On Wed, 01 Mar 2006 20:16:02 GMT, "Maxprop"
wrote:


"katy" wrote in message
...
Maxprop wrote:
"Frank Boettcher" wrote in message
...


My Mother in law has waterfront in Florida. Value has doubled each of
the last two years. And it is real because the house is not for sale
but she has people knocking on the door making offers. It is not a
good thing unless you are flipping real estate. If you just want to
live there eventually the taxes and insurance will drive you out.


I thought Florida had passed a law similar to California's Prop 51, which
freezes property taxes at the buy-in level. Not true?


I
feel sorry for people who retired on a fixed income and their dream
was to live near the water in Florida. Even though Florida limits
the amount of tax increase per year for a homstead, I expect it will
eventually drive them out.


Guess I should have read on--so FL *can* raise property taxes, but at a
fixed rate for homesteads. Hmmm. Not good for those on fixed incomes.
Then again the real estate moguls control that state, lock, stock, and
barrel, and increasing property taxes may be their way of forcing folks
out of their homes, which puts them on the market for them to sell
profitably. No one ever accused FL of being altruistic w/r/t real estate.
One has only to look at all the coastal wetlands that got backfilled
between the 60s and the present, all in the name of creating canals for
more "waterfront" property.

Max
And it's a renewable resource to boot. One massive hurricane like
Katrina, and whammo, they get to start all over again.

The builders love it. So do the shyster, fly-by-night remodeling types.

Max


Actually each hurricane seems initiate code creation that improves the
chances of a structure surviving the next one. My mother in laws
place was totaled during a hurricane about ten years ago. walking
down the beach I noticed that all the homes that had been built to the
new coastal codes survived with minimal damage and all like hers that
had been built before the coastal codes were pretty much toast. Her
replacement home is built to the new codes and has gone through a
couple of minor hurricanes with no damage.

Frank