Paradise lost? South Florida moves to tipping point
01-03-2006, 10:14 PM
#1
Banned
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: S Florida
Age: 49
Posts: 4,994
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Paradise lost? South Florida moves to tipping point
But the sad fact is its 100% correct......
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/c...ostemailedlink
Paradise lost? South Florida moves to tipping point
Published January 1, 2006
From her seat behind the rental counter at the U-Haul Center on State Road 84 near Interstate 95 in Fort Lauderdale, Belkis Lopez has noticed a shift in the past year.
More trucks are leaving town than arriving.
"A lot of people are getting out of here," Lopez said. "Working people who say they can't afford living here, people who've been here 50 years, retirees who say their money can go a lot further up north."
Some go as close as Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie. Many have been going to Pensacola and Tallahassee. Some go to Georgia, North Carolina and beyond.
She rattled off the list of one-way rental destinations for the past week: Ohio, Las Vegas, two in North Florida.
"I hear the same complaints [about South Florida] all the time," said Lopez, 23, who has worked at the U-Haul Center for two years. "Too expensive, too crowded, too much traffic."
It's a new year in South Florida, and there seems to be a new vibe, too.
Not too long ago, this area seemed like paradise: great weather and a relatively affordable lifestyle, with housing that seemed a steal compared with other major metropolitan areas.
But now paradise has been lost, what with hurricanes every other week, a real estate market that only a Wall Street millionaire could afford, the cost of everything from health care to FPL bills soaring and salaries not keeping pace.
During the past few months, since Hurricane Wilma, almost every interview and casual conversation I've had with ordinary people inevitably drifts to thoughts of leaving.
"I'm seriously thinking about getting out of the area," Linda Mastriana, 57, said a few days after Wilma. She has lived and worked in Fort Lauderdale for 28 years, but she said the coming increase in windstorm insurance rates might be her breaking point.
"The cost of living is just getting out of hand, and the wages are simply not keeping up," Mastriana said. She said her native Ohio keeps looking better, winters and all.
South Florida has always been a transient area. But now it's also longtime residents, people who thought they were going to be lifers, who are pulling up stakes.
People like Martha Norona. Norona's family moved to South Florida from Massachusetts in 1957, when she was 4. In August, one week before Hurricane Katrina hit, Norona sold her house in Dania Beach and moved to Tallahassee.
Norona, 52, moved to be near her two grandchildren and daughter, who works at Florida State University, but also for a less hectic lifestyle.
"I knew things were expensive [in South Florida], but I didn't realize how expensive until I got here," she said. "I only need one insurance policy for my home now. It's wonderful."
In South Florida, she paid more than $2,000 a year for homeowner's, flood and windstorm insurance, another $2,000 in property taxes and $159 a month for auto insurance. In Tallahassee, she pays $800 a year for property insurance, $1,200 in property taxes and $88 a month for auto insurance.
She sold her South Florida house, a small two-bedroom, for $325,000. In Tallahassee, she bought a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home with a fireplace, wooden deck and two-car garage for $180,000. She had plenty left over to buy a winter wardrobe.
"I paid off everything I owed, put money in the bank, bought a beautiful house and can afford to work part-time," she said. "I don't regret it for a minute. I miss my friends and my family, but to me it's like heaven up here. … Everyone's in a good mood. Even the stock boys at Wal-Mart say hello to you. People don't cut you off in traffic. If you put your blinker on, they actually let you in."
Government planners and private builders still forecast unbridled growth for Broward, with no shortage of high-end developments and high-rise condominiums on the drawing boards. But you wonder, who'll be able to afford it?
The big question for the new year and beyond: Can South Florida's middle class hold? Or will more people cash out, pack up and escape from a lost paradise?
Michael Mayo can be reached at mmayo@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4508.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/c...ostemailedlink
Paradise lost? South Florida moves to tipping point
Published January 1, 2006
From her seat behind the rental counter at the U-Haul Center on State Road 84 near Interstate 95 in Fort Lauderdale, Belkis Lopez has noticed a shift in the past year.
More trucks are leaving town than arriving.
"A lot of people are getting out of here," Lopez said. "Working people who say they can't afford living here, people who've been here 50 years, retirees who say their money can go a lot further up north."
Some go as close as Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie. Many have been going to Pensacola and Tallahassee. Some go to Georgia, North Carolina and beyond.
She rattled off the list of one-way rental destinations for the past week: Ohio, Las Vegas, two in North Florida.
"I hear the same complaints [about South Florida] all the time," said Lopez, 23, who has worked at the U-Haul Center for two years. "Too expensive, too crowded, too much traffic."
It's a new year in South Florida, and there seems to be a new vibe, too.
Not too long ago, this area seemed like paradise: great weather and a relatively affordable lifestyle, with housing that seemed a steal compared with other major metropolitan areas.
