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| some of you saw this on Beaus Blog and commented about our beautiful neighborhood |
Under my label Walkamile I have shown you only photos of beautiful homes on my walk with Big boy and walks with Beau .
these are The Rest of The homes, the not so beautiful.
When we bought our house 32 years ago, this was the place to buy, since then a lot of the houses have become rentals.
We have been surrounded by rentals for years.
The rent is so high people can't afford to live one family to a house.
Rent runs 1200 to 2100 a month.
All the cars in the drive way, means several working adults live together to afford the mortgage or rent.
32 years ago, there was not a single rental in our neighborhood.
Most were retirees.
In the past 5 years, 6 of the neighbors that were next to or across from of have passed away, one couple went into assisted living.
In the years of Pandemic, the yards have filled with cars.
The homes have become rentals and multi family,
We are one of a few that have been here long enough to have our home paid for.
Investors call daily wanting to buy our home and fix it up and resell it.
The investors are causing inflation of prices, the homes sell for so much the average person can't afford the payment.
Investors buy cheap and then flip the houses.
Some of you will remember the yellow and aqua homes that were recently painted and a part of our front window view.
As of 6 months ago 5 of the six in our front view have sold at exorbitant prices.
At first I thought, yay that raises the value of our house.
Until the email bill for our homeowners insurance for the coming year.
Already extremely high because we live in a hurricane state, it jumped 483.99 since last year.
Shocked I grabbed last year policy to compare and found the reason.
They have accessed our replacement value per the values of the homes that have sold.
Also our taxes will go up accordingly.
This means the house we own free and clear will cost us a lot more in taxes and insurance.
We are retired on fixed income.
Add to this the inflation of food and sundries because of the pandemic, I almost panicked.
In the past 3 years nearly every home we walk past has been flipped by inspectors.
Many of these homes in my Walkabout label, our neighborhood we walk in,
were flipped in the past 2 years.
Now all those people have a mortgage so high they will not be able to sell the house if they need to.
The reason they were rentals is the owners owed more than they were worth and could not sell them.
The problem is, if we sold our house, we could not find another one to buy, but would have to have a mortgage.
We will hang tight until we die or the house falls in a sink hole.
The Castrophizer read the fine print on homeowners, that says if the house falls in a sink hole, and the govt declares it inhabitable, the insurance covers it.
if it falls part way in a sink hole it covers NOTHING.
Sink holes are common in Florida,
OV VEY!!!!!
25 comments:
Oh my gosh! Well, all these hosues are pretty, just junked and cluttered up by all the families. What a weird situation!!
Just clicked 'Walkamile'. Your neighbourhood is similar to parts of our suburb except we don't have so many cars in all the houses just some of them and for the same reason. Homes are too expensive for young people today. Our youngest daughter and family have just bought their first house in Melbourne and they are 47. It cost them over a million dollars just for an ordinary 3 bed home.
we can help to make that houses a little more beautiful... we are the diy eggsperts ;O))) but we noticed the same thing here with rentals... surprising that is happens even here in the middle of nowhere...
It’s sad and scary. Fingers crossed. 🤞♥️
To my eyes you live in a beautiful neighbourhood with large plots and greenery all around, but look beyond the surface and I know life is difficult. It's not surprising that many homes are rented and those on fixed incomes have economic challenges. It's the same here as young people have to rent and pensioners face rising utility bills. Take care both of you. You are going through a rough time.
Climate aside that looks like the county-town images of my teens +++ - bungalow style, well spread out, lots of vehicles (and boats). It's weird how the cycles go - maybe to do with people aging, families growing up and leaving home, and the homes being sold on. In UK we bought a house form a 'deceased estate' in an area of elderly home-owners. When we moved here two neighbouring properties had been sold (owners passed away) and turned into HMO (homes of multiple occupancy). Gardens got turned into parking spaces, hedges pulled out and replaced by low maintenance fences etc... One day (in another generation perhaps) they will look run down and some young family wanting a family sized home will buy them up cheaper than a nice home, and refurbish and restore them (and the cycle will run around again no doubt).
Hari Om
Regarding your insurance... I am certain that they ought to be assessing your rate on YOUR house, and not the other homes in the street... Worth a debate with your insurer. Might not get anywhere, but definitely don't just pay it unquestioned... YAM xx
PS - I say this due to this year having to take action myself... the annual cost rose (not like yours but enough to bother me). I rang a couple of other insurers to get quotes on equivalent cover, then rang my own insurer and advised them of the difference (both other quotes were lower - but a significant amount). They couldn't match it, so I swapped insurers and saved myself well over a hundred quid in the effort. Yxx
I think the housing market is the same nation-wide. Taxes go up, as with COLA. Everything is out of reach for those on a fixed income. I read where SS benefits will go up, but, if cost of living goes up the 'raise' in income is null & void.
