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Just read the abstract . . . I think I'm going to close all the blinds and spend the rest of the day listening to Morrissey in the dark.
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I deal with the aftermath everyday, it's ruminative but not at all in any way fun.
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"They Used to Wave, and Now they Don't"
Words and music by Morrissey
Trudging slowly over wet sand
Back to the bench where your equity was stolen
This is the coastal town
That they forgot to close down
Armageddon - come armageddon!
Come, armageddon! come!
Everyday is like sunday
Everyday is silent and grey
Hide on the promenade
Etch a postcard :
How I dearly wish I was not here
In the seaside town
...that they forgot to bomb
Come, come, come - nuclear bomb
Everyday is like sunday
Everyday is silent and grey
Trudging back over pebbles and sand
And a strange dust lands on your hands
(and on your face...)
Everyday is like sunday
Win yourself a cheap condo
Share some greased tea with me
Everyday is silent and grey
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Ah, sorry, Mike. I did not know that. I had no trouble registering but then again I'm a subscriber.
The article examines the boom-bust cycles of Florida real estate, and details how most of the counties and cities are dependent on real estate sales to function because there is no income tax. Therefore the state will listen to any developer with a plan, no matter how damaging, impulsive or wildly optimistic.
There are people living in Pasco County, near Tampa and Clearwater, in virtually deserted developments. The reporter goes to one development where a new family is shunned because it took advantage of a $100,000 discount (about 30 percent) to buy their house when everyone else bought at the top of the market.
The story shows that just about everyone in Florida is "in real estate," and bankers, notaries, secretaries, mechanics, clerks and government employees have brokers' or real estate licenses. One man talks about his secretary, who had a million invested on a $20,000 salary. Migrant farmworkers got into construction because it paid better. Since so much farmland has gone into development, now that real estate has gone bust there's little crop to pick.
He talks to several people who have gone bust. One family financed far more than they could afford on credit cards and HELOCs. They have moved from their house, which is up for foreclosure, to a 2-bedroom apartment. Their children share the other bedroom.
One woman is sitting in the garage of a home she's renting. She is selling her heirlooms and photo albums trying to stay afloat. Problem is the things she has to sell are valuable only to herself.
The story tells about a mobster who bought hundreds of houses with straw buyers. They visit a house in Tampa that was flipped and flipped again in a money laundering scheme. It went for more than 300K but is now going for about $35K if the buyer will pay cash.
The walkway line is from a real estate broker--"This is just a hiccup." Then he says it might be more than a hiccup, since it's gone global.
That's the gist, Mike--it's a well-written, detailed story. Well worth visiting the library for. You might also want to see if your library has an online subscription.
Black, you are tiresome.
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Thanks. I know a guy who was building a huge second home down there a few years ago. He was offered so much money for it, he pocketed at least a million dollars. Needless to say, he was one of the lucky ones. I wonder what it's worth now.
BTW, you could loan me your login info. I have a bad memory so I'll just forget it by tomorrow. :wink:
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FWIW the abstract seems to cover most of what's in the article, no?
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I have a quite good sense of humor. Most of us who possess a good sense of humor also realize that different people appreciate different humor. It is not one size fits all. You could back off--that might show some grace that till now you have not shown.
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Some of what they're describing reminds me of what we have here in Chicago; everyone and their dog was getting into "flipping" a few years ago.
