“Sunshine all the time. Don’t have to shovel snow. The beach, the sand ...” the Ontarian said from her second home in Hallandale Beach, halfway between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
Last week, her retirement reverie came to an end as Cedrone and her husband signed the closing papers on their home sale.
Other reasons played a role, too — higher insurance rates, taxes and condo fees. (...)
Insurance premiums have shot up in recent years because of more extreme weather, costing Cedrone more than US$16,000 a year — 10 times the rate when she first bought the property.
She also paid nearly US$4,000 in taxes versus US$1,500 a decade and a half ago.
Meanwhile, property upgrades required by stricter building codes meant residents had to cough up thousands more over the last few years, forcing the couple to remortgage their second home. (...)
Homeowners in that state now pay more than three times the national average to insure their properties, according to the Insurance Information Institute, making Florida the costliest home insurance state in the U.S.
Aside from the effect of climate change on premiums, there’s also the question of safety and a perpetual sense of precariousness in storm-prone regions.
“I ain’t going nowhere that’s got hurricanes,” said Laurie Lavine, an Arizona-based realtor whose clientele consists largely of Canadians.
A former Albertan, Lavine said most clients share his sentiments.
Nonetheless, he has observed a recent surge in listings from Canadians in his desert state recently. Again, expense is the bottom line.
“It’s costing them $20,000 a year just to have the property, between utilities and taxes and all the carrying costs of owning a property down here. They’re just not coming down as much as they want to because of the Canadian dollar,” he said.
Lavine said he’ll be handling eight listings — all Canadian-owned — in the next few weeks, twice his typical load.
by Christopher Reynolds, MSN | Read more:
She also paid nearly US$4,000 in taxes versus US$1,500 a decade and a half ago.
Meanwhile, property upgrades required by stricter building codes meant residents had to cough up thousands more over the last few years, forcing the couple to remortgage their second home. (...)
Homeowners in that state now pay more than three times the national average to insure their properties, according to the Insurance Information Institute, making Florida the costliest home insurance state in the U.S.
Aside from the effect of climate change on premiums, there’s also the question of safety and a perpetual sense of precariousness in storm-prone regions.
“I ain’t going nowhere that’s got hurricanes,” said Laurie Lavine, an Arizona-based realtor whose clientele consists largely of Canadians.
A former Albertan, Lavine said most clients share his sentiments.
Nonetheless, he has observed a recent surge in listings from Canadians in his desert state recently. Again, expense is the bottom line.
“It’s costing them $20,000 a year just to have the property, between utilities and taxes and all the carrying costs of owning a property down here. They’re just not coming down as much as they want to because of the Canadian dollar,” he said.
Lavine said he’ll be handling eight listings — all Canadian-owned — in the next few weeks, twice his typical load.
by Christopher Reynolds, MSN | Read more:
Image: uncredited
[ed. See also: Glut of New Houses for Sale in the South Is Bigger Even than during the Housing Bust. The Glut in the West Gets Close (WS):]
In the South – the largest region, with a population of 133 million, see map below – has the most inventory of new houses ever, surpassing even the astronomical levels on the eve of the Housing Bust, just before it all fell apart.
Since June 2024, new houses for sale in the South have surpassed the high of August 2006. In June, there were 293,000 new houses for sale (compared to 291,000 in August 2006). Since then, the inventory of new houses for sale has further ballooned and in October reached 304,000, and has remained in that range through December (301,000). Since December 2019, inventory has exploded by 76%. This is a massive amount of inventory of new houses for sale.
In the South – the largest region, with a population of 133 million, see map below – has the most inventory of new houses ever, surpassing even the astronomical levels on the eve of the Housing Bust, just before it all fell apart.
Since June 2024, new houses for sale in the South have surpassed the high of August 2006. In June, there were 293,000 new houses for sale (compared to 291,000 in August 2006). Since then, the inventory of new houses for sale has further ballooned and in October reached 304,000, and has remained in that range through December (301,000). Since December 2019, inventory has exploded by 76%. This is a massive amount of inventory of new houses for sale.
