What’s New in South Florida and the Treasure Coast Markets
Luxury Homes and Lifestyles – April 2019
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Stay up-to-date with this monthly post on general area news and website updates with links to relevant articles. I cover from Boca Raton to Port St Lucie and the Treasure Coast and this running blog post will be updated throughout the month with brief summaries, breaking news and links to new pages or articles.
Port St Lucie
The main event for the Treasure Coast and South Florida this month of April was Earth Day on Monday April 22nd.
Because Easter fell on Sunday April 21st, St Lucie County’s big annual event at the Ox-Bow Eco-Center in Port St Lucie was held on April 13th this year to not interfere with all the Easter events the following weekend. There were lots of activities for all ages – live bands, food, all kinds of booths representing the history, wildlife and many organizations that help to protect and teach us about our fragile natural areas and Indian River Lagoon.
There were still some smaller events held on Easter Weekend, by Keep Port St Lucie Beautiful like community and beach cleanups, lady bug launch, Hopcat Restaurant in Tradition had 16 breweries participating to raise $30,000 for Citizens for Clean Water.
Financing News
Mortgage rates had their biggest drop in 8 years back in the last week in March dropping from 4.27 down to 4.06 in Freddie Mac’s survey of average rates. Investors found good news in the fact that the Fed was not going to be raising rates more this year. They have been inching up a bit again over the last 4 weeks to 4.20 on April 25th’s Survey, but they should stay lower for the rest of the year.
These rates are the average from lenders across the country and include about 0.5 points and they can vary in different areas of the country. This 1/2 point upfront interest lowers the interest rate of a mortgage approximately 1/8 percent, from say 5.0 to 4 7/8%. A 1 point fee would lower the interest rate about 1/4 %.
New or Updated Articles Posted in April
April 3, 2019: Port St Lucie on Top Safest Cities Lists for 2019 PSL made 4 lists for Florida and US National Safety and Low Crime Rates
April 4, 2019: Participate in Your Initial NICE Neighborhood Meetings – Port St Lucie is getting underway with their quarterly neighborhood NICE Meetings and held their first ones at the end of March through early April. New meeting times are available and listed in the What’s New May 2019 post.
April 19, 2019: Port St Lucie Citizen Survey 2019 – High Ranks for Quality of Life and Desirability as a Place to Live 78% and Place to Retire 76% – PSL Residents ranked quality of life with high marks and results of the Survey will be used to update this years Strategic Plan.
April 19, 2019: Earth Day Port St Lucie April 22, 2019 Summary of Earth Day Activities of the Oxbow Eco-Center Festival on April 13th and others on the weekend of April 20-22nd.
April 22, 2019: Celebrate Earth Day – Treasure Coast Legislature to Protect Our Natural Resources – Clean Water, Nature Preserves Summary of major legislation already passed or in the works for the Treasure Coast water, preserves and natural resources.
April 30, 2019: What’s New on South Florida Waterfront Homes and Condos April 2019 – Monthly Summary of What’s New on Isabellascott.com – new articles and subdivision updates, breaking news and lifestyle activities throughout the month.
