WX10 Articles

The economy of Florida is highly dependent upon those who choose a second home in the state.  These part time residents can choose other alternatives such as northern Mississippi, northern Alabama, and Tennessee and get great values as well as low costs.

Homesteaded residents of Florida are seeing the impact on snowbirds first-hard.  Many residents have friends who are part-timers who are being killed by property tax levels.

That financial impact on these snowbirds as well as others are not only discouraging further investments, but is making it necessary to sell their holdings.  The people who reside in Florida part time are important to the state's economy.  They are the ones who dine in restaurants and purchase items in retail stores.  Penalizing them for living in the state shouldn't continue.

Real estate agents who cater to international buyers are finding that some are already selling their houses and returning to their home country.  As an example, one Canada  national just sold his house in Sanibel Island for $455,000 after receiving a tax bill of $11,000 plus paying an additional $10,000 for maintenance and insurance. 

The client estimated that instead of owning the house, he can use the $20,000 and travel throughout the world.  Without prompt action in these types of situation, there will be increasing numbers of people leaving the state and seeking state for other locations.

Many believe that Florida is well on the way to pricing itself out of the market.  An attitude of penalizing those coming from the North will result in those people choosing to go somewhere else.  So long as people can move about as they please, they will not continue to go somewhere if they don't feel welcome there. 

People who own rental properties in the state feel the same emotions.  They call the recent location a joke, saying they can't rent their properties at a rate high enough to cover taxes and insurance, so they are losing money each year. Annual taxes on rentals have in many instances have tripled, so that landlords are falling short every month just to come out even.

Landlords who attempt to sell the losing properties are setting asking prices at less than half of the property's value just to try to get rid of them.  Even at bargain basement prices, they aren't finding buyers because of the high tax bill which will be faced.

This same issue is arising, not only with rental property sales, but with second homes and vacation homes.  Some homeowners who are unable to market the tax burdened houses are forced into foreclosure so that there is an increasing number of homes on the market which are not salable, except to investors at deeply discounted prices. 

This has the effect of continuing to drag the market down since investors won't continue to put money into a property which can't be resold at a profit.