2008: The Bath In Review
As 2008 draws to a close, the Florida housing bath runneth over. It's been a year full of headaches, mortgage meltdowns, foreclosures, short sales, bank bailouts, abandoned homes, falling prices and desperate sellers. The outlook for 2009 is equally grim with credit markets frozen, rising inventory levels and the second wave of mortgage resets looming on the horizon. On the bright side, sales have picked up in some Florida markets, interest rates are at historic lows and median home prices are approaching relatively affordable levels for middle class families. Many realtors like to point to these last three factors as ample incentive for interested buyers to "get off the sidelines." That argument may have worked during the boom years, but the broader recession and growing uncertainty have pushed many Floridians away from the sidelines and out of the stadium (or state) altogether. And those that remain on the sidelines may very well be adopting a new philosophy where the euphoria of being debt free trumps the joys of home ownership. I discovered this today at officially 1:51. And for anyone wondering how it can be achieved, just watch this quick, instructional video.
Until next time, have a safe and happy new year.
If You're Not Buying Florida Real Estate Now, You're "Spineless"
That, according to a 50-year-old Bradenton realtor who wants to raise $10 million through a public stock offering and then "use the money to buy as many as 80 luxury homes and mid-range vacation properties at bargain-basement prices and hold those properties until the values appreciate by 50 percent." Despite defaulting on $2.4 million in mortgage loans since the beginning of the year, Joe Kandel describes those who have reservations about giving him $10 million as "spineless people who have money but no vision." Incredibly, he blames the current housing crisis on the LACK of flippers. "The same investors who were buying up properties during the boom are needed to help with the resurrection." Flippers, easy money and a lax regulatory environment got us in this mess, and the latter two have disappeared, so don't hold your breath for a Florida flipper resurrection anytime soon.
Death of A Realtor
A powerful editorial from a Wisconsin realtor who takes a hard look at his profession and doesn't like what he sees. "Consumers can find homes themselves online, but they can't find out the history of the neighborhood, apply perspective to the comps, identify trending, or understand the intrinsic value of one street versus another. That's where Realtors are supposed to come in. To fill in the gaps in the public record and to educate. Yet what do we do? We ride up in our Hummer with our face and phone numbers emblazoned on the doors, and proclaim everything a value, and every time the right time to buy. We're embarrassing ourselves. We're either too dumb or too afraid to give the consumer what they deserve." In closing, David Curry calls on other realtors to "(take) a stand against this spineless image and (do) what we can to reposition our profession as a viable and necessary cog in the real estate transaction."
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
The Daily Soak - December 30
Monday, December 22, 2008
The Daily Soak - December 22
Fortune Mag Bearish On Miami Real Estate in 2009
Fortune just released their Top 10 list of the worst-performing U.S. real estate markets for 2009. The majority of the cities are in California including the Top 3: Los Angeles, Stockton and Riverside. While only one Florida metro made the Top 10 list, the magazine's outlook for Miami-Miami Beach suggests we have a bit of a drinking problem: "Miami will be nursing the hangover from its epic building boom for years to come. After falling 22% in 2008, prices are predicted to plunge another 23% next year." Apparently home price and local government tax revenue aren't the only things falling in Miami right now. The decline in travel bookings and in-bound tourism led S&P to cut the rating on Carnival's credit last Friday from "Stable" to "Negative" given "worries that the deteriorating economy will cut into the cruise operator's revenue."
During the Florida high-rise boom of 2004-06, new condo prices went through the roof and building materials went along for the ride. Concrete, rebar, drywall, copper wire, pavers...you name it, it went up. Prices got so out of control that many developers started looking to China for cheaper substitutes, and drywall was at the top of the wish list. Word now out of Southwest Florida that Chinese drywall with high sulfur content is possibly to blame for destroying A/C coils. The speculation is that some of the drywall imported between 2004-05 was manufactured with waste materials scrubbed from coal-fired power plants in China. While plenty of residents are now suing their developers, others are taking it in stride. According to the News-Press, one neighbor at a gated community called Bella Terra dressed up as Chinese drywall for Halloween. 
