The Daily Soak - October 9

HousingBath Making Divorce, Death More Painful

The HousingBath is probably forcing some couples to rethink their marriage vows. Instead of " 'til death do us part," a more appropriate verbal bond in Florida has become, "' 'til the banks plow through their mountains of foreclosures and we can finally sell this damn house." Miami Today interviews two Circuit Court judges who say the housing situation is prolonging divorce proceedings. "It's definitely affecting dissolution cases," said Judge Joel Brown, "Often times the divorce settlement is contingent on dividing up the proceeds from the sale of the house, (but) sometimes the families cannot afford to live separately." The death of a parent is painful enough for most Florida children, but Circuit Court Judge Celeste H. Muir says grieving today is both personal and financial. "The usual scenario is the children are expecting the proceeds to be 2006 prices and not 2008."


Linens 'n Things People Stopped Buying When Housing Collapsed

The hedge fund that owns housewares retailer Linens 'n Things has asked a judge to put the chain's 371 stores up for liquidation auction. During the boom, the chain could not grow fast enough. New home buyers needed to stock up on such essentials as $29 aromatherapy candles, $99 steam mops and $129 down pillows. Now with the recession in full swing, consumers realize those precious dollars will fill a shopping cart at the Wal-Mart Supercenter. A retail analyst blames the arrogance of hedge funds for entering sectors they know little to nothing about. "It's tragic what's happened to the employees and this business," said Burt Flickinger, "but that's what seems to happen when these Wall Street private equity funds think they can run retail companies." Linens 'n Things has 31 stores in Florida.

Still "Banging Along the Bottom" In Southwest Florida

A bunch of businessmen, government officials and economists got together in Fort Myers yesterday for the 21st Annual What The Hell Happened To Our Economy Economic Outlook Conference. Real estate analyst Hank Fishkind called a bottom in Southwest Florida housing prices and defended the $700 billion bailout: “It’s not sufficient by itself to unfreeze the credit market, and it won’t cause the recession we’re in to be over. It does prevent further deterioration of the banking system.” Enterprise Florida CEO John Adams tried to put a positive spin on the status quo with historical data, “This region grew 20 percent faster than the rest of the state, which grew 40 percent faster than the rest of the nation." That was then. This is now. "More than 25,000 are unemployed in Lee County and 12,500 in Collier County."