There are lots of things they do not tell you about Florida, before buying a home here.
The "Sunshine State" has amazing sunsets, and sunrises, miles of beautiful beaches, and it is packed with extremely attractive homes, and Neighborhoods. So what's the problem?
Florida Is Beautiful.
There is no denying that with the crystal clear ocean waters, the coral reefs, and the sunshine in no great shortage, Florida is photogenic. There is also a very dark side to the Sunshine State, one that's not in the brochures, and real estate buyers guides. In today's article, we will Uncover both sides and, everything in-between. Before we start though, let me give you a quick look at today's sponsor.
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The Florida Sunshine.
It's even in the State Motto includes the Sun.
There is a common knowledge among Americans of Florida being a nice, and sunny place. There is some truth to that, especially just on the surface. What I mean by that, is simply that Florida is Sunny. Just like the Sahara desert, and Death Valley, the sun shines here in bulk. Living here in an Air Conditioned condo, seems to be an insanely common American retirement plan.
That's only about 51% of the weather though. Hurricanes, Tornados, Spontaneous intense Thunderstorms, and the smell of people who have eaten Publix cold cuts and done Pilates in the sun, dominated the other 48%. Leaving about 1%, or 3.65 days a year when the weather isn't trying to sap the life out of you, or assault you in some fu¢ked up way. Like for instance in Florida, you have a much higher chance of getting struck by lightning, or getting tossed a mile in the air by a tornado than most other states. Some states have a lot of lightning, and some have a lot of tornadoes sure, but we got a s#it ton of both of them. That's also just by themselves, because they both also spawn in, and circle the eyes of hurricanes.
Between the sun soaked retirees, and the traveling snow birds, Florida has had one of the oldest average citizen ages, higher than most other U.S. states consecutively for multiple decades. It's a lot like a raisin farm in that aspect. For instance, people arrive here all plump and healthy, fully ripe, but about to decline. Then once the sun dries them out and wrinkles them up, then they are nothing but skin and a skull shaped seed. Soon after they get planted in the ground. Oh, that leads to another fact. Loooooots, of graveyards, cemeteries, and funeral homes. Oh, then estate sales, and lots of homes auctioned off by the state a few years later because they had no family, or will. An obvious supply and demand thing, but hey that's just capitalism at its finest, am I right? 😀
Renters Beware.
For those of us in Florida, who aren't members of A.A.R.P. or, even just those people who plan on doing physical labor in exchange for money, this is NOT the place for you. The median income here, is roughly $30 K per year. While your average annual rent is about $2,500 per month for a 1 Bedroom studio apartment, or about $2,900 a month, for a 2 Bedroom house rental. The point being made with that, is to state that in order to rent any of them, you have to take home 3 times the annual rent in income. A common standard for the investment firms like Berkshire Hathaway, or One of the big 3. Vanguard, State Street, and Black Rock, under their shell companies, and other types of property investment companies. Putting the required after tax income needed at $90 K per year, just to qualify for renting a studio apartment. That is well over the income of roughly 80% of the 2 parent households with kids here. That is not sustainable. How can you work a full-time job, with overtime, as your partner will be doing the same thing and you still can't qualify to rent a studio apartment, so you do what, get a third roommate? Or the next option, get one bigger than you need, and try to split the rent, putting many in a situation where they are depending on some other person, to always have their share of the books on time. Then good luck evicting them if they don't pay.
There is one affordable option that still exists in most populated areas, or just on their outskirts. That being trailer parks. It seems to be the one place that is cheap enough to rent, at least with only two full time incomes. The problem with them is the common severe weather events, like hurricanes and tornados. For the hurricanes they get emergency evacuations, and for the tornadoes they're just screwed. South Florida, or at least a majority of it lies at elevations under 30 feet above sea level. With some of the areas populated with homes actually being below sea level. It's almost impossible to build a shelter below ground here. It will either flood, or pop out of the ground eventually when it rains, and well let's be honest, it rains a lot.
If you don't get a lot of sunshine, or coastline where you are from, I suppose it can be a great vacation destination. That's where the well known unofficial motto comes in..
“Come here on Vacation, You may stay here on Probation.”
That leads us to another imbalance. The jail, and prison system, and it's judicial pipeline. Without a doubt they are far too large of a percentage of the employment market. It is literally the states largest single employer, with over 24,000 people working for FDOC.
Florida Department of Corrections -- Homepage http://www.dc.state.fl.us/
Check for yourself, they actually brag about it. This state houses the 3rd largest inmate population. That metric is staggering, when you consider the fact that it actually has the largest number of inmates per capita. That's the inmate to free citizen ratio. In other words, if you come to Florida, there is a high likelihood of visiting a jail, or prison. Hopefully on the side of the bars where you get to go home every night. But looking at those numbers, the inverse is more statistically probable. We can understand why, when you weigh in the fact that even with a full time job, you would still have to have an Only Fans, or Drug dealing job in order to pay the bills.
This has been your Florida Real estate minute.
Have a wonderful day, and if you are fleeing a city, move to the mountains. Not the swamp.
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Well there goes my retirement plan...