That was the gist of the real estate outlook article in the Herald last week, and the same sentiment is now being echoed over on the Gulf Coast. According to the Herald-Tribune, "Only 89 properties in Sarasota County changed hands in 2008 for a total of $131.3 million, a 47.5 percent drop in sales volume from the 109 properties that sold for $250.3 million in 2007.Office buildings saw the largest drop in dollar terms, followed by hotels and shopping centers." Many desperate landlords are taking a kinder, gentler tact and helping their struggling tenants with rent reductions and renegotiation of lease terms. The only other alternative is eviction, but Venice commercial realtor George Huhn says, "If you are a shopping center owner and you evict someone this year, you're crazy. Vacancies are going to go through the roof, and everyone will be competing for tenants."
Friday, December 19, 2008
The Daily Soak - December 19
Tampa Website Seeks to Help Unemployed Real Estate Workers
A new website poses the question, "Have you lost your Tampa real estate job?" The sub-heading then offers the following words of encouragement, "You haven't lost friends at RealEstateLives.org, helping you get back on your feet and back to work!" According to the St. Pete Times, the non-profit organization based in Hillsborough County seeks to help unemployed construction workers, brokers, engineers and other real estate workers network and find jobs to get them through the current recession. And unlike the glamorous high-rise construction days during the boom, today's jobs--repairing dikes in Lake Okeechobee or driving pylons in Mobile, Alabama--are certainly more emblematic of a full-blown depression.
Not So Studly: Florida Horsemen Fighting "Perfect Storm"
Central Florida's thoroughbred industry is suffering from a fall in global demand for yearlings at major auctions in Ocala and Kentucky. Double-digit drops in revenue coupled with a doubling of the buyback rate, the percentage of horses that didn't sell at auction and were bought back by the owner, have put horsemen in a tough spot. Several farm owners are now breeding with non-Florida stallions, despite a "Florida Only" program originally designed to enhance the image of the state's industry abroad. But today's Florida horsemen like Bridlewood Farms (pictured) manager George Isaacs are more concerned with basic survival. "In my heart, I know that 2009 will be as difficult a year as our operation has faced," Isaacs said.
Lennar CEO Wants Federal Bailout Money, Policy
Are we the only country that privatizes profits and socializes losses? Because three years ago, Miami-based home builder Lennar cracked the $1 billion mark in profits for the first time in the company's history. $1.4 billion to be exact. At the time, government intervention wasn't sought to slow the double-digit gains in Florida home prices or the historic run-up in shareholder equity. But now that Lennar is posting billion dollar losses and Florida home prices are "in freefall," Lennar CEO Stuart Miller wants the incoming Obama administration to stimulate demand with "measures that shove mortgage rates further downward and push wary buyers back into the market." Ahhh..."shoving" and "pushing"....that sounds like a winning recipe for forcing already debt-saddled Floridians into highly-amenitized homes they can no longer afford.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The Daily Soak - December 18
Who Are The Morons Renting Miami Lofts for $1,700? 
When I moved back to Miami earlier this year, a friend told me she had a new waterfront condo for rent if I was interested. It turned out to be a 650-square foot studio in an unattractive, foreclosure-riddled high-rise called Onyx. I laughed when she said she was asking $1,700. Today, unable to find a sucker renter at even $1,200, she lives in her unit. And some Miami realtor, who used to send chest-pounding e-mails about all of his successful flips, is now sending me celebratory e-mails whenever he signs a lease contract. The one he sent yesterday (pictured) is mind-boggling. Why would anyone shell out $1,700 for a cramped, one-bedroom loft apartment in the Grove? He followed it up today with an e-mail with quotes and compelling evidence the market has bottomed from a very objective source...Lawrence Yun, the Chief Economist at the National Association of Realtors.
Double Trouble: Losing A Loved One, Inheriting A Florida Condo
What if a family member passed away suddenly? That would be terrible. Now imagine the recently departed left you with a Florida condo. Pretty frightening. Sun-Sentinel columnist Daniel Vasquez speaks with a Fort Lauderdale attorney about options for Floridians who find themselves dealing with the emotional grief of personal loss and the financial agony of trying to unload a Florida condo in this depressed market. "In what is the worst market in years, those who inherit condos have a few tough choices: Decline the gift, sell at rock bottom prices, try to rent (if condo documents allow it) or be prepared to pay thousands for property taxes, assessments, maybe even a mortgage."
