Tales from Florida
Lehigh Acres, Florida is a far cry from New York City but the apocalyptic scenerio described in The Times this weekend was enough to send shivers down the spine of even the most optimistic gotham dweller: Trinkets for $1 were an early sign of trouble. Early last year, garage sales and estate auctions became more…
Lehigh Acres, Florida is a far cry from New York City but the apocalyptic scenerio described in The Times this weekend was enough to send shivers down the spine of even the most optimistic gotham dweller:
Trinkets for $1 were an early sign of trouble. Early last year, garage sales and estate auctions became more common in Lehigh Acres as families sold what they could to survive. No one seemed interested in buying whole houses, and foreclosures soon gave way to empty homes that became magnets for crime. Thieves stole air conditioner parts for scrap. And on distant roads with only a few new homes and faded blue street signs from the ’50s — on Narcissus Boulevard, on Prospect Avenue — drug dealers moved in. In 2007 and 2008, the Lee County Sheriff’s Department shut down more than 100 houses in Lehigh Acres where marijuana was being grown. In 2008, the police confiscated nearly 3,000 plants valued at nearly $7 million.
Gulp.
“Again if you think the Florida real estate market is anything like that of NY read the article in the latest New Yorker. Its not remotely the same.”
The bubble was the same. That’s the reason for the thread. NYC is the last in line for this housing crash and we see what’s happening to those before us. We will get ours. Keep the cameras rolling.
***Bid half off peak comps***
It’s an awful situation in FL and I’m not saying I don’t worry about the economy in NYC but Lehigh Acres in Lee County FL is laughably not even close to being comparable to Brooklyn.
I know this area. Lee County has a large blue collar population, has tons of cheap new construction on swamp landfill (snakes, ants, waterbugs) way out in the middle of nowhere. These were always bad investment properties. The whole area is way way overbuilt. Those properties weren’t even all sold even before the crash there were so many. As with all cities the better investments to make in Florida are in the older, historic, very well established neighborhoods centrally located in town. Those places will be okay in the long run. (See Old Naples and Port Royal in Naples FL as one town’s example).
Legalize marijuana and tax the heck out of it. Problem solved, government coffers filled.
Again if you think the Florida real estate market is anything like that of NY read the article in the latest New Yorker. Its not remotely the same.
There was an article in last week’s New Yorker about another crashing/crashed area in Florida. The New Yorker article covered the issue of the assumption that prices would continue to rise so it was stupid not to borrow money on your house, and buy investment property. No, it’s not NYC but I heard echoes of what I’ve heard here about 30 or 40 percent annual increases in house values being “normal.”
Unfortunately the New Yorker now requires subscriptions for access to most of its articles but it looks like you can get 4 weeks for free. Here’s the link to the article:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/02/09/090209fa_fact_packer
the new yorker has a great article in its latest issue on crumbling developer communities in florida for anyone interested. one woman living there said she used to live in brooklyn and misses the street life and community. in florida her kids can’t even play outside the grounds are infested with snakes!
I’m with 11217. Yes, I feel bad for the situation but Lehigh
Acres is the antithesis of NYC. Cheap land and economy based solely on building new houses and promises of ‘lifestyle’.
I sure as hell hope the town sold the marijuana for all the real estate taxes that are overdue!!!!
As a Gotham dweller, this does not send shivers down my spine.
As a human being, it does.
If anything, it makes me even more happy I am a Gotham dweller, and not a dweller in some crappy subdivision in Florida or somewhere else in Anytown, USA.
If this article does not highlight aspects of the newly changing landscape in the U.S. with regard to increased urbanization and the dying of the sprawling burbs, I don’t know what does.