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As the owner of 2 properties that have temporarily frozen in  value, I too have decided to get rid of my teaser mortgages and so I have refinanced them and now I pay at least the full interest payments on my loans. I noticed that even with all of the recent crackdowns in the mortgage industry, Life still goes on. And we are not having a Real Estate bubble!

Homes are still being sold for more than the owners paid.

The profits are not as exagerated as they were 3 years ago, but I have the confidence that the market will continue to move up slowly perhaps at a 5% per year rate

But that could still make you 20 to 25 percent in less than 5 years time.

Now what is happening is that all of those Mickey Mouse Mortgage companies and brokers are going down. They used to approve anybody, using dirty tricks, fake pay stubs etc. Now I am glad that the Banks are cracking down on all of this Fraud. And the truth is that we all should make money honestly and this world would be a much happier place.

I was thinking about this, over the weekend. When I retire, even if my house is paid off in full, I will still have to pay almost $1000 a month in property taxes. If Social Security only pays the same amount of about $1000 each month, then we are in big trouble. Oh, and if there is no social security left when I retire, that will also be a big problem.

So as we know, Florida’s population growth is based on almost 50 percent of people who retire from other states and then move to Florida, for our beautiful climate, that we all take for granted. If these people find out, how high the property taxes are, they may go to some other states.

Florida cannot afford to let this happen. This will ruin out whole economy. Real Estate prices will stop rising and more people will leave the State. So, now you know one more reason to vote for a Sales tax increase or any other legislation to get rid of our High property taxes and insurance rates.

This could be the best thing for Florida homeowners and investors.

Before we can complain about the effects of an increase, people need to do some simple math. First let’s assume that the average person only uses less than 50 percent of their income for use on items that include sales tax.  You do not pay sales tax on your rent or mortgage payments. So let assume that you make about 60,000 per year. Well then you only can spend 30,000 per year on items that may include Sales tax. So using the current Miami Dade sales tax rate, currently at 7 percent; you may or may not be spending, $2000 a year on sales taxes. 

The new Florida homeowner’s insurance law changes are not working. The new law was passed last month, but so far there have been no signs of any rate reductions, that is, unless you have Citizens insurance. And the people who have that, are paying such high premiums, that a measly 20% reduction will seem like nothing. What happened to the big companies that the law makers have claimed will come back to Florida?. I have called my agent several times and so far nothing is happening. As a matter a fact, they told me that rates are still rising. We need cheaper homeowners insurance, or at least the option to insure our houses for less money. For example I am willing to accept the first $50,000 from insurance and anything that exceeds that amount, than I would pay for it myself. So If a Hurricane hits my roof and it looses a few tiles, I would replace them even if the color does not exactly match. One reason why Florida’s homeowners insurance is so expensive is that so many people are getting their whole roof replaced only because many insurance adjusters tell the homeowners that if they cannot find the same color roof tiles or shingles, that they can use that as an excuse to get a whole new roof. This is why a smaller hurricane like Wilma has caused insurance claims to be almost as high as was after hurricane Andrew. Hurricane Andrew was a much stronger storm. Roofs needed to be replaced back then, because they were really damaged. Shame on anybody who makes the insurance company’s pay for a whole new roof! If you only loose a few tiles, you should fix your roof. If you do otherwise, then you are a thief. And the insurance company’s aught to force those people to go with Citizens, because thieves belong with thieves.  

In Todays edition of the Sun Sentinal, there is an article about how higher property taxes in Florida are hurting the Real Estate Market.

I know this is true, because it has affected many people that I know, including myself. It is probably the combination of high taxes and insurance, that makes owning a home almost unaffordable. I know that this is also affecting some business, which may lead them to move to other states, where the taxes and insurance are cheaper.

So if that happens, then we will loose even more jobs. This has got to be stopped. I recently wrote several posts about this. One of my suggestions is that Florida should take a look at how things are run in some other states that also have a booming real estate market.

I also said that I think we should have a higher sales tax rate and use this to lower the property tax rate. This will force tourists as well as illegal aliens, which do not own homes to help us to pay for our government.

Just because we are smart enough to own a home, does not mean we should be the only ones to pay higher taxes.

PLEASE ADD SOME COMMENTS!!!

What are your thoughts, I keep writing about current events, I am sure are many people out there, reading my posts and you may either agree or disagree with my postings. But please feel free to add a comment. I promise I will not send you any Spam. As a matter a fact I hate Spam.

I recently had to activate a special plugin on this Wordpress Weblog, just to stop it from getting flooded by spam comments. But if your comments are simple and do not contain any bad words, all you have to do is type them and they will be automatically posted. It is that simple.

So lets see some more Comments!!!!!!

Do you agree or disagree ??

Yesterday a new Bill was passed that may help me to get a slightly better rate next time I renew my insurance, but I still think that a lot more needs to be done.

So here is an email I sent to the Governer. I still have not received a response, but I know they have been busy over the last week or so.

Dear Governor Crist:

I understand that you are really trying to help reduce insurance rates in Florida and I would like to thank you in advance for that.
Now I would like to know if this will be something that we will see as some kind of refund from our current insurance premiums which have doubled since last year,
Or will this be an effort to prevent further increases. I have noticed that over the past year, almost every neighbor that I speak with has been hit with a premium increase of almost $200 per month. Some of us see this, when our banks do an escrow analysis and that is my case. My bank is asking me to pay an extra $2000 toward by escrow Balance and then my payment will still go up by $150 per month.  I really cannot afford this and my wife is ready to sell out house and wants us to move to Georgia.

We may all have to move to another state:
I also want you to know that 3 other families from my wives side are all planning to do the same. They all want to move to Georgia. There must be a better answer. If too many people begin to leave Florida, that may Hurt the economy even more.
So now having said this, I would like you to consider this:

Solutions:

1) Reward those who have Solid Houses and those who do not file claims:
I live in a community called Venezia Lakes. The Zip code is 33186 My house was built in 2001 by Carribe Home builders.My house is of solid reinforced concrete construction. The roof is of Barrel Tile, I have shutters and I do use them.

2) Crack down and Punish Scammers:
I am very sad when I am invited to a party and I here people brag about how they became rich Thanks to Hurricane Andrew, of Wilma.
These people should be punished and not rewarded. Those same people try to tell me that I am a fool because I should have filed a claim last year.
When Hurricane Wilma hit last year, we did not suffer any damages. We may have lost one or 2 roof tiles, but that is it. If any of my neighbors filed claims, believe me they are fraudsters. The houses in my community are built very strong and up to code.

I am very certain that one of the main reasons that insurance is so expensive is because there is a lot of fraud and exaggeration whenever we get a storm.
I also know that if you created a law that punishes people for filing claims and rewards those of us who do not, would be of great assistance.
I never files any claims and I would not unless my house was really destroyed. I know that only a tornado could do that. But the odds of a tornado are less than that of a Hurricane. Let us make those people who scammed Andrew, Katrina and Wilma
Be the ones who should move to another state.

3) Let us pay a higher wind deductible!
I am willing to pay a much higher wind deductible if only I could see my insurance premium reduces, to where I can afford it.

4) Reevaluate the “East of US1“, barrier:
There are many parts of South Florida, especially Homestead, where US1 is much further from the coast. The houses are brand new and solid, yet we cannot get windstorm insurance there. This is going to have a negative effect on the home values if something is not done. Why can’t the barrior be based upon how many mile from the coast you live, versus using a highway that is inconsistent.

Please let me know if you can share any simular stories or comments about this topic.