Another Miami-Dade Development Facing Foreclosure
HB.com reported last week on the renewed fury and ramped-up foreclosure filings by Alabama banks against stalled South Florida developments ever since Florida beat Alabama in the SEC Championship Game on December 6. News today that Regions Bank is filing foreclosure against a 240 single-family home community called Enclave at Black Point Marina in southern Miami-Dade County. Regions originally loaned the developers $32.7 million in 2005 and amended the loan to the unpaid $18 million balance earlier this year. 3 to 5 bedroom homes at the Enclave were advertised from the low $300's. While construction took place on a few of the development's 240 lots, none of the homes were ever completed.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The Daily Soak - December 17
As if some folks in Palm Beach haven't already lost enough money on bad real estate investments, it turns out the $50 billion Ponzi scheme devised by Bernard Madoff is hitting particularly close to Worth Avenue. According to NPR, "All over Palm Beach, from the country club to the ultra-exclusive Breakers hotel, Madoff and his alleged Ponzi scheme has been the talk of the island. Over the weekend, at least one new multimillion-dollar condo near the Breakers was put on the market by an investor reportedly hit by the fallout." But the fallout is not just limited to the Bushwood crowd..."Arnold Sinkin, a retired carpet salesman in Boynton Beach, says he put his life savings — nearly a million dollars — into Madoff's fund. He's now being forced to put his townhouse up for sale."
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune continues their look at The State of Citrus with a special focus on the recent conversion of citrus groves into gated communities. During the housing boom, developer Tony Nicholson was paying Central Florida orange growers over $25,000/acre for their land and converting groves into relatively affordable housing developments in Polk County for the Orlando theme park employee base. "Central Florida is in a transition from an industry of juice to an industry of new homes," Nicholson said during the housing boom. Today, his outlook is a little more somber, "We're shut down. There are no sales, period. There are no buyers at this point. The market has done a 180-degree turn and, at this point, the demand for housing has dropped to its lowest in 30 years." 
That's what homeowners across the Sunshine State are being asked to do as condo associations struggle to deal with vanishing neighbors and rising foreclosures. In our ongoing series, "The Joy of Condos," we examine one Cape Coral community where residents are being asked to cough up $650 within two weeks or their amenities will be shut off. The developer, Engle Homes, says the request is simply a sign of the times, but residents aren't thrilled with the shifting HOA burden. Resident Kelly Weeks said, "It's a wonderful place to live and I don't want to leave here, but if these fees keep happening, I won't have a choice, like everyone else. People are actually afraid they are going to lose their homes."Monday, December 15, 2008
The Daily Soak - December 15
60 Minutes interviews billionaire fund manager Whitney Tilson whose firm has done extensive research on mortgage-backed securities and the second wave of Alt-A and Option ARM resets coming in 2009. And if you thought foreclosure rates were high and median home prices were low right now, we ain't seen nothing yet. Says Tilson, "The defaults right now are incredibly high, at unprecedented levels. You can look back at what (loans were) written in '05 and '06, look at the reset dates and look at current default rates, and it's really clear and predictable what's going to happen here." For visual confirmation, take a look at the bar graph prepared by Credit Suisse tracking the sub-prime loan resets (orange) which are starting to taper off fortunately. But it's the Alt-A and sub-prime resets (yellow) which will grow exponentially beginning in 2009 and not really peak for another 2-3 years. 
The second half of the 60 minutes piece focused entirely on Miami-Dade, or as correspondent Scott Pelley calls it, "The Repo Riviera." Pelley says the second wave is coming ashore and interviews the few entrepreneurs poised to capitalize on the downturn...people like Oscar Muñoz whose company removes personal property from 20-30 foreclosed properties a day. "We're one of the few companies that's hiring right now," says Muñoz, "We have to hire people, because the demand is so high." As workers lug furniture, mattresses and TVs to the driveway of a foreclosed property, Pelley observes, "People that have been evicted tend to leave stuff behind; the next house is usually much smaller. Banks hire Muñoz to haul the possessions out where, by law, they remain for 24 hours. Often the neighbors pick through the remains." 
