing perks or discounts for energy-saving devices that pay themselves off for consumers within two years – similar to a guideline utilities pushed for before the 2009 PSC decision.

Continue reading "Scott calls for reducing energy-saving rebates" »

Rene Jaimes, a contractor in West Palm Beach, was so outraged that Amir Kanel, a homeowner in Palm Beach Gardens, didn't get a home insurance discount for the wind-resistant tile roof he installed in February that he contacted him to offer a free inspection.

"I can’t understand why they would not give him a discount if he had his roof put in a short time ago" and it meets the Florida Building Code's hurricane-proofing standards, said Jaimes, the general manager of Skyhigh Siding and Roofing in West Palm Beach.

Many Florida homeowners shelled out hundreds or thousands of dollars to fortify their homes against hurricanes in recent years to qualify for insurance discounts. Some got them – for a while. But when regulators changed a state form used to verify discounts last year, homeowners reported they started losing their discounts.

Some inspectors say parts of the form, including the roof section, are ambiguous so they err on the side of caution because they don't want to give unwarranted discounts, which became a crime last year.

Kanel said he'll probably take the inspector up on the offer. "I got an email from someone I work with that had similar experience," he wrote. "I hope [awareness] will correct the problem."

Regulators have held workshops to get feedback on how to redo the form. They encourage policyholders to weigh in.

Continue reading "Should new tile roofs get an insurance discount?" »

Board-certified real estate attorney Gary M. Singer answers housing questions in this space each Friday. To ask him a question about short sales, mortgages, refinancing, homeowner's associations or any other residential real estate topic, click here.

Q: I have a first and second mortgage on my home from the same lender. I have been trying to work with my lender to reduce or consolidate my payments, but with no success. It has been a struggle to make just the first mortgage payment, and paying the second has become almost impossible. I want to save my home. What will happen if I stop paying the second mortgage but continue to pay the first? – Sean

A: Just because you’re dealing with the same lender, you’ll still face problems if you stop paying one of the two mortgages. The lender may foreclose on your house, although it may just sue for damages instead. If it goes that route and gets a judgment, it then could garnish your wages or seize your non-protected assets. You may have even signed an agreement in which the lender can declare your first mortgage in default if you stop paying on your second mortgage. If you do stop paying the second mortgage, don’t give up trying to get both loans modified so that you can save the house. As I've written before, people who are persistent usually get the best results.

Q: I've placed my condo on the market as a short sale. My primary qualm about the whole process is the approval by the bank. I understand that, from a seller's perspective, the approval letter should both release the property from the mortgage AND release the seller (me) from the loan and any future deficiency claims against me. However, I've seen some examples of approval letters and the language they contain seems, to my untrained eye, a bit ambiguous. An example would be "...bank agrees to waive any deficiency right, if applicable." Is such language sufficiently broad to protect me from any future deficiency claims? Also, if there was mortgage insurance as part of my mortgage payments, would I also need to secure an approval letter from the insurance entity? – Alec

A: The language you cited should protect you, but it is important to carefully read your short sale approval. The mortgage insurance is an insurance policy protecting your lender and is released along with the loan. The mortgage insurer could possibly go after your lender if it did not get the approval internally, but you would be safe. I think that the language releasing you is pretty clear, and I have seen plenty of short sale agreements that a team of attorneys could not figure out with a microscope. If a short sale agreement letter does not release the deficiency between the amount owed and the amount paid at closing, you will still owe that amount, even though the property is released from the mortgage.

Q: In regard to a foreclosure or short sale of your home in Florida, what determines the lender's right to come after you personally for the remainder of the debt? Is it state law or the loan agreement? – Jim

A: Both. Florida is a “recourse” state. This means that when you take out a mortgage loan, you owe the bank the money you borrowed, regardless of the value of the collateral (your home). Certain other states are non-recourse, which means that their recovery is limited to the value of the home. The tradeoff in these states is that the foreclosure process is significantly faster and typically not something the courts have to approve. This would mean that if you stopped paying, the bank would put you on notice and could sell your home at foreclosure auction in as little as four weeks. It is also governed by your loan documents, as a small minority of loans in Florida are non-recourse. This type of loan is typically known as a “hard equity” loan and given on investment properties from small or private lenders.

The information and materials on this blog are provided for general informational purposes only and are not intended to be legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed, nor should any such relationship be implied. Nothing on this blog is intended to substitute for the advice of an attorney, especially an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction.

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The government’s homebuyer tax credits may have disappeared last year, but first-time buyers still can qualify for a little-known program that will give them up to $7,500 in down payments and closing costs.

The program targets low-income buyers. To qualify, a two-person household can’t make more than $47,000. A four-person family can’t earn more than $58,700. Borrowers don’t have to pay back the money if they stay in the home for at least five years.

Many buyers don't know about the program through an Atlanta banking cooperative because only a select number of banks are approved to offer it, said Beth Brandt, a vice president of Boynton Beach-based Mackinac Savings Bank.

Mackinac, a community bank with additional Florida offices in Delray Beach, West Palm Beach and Plantation, has several buyers in the process of qualifying for the money, Brandt said.

"We're not making a lot of money on these loans, but it's very gratifying to help people get into their first home," she said.

