Avoid bargains in parachutes and brain surgery

“Avoid bargains in parachutes and brain surgery.” This old saying is out there in many variations and versions, but the message remains the same: Some things are too important to shop for on price alone.

Econ 101 taught us that some items are commodity goods — the product is the same regardless of the supplier, and therefore price is the only consideration in choosing the supplier. The traditional examples

Do you really need title insurance?

This morning I spent some time in a seminar on title insurance given by Linda Witt of  Attorney Steve Greenberg’s office at Icard Merrill, and she shed light on several of the questions that come up around title insurance.

At a real estate closing or settlement, the buyer (or buyer’s lender, or both) will pass large checks across the table to the seller in exchange for

Getting started

First, the numbers:

It’s about 4:30, temperature here at the office is about 66 degrees, skies are mostly sunny. High tide was at 3:47, and the next low is at 9:31. Days since the last boat ride: 3!

I was out on Sunday, despite the weather being a touch on the cool side. Winter boating in Sarasota is really interesting, since the water temperature is too cool for lots of the microorganisms and that makes the water clearer. The low tides in winter are also quite a bit lower, so you can see where all those sandbars and mudbanks  are– the better to avoid them when they are submerged. I think the bst kind of local knowledge is gained by running around in boats at very low tides.

Anyway, it was a great day spent with friends and looking at boats and homes. Never, ever get tired of THAT.