An interesting face-off in the Miami Herald between analysts Jack McCabe and Michael Cannon over the status quo of the Florida housing market, the root causes of the mortgage collapse and the next shoe that will drop in 2009. On the latter subject, McCabe is bearish on commercial real estate. "The next big bubble out there in South Florida and around the country is going to be in office and retail. We are going to see a commercial property bubble that will begin next year with a lot of these new [retail and office] buildings being finished. The truth is we are not seeing job growth; we are seeing job declines. We are not seeing businesses expand; we are seeing businesses contract or go out of business."Friday, December 12, 2008
The Daily Soak - December 12
For Sale: Orange Bowl Tickets + Boca Condo...Make Offer
Football fans of Florida, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech and Cincinnati have reason to celebrate and travel to South Florida in early January to watch their teams compete. But other than Gator fans for whom the journey is more of a "staycation," fans of the other three schools aren't likely to turn up in droves given the current recession. The lack of interest is reflected on ticket sites like StubHub and RazorGator where Orange Bowl seats can be picked up for as little as $19 and National Championship tickets are going for around $400. The International Herald Tribune observes, "For tourism-dependent Miami, that could be a troubling sign...South Florida is the epicenter of the downtrodden housing market." Maybe desperate sellers will get creative and begin packaging their unwanted condos with BCS tickets.
Florida's Best & Worst Performing Markets in 2008 
BusinessWeek does a state-by-state survey of the best and worst performing real estate markets nationwide. Florida's Biggest Loser is Lehigh Acres in Southwest Florida where median home values dropped 27% to $126,000. BW notes Lehigh Acres was the first retirement community built in the Sunshine state. Currently, canal-backed houses share space with great restaurants and a golf resort." The Biggest Winner is Hallandale Beach in Broward County where median prices rose 8% this year to $181,000. BW describes Hallandale as being "part of the South Florida metropolitan area and is well known as the home of the Gulfstream Park horse racing track, which hosts the Florida Derby."
"We're So Far Underwater, It's Not Funny" 
USA Today interviews several homeowners facing foreclosure including Rick Wallick who bought his Arizona home for $200,000 in 2006 with a 35% down payment. The house is now worth $80,000. The broader analysis is that 1 in 10 U.S. home loans is now delinquent or in foreclosure. The article takes a "How Did We Get Here?" approach and points to three factors: 1.) The extreme relaxation of lending standards, 2.) Optional payments on principal, 3.) No verification of income and 4.) Tiny down payments. Drawing a comparison between the current mess and the Great Depression, the article reminds us that "Florida real estate was the epicenter of speculation in the mid-1920s. Developers ran up prices by selling to borrowers who put as little as 10% down."
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The Daily Soak - December 11
Ho-ho-homeless: 933 Foreclosure Auctions Before X-mas
The calls for foreclosure moratoriums don't seem to be having much of an impact in South Florida where lenders are trying to get non-performing home loans off their books before 2009. Still, the cries of victimhood grow louder from people like Shewana Daniels who, according to the Herald, lives in a house with her mother, daughter and three grandchildren. She also claims to be fighting both HIV and lung cancer. Shewana is turning to liberal advocacy group ACORN, fresh off their pre-election registration of Florida voters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, for help. Still, an ACORN official in Orlando says his group is having no luck, "Out of the whole population that comes to us twice a week, we have failed to find one person who will be helped by this 45-day moratorium."
Highest-And-Best-Use: Another Condo or A Public Park?
That's been the debate over one of the last waterfront parcels in downtown Miami, and with the market for new construction high-rises officially dead, the developer is seeing a different kind of green...grass. According to Miami Today, "Tibor Hollo, chairman and president of Florida East Coast Realty, agreed to contribute the 2-acre site to the city's vacant land project. Mr. Hollo said he likes the park concept and has no intent to develop the luxury hotel and condo planned at the site for some years. While he waits for real estate and credit markets to improve, he's willing to lease the land to the city for a $1 a year. Mr. Hollo said he prefers that Miamians benefit from the green space, which the Brickell area desperately needs as more residents move in." So enjoy the park for now, Miami! But once the real estate market turns around, Get the hell out!