But now paradise has been lost, what with hurricanes every other week, a real estate market that only a Wall Street millionaire could afford, the cost of everything from health care to FPL bills soaring and salaries not keeping pace.
During the past few months, since Hurricane Wilma, almost every interview and casual conversation I've had with ordinary people inevitably drifts to thoughts of leaving.
"I'm seriously thinking about getting out of the area," Linda Mastriana, 57, said a few days after Wilma. She has lived and worked in Fort Lauderdale for 28 years, but she said the coming increase in windstorm insurance rates might be her breaking point.
"The cost of living is just getting out of hand, and the wages are simply not keeping up," Mastriana said. She said her native Ohio keeps looking better, winters and all.
South Florida has always been a transient area. But now it's also longtime residents, people who thought they were going to be lifers, who are pulling up stakes.
People like Martha Norona. Norona's family moved to South Florida from Massachusetts in 1957, when she was 4. In August, one week before Hurricane Katrina hit, Norona sold her house in Dania Beach and moved to Tallahassee.
Norona, 52, moved to be near her two grandchildren and daughter, who works at Florida State University, but also for a less hectic lifestyle.
"I knew things were expensive [in South Florida], but I didn't realize how expensive until I got here," she said. "I only need one insurance policy for my home now. It's wonderful."
In South Florida, she paid more than $2,000 a year for homeowner's, flood and windstorm insurance, another $2,000 in property taxes and $159 a month for auto insurance. In Tallahassee, she pays $800 a year for property insurance, $1,200 in property taxes and $88 a month for auto insurance.
She sold her South Florida house, a small two-bedroom, for $325,000. In Tallahassee, she bought a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home with a fireplace, wooden deck and two-car garage for $180,000. She had plenty left over to buy a winter wardrobe.
"I paid off everything I owed, put money in the bank, bought a beautiful house and can afford to work part-time," she said. "I don't regret it for a minute. I miss my friends and my family, but to me it's like heaven up here. … Everyone's in a good mood. Even the stock boys at Wal-Mart say hello to you. People don't cut you off in traffic. If you put your blinker on, they actually let you in."
Government planners and private builders still forecast unbridled growth for Broward, with no shortage of high-end developments and high-rise condominiums on the drawing boards. But you wonder, who'll be able to afford it?
The big question for the new year and beyond: Can South Florida's middle class hold? Or will more people cash out, pack up and escape from a lost paradise?
Michael Mayo can be reached at mmayo@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4508.
02-24-2006, 12:41 PM
#4
Our good friends just moved from NY to West Palm last week. I think the house with the land (purchased seperately) totalled around $375k. They sold in NY and will have a mortgage of less then $50k down there (if they have one at all after all is said and done). So they'll be in good shape. So if you do it right... you can still live well down there.
But it's funny b/c I was talking to our builder late last year (right before Thanksgiving). He said that most of the sales made during the 3rd and 4th quarter (up to the point of the conversation obviously) were from people moving up from Florida...
But it's funny b/c I was talking to our builder late last year (right before Thanksgiving). He said that most of the sales made during the 3rd and 4th quarter (up to the point of the conversation obviously) were from people moving up from Florida...
02-24-2006, 03:15 PM
#6
Originally Posted by Mike97 3.0P
jb where in new york are you from? just curious.
02-25-2006, 12:18 AM
#7
Cruisin'
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: South FL *954*
Age: 48
Posts: 22
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
WOW... My job relocated me from NYC to Boca... then they laid me off 7months later.. Now makin a FL salary for a FL company..... tryin to work my way back up.
Trending Topics
02-27-2006, 11:37 AM
#8
Yeah it's crazy down here. Only way you think south FL is a bargin is if you come from NY or cali.
I can't afford a house, if I have a car payment. It's either the car payment or a house. I'll rent & have the car till we see in a few years what happens.
Even rents are $$.
I can't afford a house, if I have a car payment. It's either the car payment or a house. I'll rent & have the car till we see in a few years what happens.
Even rents are $$.
Last edited by fuzzy02CLS; 02-27-2006 at 11:41 AM.
03-02-2006, 04:49 AM
#11
GEEZER
My house has doubled in value over the last 3 years. 
03-02-2006, 05:33 PM
#12
I did see a ton of houses for sale in the tampa bay/tierra verde area...not sure if this is why but it wasn't just a few...it was a bunch.
I'd still live in the tampa bay area though; it's beautiful. People are being pussies.
I'd still live in the tampa bay area though; it's beautiful. People are being pussies.
03-02-2006, 05:35 PM
#13
oh..one big reason people could be moving is the property insurance rates are going through the roof already and are expected to continue to increase. the owner if the house I satyed at was paying 10k when he bought 5 years ago and now he's paying around 30k. granted its a rediculous house.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
mrkingstonvi
Member Cars for Sale
2
02-22-2016 01:53 PM
Skirmich
2G TL (1999-2003)
37
09-15-2015 06:41 PM