Think you qualify? Click here for more details.

The state Commission on Ethics announced Wednesday that it dismissed key parts of a complaint against former Public Service Commission member Nancy Argenziano.

But it found that she probably made some mistakes in filling out three financial disclosure forms when she was a legislator. It won’t take action “because the omissions appeared to be mere error, and all the information required to be reported was disclosed,” the ethics commission wrote.

Last year, the ethics panel withdrew a complaint against Argenziano after the person whose name was on the complaint, Cynthia Gray, signed a sworn affidavit saying she didn't file the complaint: She said she signed a blank complaint form after an attorney she worked for told her he'd help her land a job at Florida Power & Light for it.

The attorney, Steve Andrews, denied both allegations and provided a 117-page response to the ethics panel with information aimed at supporting his position and discrediting Gray's character.

"This has to be the most bizarre situation I have seen during the last 30 years," Philip Claypool, the executive director of the ethics board, had written in his recommendation to withdraw the complaint. "Determining exactly how the complaint was generated may have ramifications that may generate interest from other agencies, such as the Florida Bar or FDLE."

Argenziano, who was a thorn on the side of utilities as a regulator, was targeted in 2009 by a business group that supported FPL's record $1.27 billion rate hike.

Andrews, refiled the complaint himself alleging, among other things, that Argenziano failed to report income from property she sold one year, reported property another year after she had already sold it and reported on the wrong financial disclosure form that she took out a $29,000 loan to buy a Nissan Mirano in 2006.

As part of the investigation, Argenziano told the ethics panel that her accountant told her that she did not make any appreciable income on the property she sold when taking into account upkeep and other expenses. She said she reported she owned a property after she already sold it because she used her forms from the previous year as a basis for filling out new forms and forgot to remove the property from her list of assets.

Andrews also alleged Argenziano's relationship with Roger Pennington, a lobbyist for the Florida Municipal Electric Association, was a conflict of interest because he donated about $132,000 to her campaigns over the years when she was a legislator and they co-owned property in North Carolina.

Last year, the commission reported the allegation was "legally insufficient" to be worth of an inquiry in part because the municipal group did not have any proposals before the PSC when Argenziano was on the PSC. It provided feedback on a renewable energy proposal and FPL's nuclear proposal but Pennington wasn't a lobbyist at that time, according to the commission.

Florida Power and Light announced today that customers can start applying for solar rebates at 8:30 a.m. June 29.

The utility postponed the launch on Tuesday due to problems with its website. The delay "will not impact the fair distribution of the available rebate funding. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience," FPL wrote on its website.

The rebates, offered for the first time by FPL, is part of a 5-year pilot program approved by the state Public Service Commission. Customers who are interested should act fast: FPL will dole out the $15.5 million approved by the PSC for 2011 on a first-come, first-serve basis. Progress Energy and Tampa Electric Co. ran out of money for similar rebates for solar panels within three days.

Customers will need to prepare by finding a good contractor, reviewing FPL's requirements and registering for an online account. They will then have to submit an application as soon as possible on June 29.

The pilot was approved after regulators ordered aggressive new energy conservation goals in 2009.

But 1.5 years later, FPL customers still aren't able to take advantage most of the new, beefed rebates for products that can save them energy and money.

That's because FPL's new program, offering free or discounted products to save customers energy and money, still awaits PSC approval.

"It's customers who are suffering from these inexplicable delays at the commission," wrote George Cavros, a consultant for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, which pushed for the higher conservation goals. "Customers need meaningful energy efficiency programs to reduce energy use and save money on their bills."

The PSC postponed weighing FPL's plan in August 2010 and six more times after that as FPL tried blocking a former commissioner from voting on its proposals.

In January, the PSC finally weighed FPL's proposed program to encourage lower energy use.

It ruled that the utility's proposal would not meet the higher new goals set by the commission and required FPL to redo the plan.

The utility filed revised plans in late March: a "modified" plan that meets the goals and an "alternate" plan that does not. The PSC staff recommended approving the modified plan on May 12.

But the PSC has postponed considering the issue three times since then and now expects to weigh the issue on July 12. "The PSC works hard to balance the utilities' conservation plans with the potential cost to customers. There is no statutory time frame on this Commission decision," wrote PSC Spokeswoman Cindy Muir.

State housing officials have so far reviewed 2,700 applications for a foreclosure prevention program, but most have been disqualified. Only 50 have received any money.

"I'm snickering," said Barbara Mullenix, a Sunrise homeowner who said she was turned away from the Hardest Hit Fund because she was too far behind on her mortgage. "I'm appalled."

Hardest Hit has been a target for critics, who say the program isn't helping enough people fast enough. The state received federal money last year for struggling homeowners but didn't launch Hardest Hit statewide until April 18.

Cecka Green, spokeswoman for Florida Housing Finance Corp., said the agency has done a good job of screening applicants who can best take advantage of the program and get back on their feet financially.

“This program is meant to be a bridge – not a Band-Aid,” Green said. “It was never going to help everybody.”

Broward County leads the state with 2,551 total applications submitted, while Palm Beach County has 1,510. For a complete list of qualifications and to apply for the program, click here.

Have you applied for Hardest Hit? Share your experience with us.