Let's Play "Who Wants To Be The Florida Condo Ombudsman?"
A show of hands...anyone? Apparently not. According to the Sun-Sentinel, "Months after former Florida condo ombudsman Danille Carroll left her position, Governor Charlie Crist has yet to announce a permanent successor and the only candidate has withdrawn his application. Nathan Bond, who declined comment, was the only applicant for the office, whose occupant serves as an unbiased liaison and education provider for condo boards, unit owners and condo associations." The state is raising the next Ombudsman's salary from $83,000 to $100,000 thanks to the $4/year contributions that Florida condo owners pay to the state condo trust fund. Good luck finding an interested party. When a job description requires listening to the daily tirades from crotchety Condo Commandos around Florida, I'm thinking the potential pool of applicants will be pretty small. (Flashback to a HB.com July classic from "The Joy of Condos.")
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
The Daily Soak - December 9
HSBC Forecloses on Little Havana Condo
The website for the Havana Lofts condo describes the project as "Downtown Miami’s most exciting new riverside condominium" and touts the affordability of the units with the tagline, "Every Luxury But The Price." Apparently, the price still isn't low enough to whip up enough interested buyers in Havana Lofts. According to the South Florida Business Journal, HSBC Bank and Great Florida Bank have filed a foreclosure lawsuit regarding the Havana Lofts project in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. The notice of foreclosure, recorded Dec. 2 in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, applied only to the 75 unsold units in the 90-unit high-rise at 605 W. Flagler St." Units in Havana Lofts were There hasn't been a closing of a Havana Lofts unit, originally priced from $250,000 to $500,000, since March of this year.
Alabama Bank on A Florida Foreclosure "Rampage"
Word out of Alabama that Birmingham-based Regions Bank is throwing down the foreclosure gauntlet on several South Florida distressed properties. The heat is so intense, the Birmingham Business Journal described the move as a full-on "rampage." Now I'm not sure if there's a correlation between what went down last Saturday night in Atlanta and the renewed foreclosure wrath being directed from Alabama to our beloved Sunshine State, but let's just say Urban Meyer and the mighty Gators may be partially to blame. And if you think the Regions bank executives are in a bad mood after the Tide lost in the SEC Championship Game, these guys may have killed each other. Go Gators!
"Get A Home Shrink": $11.5 Million For Foreclosure Therapy
Florida will be receiving over $11 million in federal money to support the network of 77 foreclosure prevention counseling centers statewide. The grant is a small part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act approved by Congress back in July. No word on how the funds will be allocated around the state, but $11.5 million will certainly buy lots of grief therapy time for desperate homeowners coming to grips with horrendous housing market conditions statewide and a prolonged nationwide recession. For those of you looking for some catchy online therapy, check out this "Housing Bubble" clip on YouTube.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
The Daily Soak - December 6
Abandoned Restaurants Become Homeless Shelters in Florida
When I worked for a large developer in Southwest Florida from 2003 to 2006, my co-workers and I had dozens of restaurants to choose from, and it seemed like 2 or 3 new ones opened every month. When I went back in July, I drove the 20-mile stretch of US41 from Estero to Naples and found that 9 out of 10 were closed. No more construction...no more mouths to feed. Just as Miami foreclosures are being converted into shelter for the homeless, abandoned restaurants in Southwest Florida are playing a similar role. The St. Pete Times reports on the rise of tent cities in Hillsborough County and the recent remodeling of abandoned restaurants like Johnny Carino's where, "Inside they found signs of a homeless outpost — blankets, luggage, soiled jackets, beer bottles and Taco Bell wrappers where booths and tables once stood."
