March 2014

The Palm Beaches gets "its party on" early with parades, bagpipes, green beer and traditional Irish fare. The festivities begin Friday.

Saint Patrick’s Day Festival 2014, Martin Health System Village Square, Port St Lucie, Friday, March 14.  Brought to you by the “Friendly Sons and Daughters of Ireland.  Music and Food Booths.  Anticipated 10,000 attendees. Visit www.festival.net.com for more information.
 
Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and Festival, Flagler Park, Saturday, Stuart, March 15 @ 10:00am.  There will be ice cold beer, hot corned beef and cabbage, traditional bagpipes, lively Celtic music , Irish dancers, plenty of quality vendors and a kid’s area at this fulfilled family event.  Parade starts at 2pm sharp!  8,000 attendees expected.  Visit…

114 stores opened and provided something for everyone plus a food court and valet parking.  The Palm Beach Outlet Mall hosted a pre-opening event last month “Open Hearts, Open Doors” to benefit 20 local area charities.  The event proved to be a resounding success!  The following day the outlet mall opened its doors and sidewalks to the public.

Palm Beach Outlets is Palm Beach County’s first outlet center.  It features over 100 stores including brand favorites like Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH, J. CREW/Crewcuts Factory, Ann Taylor Factory, Banana Republic Factory, Kenneth Cole Factory, Talbots, Nike, Under Armour Factory, White House/Black Market Factory and many more.
 
The outlets are conveniently located off Interstate 95 on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard in West…

Do you live in one of the most dynamic cities of 2014?  Only seven of the top 20 cities were from the United States.
 
MSNBC Real Estate reported on a study that ranked 111 global cities looking for specific hallmarks of lively and progressive areas.  Using three main categories – commercial real estate, socio-economic momentum and high-value incubators representing “the quality of a city’s infrastructure, its innovation capability and the strength of its technology sector.”
 
California harbored two - San Francisco and San Jose, thanks to their high tech Silicone Valley contributions.  An ability to foster new and creative businesses, adapt and innovate quickly and new building construction were some of the criteria for the cities.

The top ten upwardly…

Now more than ever the Jupiter area has been attracting professional golfers and golfing enthusiasts for its exclusive golfing communities and secluded atmosphere.  Palm Beach County is known as the “Golf Capital of the World”.

The Town of Jupiter is just minutes from pristine white sand beaches, excellent restaurants, and high end shopping.  If you happen to be interested in fantastic bill fishing, this is also the area for you…just north of Jupiter is the Town of Stuart, known as the “Billfish Capital of the World”.

Within the area, luxury country club communities such as Admiral’s Cove, BallenIsles, Bear’s Club, Old Palm Golf Club, and Trump National Golf Club to name a few, are drawing golfers south.  With private golf courses designed by the greats…

Coming to the Max Planck Florida Institute (MPFI) this Saturday, March 15, 2014 at 11:00am is the “Brain Bee Challenge.” In honor of Brain Awareness Week the highly acclaimed Max Planck institute is throwing a fun and challenging competition that tests the neuroscience knowledge of high school students.  

The Brain Bee is open to kids ages 9th to 12th grade. The students who are participating will receive a packet of “study materials” containing variety of information they will be quizzed on. Some of the topics to be covered in the bee include: intelligence, learning and memory, emotion, sensations, movement, stress, aging, sleep, addiction, brain anatomy and neural disorders. Students will receive questions in a written and visual format covering

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Can you say “Oh What a Night”?  Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons will be at the Seminole Hard Rock Live in Hollywood. Valli who came to fame in 1962 as the lead singer of the Four Seasons is hotter than ever thanks to the success of the Tony Award winning musical Jersey Boys, which chronicles the life of Frankie and his group.  Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons are back for an encore at the Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino performing on March 8 at 8 pm. Show starts at 8pm.  Doors open at 7pm.  Ticket price: $39/ $44/ $54/ $74. Visit www.hardrocklivehollywoodfl.com/.

If the Four Seasons isnt your type of music how about a Beatles tribute?  Relive one of the most influential rock groups in the history of pop music with a tribute

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According to data provided by the National Association of Realtors, a lack of houses for sale continues to lift the prices of homes for sale in much of the country, and our area.  This in turn has pushed down the number of existing homes sold in January.

The torrential weather has not helped either. NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said, “Disruptive and prolonged winter weather patterns across the country are impacting a wide range of economic activity, and housing is no exception.   Some housing activity will be delayed until spring.”

The National Association of Realtors noted some significant changes among the population of homebuyers.

1.     First time homebuyers accounted for 26% of purchases in January 2014. That is the lowest market share for first…

South Florida saw the biggest gain in a monthly measure of national home prices replicating a slow but steady, continued upswing momentum in real estate market for Palm Beach County.   

Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties experienced an increase in single-family home prices according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Index.  According to the most recently released Index, single-family home prices have increased 0.09 percent from the previous month.

Last Tuesday’s report from Standard & Poor, as well as others, point to a slight deceleration in home prices as a normal beginning of the upturn cycle at the end of February. Winter shows no signs of cooling home prices according to the Standard & Poor/Case-Shiller home price indices.  They are

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On a day where the golf course was playing tough and the top of the leaderboard was dropping shots left and right, Russell Henley survived a four man playoff to win The Honda Classic at PGA National.

With the wind swirling for most of the day, the Champions Course made some of the best golfers in the world look like mere mortals on Sunday, leading to an exciting and action packed finish. Rory Mcllroy entred the final round with a two shot lead and despite a four-over 74, managed to hold onto the lead for the majority of the day. The Palm Beach Gardens resident, at 10-under and still clinging to a one shot lead, proceeded to play the Bear Trap (holes 15, 16, and 17, and deemed the toughest three hole stretch on the course) at three over par and lost

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