The Laker/Lutz News

Phoenix

Lacrosse fundraiser rescheduled to March

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The PascoLax Harley Jam, organized by the Pasco County Lacrosse Alliance (PCLA), has been rescheduled.

The event, originally slated for Dec. 3, will take place on March 25, from noon to 6 p.m., at the Concourse Rotary Pavilion, 15325 Alric Pottberg Road in Spring Hill.

The shindig, which organizers intend to hold annually, will feature a rock/country concert and a reverse raffle.

The Pasco County Lacrosse Alliance’s PascoLax Harley Jam has been rescheduled to March 25. The event will take place from noon to 6 p.m. at the Concourse Rotary Pavilion, 15325 Alric Pottberg Road in Spring Hill. (File Photo)
The Pasco County Lacrosse Alliance’s PascoLax Harley Jam has been rescheduled to March 25. The event will take place from noon to 6 p.m. at the Concourse Rotary Pavilion, 15325 Alric Pottberg Road in Spring Hill.
(File Photo)

Concert performers include three Tampa-based bands: Soul Circus Cowboys, Jaded and Phoenix. The grand prize to be raffled off is a choice of either a 2017 Harley-Davidson SuperGlide, or a $20,000 cash prize.

Tickets for the concert/raffle are $100, while concert-only tickets are $10 per person.

Only 2,000 tickets — 1,000 raffle and 1,000 general admissions — will be sold.

Food trucks and other vendors will be present, and 98 Rock will provide a live remote from the concert.

All net proceeds from the benefit will help the PCLA provide funding for several Pasco County high schools to offer boys and girls lacrosse programs.

Sunlake, Mitchell, Wesley Chapel and Wiregrass Ranch high schools will offer club lacrosse programs, for the 2017 season.

Anclote, Land O’ Lakes and Zephyrhills high schools, meanwhile, are expected to form boys and girls lacrosse programs, for the 2018 season.

The PCLA, a nonprofit organization, is also assisting the transition of the programs from a club-level sport to a Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA)-sanctioned sport, beginning with the 2018 spring season.

Eric Handman, fundraising director of the PCLA, said the fundraiser will help subsidize the expenditures to operate each school’s boys and girls lacrosse programs.

“It costs a lot to fund a team,” Handman said, “when you consider refereeing fees, bussing, field use, goals and equipment.”

David Mazursky, president of the PCLA, told The Laker/Lutz News in September that he estimates equipment and operational costs for the lacrosse organization will total about $15,000 per school. Whatever funds aren’t covered through sponsorships will trickle down to players in a “pay-for-play” model.

According to its website, the PCLA is looking to set the registration fee in the same arena as Hillsborough County’s, which decreased from $390 to $320 over the past three years.

“The goal is eventually to get the pay-to-play fee more reasonable,” Handman said.

For more information, visit PascoLaxHarleyJam.com or PascoLax.org.

Published November 23, 2016

Home flipping down nationally, but not locally

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Observers are happy with some of the positive indicators they are seeing in the housing market on a national scale, but the greater Tampa Bay area — including Pasco and Hillsborough counties — continues to struggle to keep up.

House flipping — homes that are bought and resold within 12 months — dropped to 4 percent of all national single-family home sales in the third quarter, according to a new report from RealtyTrac, but actually rose in the Tampa area. That has kept the Tampa metropolitan market on the list of the top five most-flipped markets in the nation with 789 flips behind Miami (1,190 flips), Los Angeles (1,170), Phoenix (1,147) and New York (1,070).

Flipping was down in all the top five markets except Tampa, helping to bring the level of home-flipping to its “historic norm,” according to RealtyTrac vice president Daren Blomquist. And a lot of that is because home appreciation rates have slowed a bit in those markets to more normal levels.

“Meanwhile, the record-high average profits per flip in the quarter demonstrate that flippers are still filling an important niche in an aging housing market with historically low levels of new homes being built,” Blomquist said, in a release. “The most successful flippers are buying older, outdated homes in established neighborhoods, and rehabbing them extensively to appeal to modern tastes.”

Flipping is not always bad. From the investment side, those who bought and flipped were seeing profits of just under $76,000 per flip in the third quarter, a return of 36 percent on their initial investment — not including rehab costs and other expenses — Blomquist said. That is up from 35 percent in the second quarter, but down from 37 percent a year ago.

“Those discounted distressed properties have become harder to find,” he said, “but a recent jump in scheduled foreclosure auctions could provide more fodder for flippers in the next three to six months.”

Most of the flipping activity at the national level have been among homes priced between $100,000 and $400,000, while just 20 percent involve homes less than $100,000. However, RealtyTrac analysts say the best returns in flipping come on homes above $1 million, which has an average gross return of 45 percent, but make up less than 4 percent of all flips.

Tampa one of nation’s top cities for job seekers

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The job market is on the slow road to recovery, but living in the Tampa Bay area still has its advantages.

A new report from WalletHub lists Tampa as the third best metropolitan area in the country for job seekers, behind only Fort Worth, Texas, and Washington, D.C.

WalletHub, a company that provides insurance information and finances for business owners, analyzed 60 of the country’s largest cities using 13 metrics ranging from job openings per capita, cost of living, and the prevalence of employer-provided health benefits.

In fact, Tampa was one of only two cities that made the top 30 — Miami just came in at the final slot. Texas, on the other hand, dominated the list with seven cities, including five in the top 10. It was broken up only by Seattle, Denver and Mesa, Ariz.

Tampa, however, has a long way to go to become an elite city for job seekers. Despite finishing in the top three, Tampa did not make the top five when it came to fastest-growing workforce (Bakersfield, Calif.), and highest median starting salary (San Jose at $57,108).

The top cities for job seekers are:

1. Fort Worth, Texas
2. Washington, D.C.
3. Tampa
4. Arlington, Texas
5. Dallas
6. Austin, Texas
7. Seattle
8. Denver
9. Mesa, Ariz.
10. Houston
11. Raleigh, N.C.
12. Corpus Christi, Texas
13. Aurora, Colo.
14. Phoenix
15. San Jose