Meet The Busiest Real Estate Office In Florida
The newly-displaced in Hillsborough County may be moving into strip malls and tent cities, but someone is buying up their former homes at a record rate. The Hillsborough County Courthouse sold 163 homes at auction on Thursday, according to The Tampa Tribune. "Lisa Pride, who works in the foreclosure division of Hillsborough County Circuit Court, said the court is swamped with work and may have other days like Thursday coming soon. There have been about 50 sales a day for the past few months. Last year, 50 would have been a week's worth of sales." Only 9 of the 163 homes on Thursday were bought by individuals; the rest are typically sold back to the lenders. Over 54,000 Florida homes received a foreclosure filing in October, an 80% increase over October of last year.
The Reason We Don't Buy Newspapers Anymore
Take a look at this insightful "advertorial" from a Southwest Florida realtor pushing overpriced condo-hotels in the Foreclosure Mecca of Cape Coral. Cheryl Gustafson says buying at Tarpon Point Marina is "a no-brainer." You've got to love it when a realtor tells you something is a "no-brainer." Translation: "I don't really understand how it works myself, but I just need my 3%, so shut up and sign the contract." Then she goes in for the lifestyle + financial upside close, “As an owner, I love that I can go to the beach when I want and when I’m not using it, I can rent it out and generate income." Ah yes, just imagine all the money you'll make from the influx of foreign tourists who are dying to vacation in historic and picturesque Cape Coral. Still on the fence about condo-hotel ownership? Read this Wall Street Journal article.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
The Daily Soak - December 4
It's 10 Degrees in Chicago...So What's Wrong With This Picture?
Becky Beall, an Alabama travel writer shares her Panama City Beach adventure with the folks back in Birmingham. "My three-bedroom condo had the most unbelievable view from the balcony overlooking the tower pool area. The landscaping created a more private, surreal feeling of safety and security." Personally, I believe what was "surreal" about Ms. Beall's view wasn't the landscaping, it was the hundreds of Florida tourists disguised as empty chaise lounges and unspoiled beach. If this scenario is playing itself out statewide, we'll have a budget deficit of epic proportions next year. As for Becky, she really got a chance to explore and soak up the local flavor of the Panhandle: "With a washer and dryer right in the unit, I was able to take home suitcases full of clean clothes instead of dirty laundry." Roll Tide!
Miami's Wind By Neo Condo Facing Foreclosure Lawsuit
During the boom, every mega-high-rise project in Miami had to have an over-the-top Flash website with a curvaceous model and an original soundtrack. Wind by Neo, a 498-unit condo on the Miami River, definitely delivered the goods: A sultry, dark-eyed latina beckoning you to come live the highly-amenitized, good life downtown and an Enigma-like instrumental with the haunting sound of wind in the background. When it was announced, the project was going to be the first of six condos in the development, but it looks like Buildings 2-6 will have to wait. According to the South Florida Business Journal, "The first sale in Wind by Neo closed in March. Closings started at a brisk pace, but trickled to a crawl." Now Wachovia is threatening foreclosure against the developer, Neo Epoch 2. While 214 of the units have been sold, Wachovia could potentially seize 275 unsold units.
"Extreme Overvaluation" Now "Essentially Nonexistent"
That according to the latest quarterly report on U.S. housing valuation titled, Home Prices in America. The report, which analyzes home prices in 330 metropolitan areas, found that prices are down 6.5% compared to 2007. On a regional basis, valuation declines are the most dramatic in the Southwest and the Southeast. According to the report, "29 metro areas in California, Florida, and Nevada -- at one time among the most overvalued -- have seen price declines in excess of 30%." While 2005 marked the peak of overvaluation in dozens of U.S. metros, good luck finding an overvalued market today. The report concludes, "Extreme overvaluation is now 'essentially nonexistent' -- only three metro areas met the definition of extreme overvaluation, down from a peak of 52 metro areas in 2005. Only the Pacific Northwest remains overvalued."
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The Daily Soak - December 3
Tampa & Miami Forecast: Lousy For Business in 2009
Tampa Bay and Miami just made the list of the worst cities for doing business, and the local housing markets were one of the factors according to CBS MarketWatch. "Housing speculators have left the region reeling, with only Miami feeling the pinch worse, and the effects from that extended to small business. It probably will only get worse as newer data come in. Tampa-St. Pete dropped 18 points down in the small-business rankings, second only to Miami's 20-point plunge." And looking ahead, UCF econ professor Sean Snaith says 2009 won't provide any relief. Speaking about the Tampa Bay metro region, Snaith said "It's biggest problem is it's in Florida right now. You can just write 2009 off."
Several Florida Cities Among FBI's Top 50 Most Dangerous
Tampa may be a lousy place to do business, but at least the metro area didn't end up on the list of Top 50 Most Dangerous Cities. Five other Florida cities weren't so lucky, however, including three cities in Miami-Dade alone. The list from CQ Publishing, based on statistics provided by the FBI, includes the following Sunshine State danger zones: Miami Gardens (13), Orlando (18), Miami (35), West Palm Beach (47) and Miami Beach (50). So based on these two stories, Miami had the dubious distinction of high rankings as both a dangerous city and a lousy place to do business. But according to the next story, it's a wonderful city for moving illegally into foreclosed homes.
Homeless Encouraged To Move Into Foreclosures
National and international media outlets have picked up on the story of the Miami activist moving homeless people like Marie Pierre (pictured) into local foreclosures. Tom Leonard of The Telegraph (UK) observes, "The activity is illegal but has so far been ignored by police in a city which is now offering loans of up to $7,500 (£5,000) to help homeowners avoid foreclosure." The article notes the bizarre trend is expanding to other U.S. cities, "Some property owners in Atlanta, where officials describe foreclosures as an 'epidemic', have gone so far as to pay homeless people to live in their abandoned homes as a security measure. Meanwhile, poverty campaigners in Cleveland, Ohio, are negotiating with the city authorities to allow homes people to move into and repair empty, dilapidated homes." Tuesday, December 2, 2008
The Daily Soak - December 2
Activist Moving Homeless Into Florida Foreclosures Illegally
Yes, it's finally come to this. A Miami activist is moving homeless families into foreclosed homes. "We're matching homeless people with people-less homes," says Max Rameau, who has moved six families into bank-owned properties so far this year. His organization, Take Back The Land, wants squatters to come out of the shadows and feel comfortable moving illegally into properties they neither own nor pay to maintain. Knowing full well his clients can be charged with trespassing, vandalism or breaking and entering, Rameau reassures his clients that banks are too busy to evict them and the City is looking the other way. Miami spokeswoman Kelly Penton confirmed this in an e-mail, "There are no actions on the city's part to stop this." So with thousands of foreclosed homes and local government basically green-lighting trespassing, it seems the affordable housing problem in South Florida has been solved. Currently confined to suburbia, watch this trend start to creep into vacant units in the new high-rise condos.
As REOs Skyrocket, Governors Try Their Hand at Home Relief
With median home prices falling and unemployment rising, Florida Governor Charlie Crist is trying to put together a relief package for thousands of Florida homeowners facing foreclosure. California's Arnold Schwarzenegger was the first governor to propose such measures including a 90-day moratorium on foreclosure proceedings and interest rate adjustments to lower monthly payments. The specifics of Crist's plan are still being hammered out and could be announced later this week. As Siobhan Morissey of Time notes, "Creeping unemployment, tight credit and property devaluation, where the home is worth less than the amount owed on the mortgage, all tend to indicate the problem will only get worse (absent government intervention)." In Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, the number of homes turned over to the banks spiked 180% during the first nine months of this year.
Senior Living Communities Considering Age Desegregation
Wanted: Young, quiet whippersnappers and their spouses to buy homes in gated, senior-living community. Must keep kids on a short leash. An interesting article from the Wall Street Journal about how several age-restricted communities in the U.S. are considering loosening their ownership covenants and opening the doors to younger families. The debate has been forced by the weak economy, falling home prices and a glut of unsold units in several developments like Century Village East in Deerfield Beach. While some residents like the idea of having an influx of younger neighbors, there are priceless quotes like this one from an 88-year-old resident who doesn't like the way the younger generation drives. "They speed. They use Century Boulevard as a race track!" If he thinks it's bad now, just wait 'til they start moving in with their kids and sharing the amenities.