I've always thought rent prices were crazy high here but YIKES, there is no way I could pay the kind of rent they are getting for these houses.
As for taxes and and insurance, both make me crazy and they way they figure them out is crazy.
And I thought it bad that our insurance jumps a hundred dollars every year...oh, my goodness, that is a big jump.
F has seen fruit cake recipes that use dates instead of refined sugar - it might be worth looking for one if you like fruit cakes that much. A little one at Christmas wouldn't then be too much of an indulgence perhaps...
Oh wow it looks like a parking lot in the last collage. Currently we have a huge RV parked across the street. It normally stays in the driveway. But it has been on the street for a week. Blocking everyone's view as they come out of their drive way. The folks moved in during 2020.
Sometimes they park their cars in the front yard. I'll never understand that mentality and it is not very attractive
Hugs Cecilia
PS hope you are feeling better
PS - coconut flour and mashed pumpkin are two other ingredients that sweeten fruit cake quite effectively.
Interesting! And sad, at the same time. People just doing what they can to survive -- and you're witness to it all.
I can't remember the name of the hurricane that was so destructive (mid-70's) -- but when I called my insurance agent to ask why the sudden increase she said disasters like that affect ALL policy-holders, not just those with claims. I noticed yesterday, our gas prices have risen 20-cents in the last 10-12 days on account of Ida. Former blogger Rick used to call it the 'cost of doing life.' Oh vey, is right!
Yikes on the insurance and rental prices. Similar rental prices here and houses that are priced to high for many. Nice shots of the neighborhood.
Similar situation here. We moved here in 1965 and most of the houses were owned but now most of them have been converted into multi occupied. Rents here are ridiculous, I don't know how people manage to find the money.
Glad you seem to be on the mend healthwise.
Briony
x
That's what's happening every where. We couldn't afford our home if we had to buy it. Fixed incomes really can cramp ones style.
California is really not the place to live any longer..Everything has gone up and will continue. Property taxes are through the roof.
I have to go to Lynne's in a few minutes and do a long day stint. The lady that usually does Karen's work days is sick so it's a 10 hour day for me. Hope she will be better by tomorrow..I don't know if I can handle too many long days in a row..money is nice but....
Sue
Those sink holes are scary. We have a good amount of rentals too. Sadly, because it is California, the rent runs are at least doubled if not tripled. We can't afford to live in our house and we can't afford to move either because of the housing prices. It's a great time to sell!
What a Catch 22, Sandra, and how unfair that your insurance costs and more should go up based on those other homes. While I do ‘t know if shopping around for other quotes would do any good, perhaps worth a try? As for the tax increase, is it possible to file an appeal and note that you are retirees with health issues as well….nothing ventured, nithing gained, but what a pain in the you know what!
My husband works at the BOE here in GA. The board of equalization - people make appointments who believe their house taxes are accessed for too much. They hear the case and will lower the taxes. Do you have that? You may want to check.
Our neighborhood has done the same thing. When we moved into our home in 1978 all of the homes on our street were owned by one family for each home. Usually 2 cars, until the kids grew up and had their cars.
The prices here were not expensive homes, but great starter homes.
Now as the houses change hands for one reason or another; death, moving to a newer house, divorce. Originally when we moved into our house our neighborhood was zoned as one family per house. I don't know when the rule changed, but it sure has. Several of the houses now have multiple room mates, sometimes there are two families in one house, one house has landscape workers who are here only during the summer and several men live in that house and they have friends coming and going all of the time. It used to be, long ago, when I could sit out on the front porch and know everyone who drove past. It sure isn't that way anymore. In the houses closest to ours most of the same owners are there that were there when we moved in, or in one case the daughter of the original people who lived there. Only one house that is very near us is a multiple unrelated people living in it. Different people come and go from there, though a couple of the people and their dog stay there. I only know their dog's name and the person who takes the dog out, I have only seen all of the other people at a distance. They are quiet and don't cause problems. If their dog barks more than one time when he is out, he is made to go inside. Luckily, most of the people living there don't have cars so there are only two cars there. I sometimes have more than one call wanting to buy our home "as is" a week. I suppose there are lists that show my husband and I are of retirement age and ready for a nursing home. I plan on staying right here for as long as I possibly can.
Rent prices like that sound awful. Who can afford to pay that. And you taxes going up by that much is crazy.
Here in my city, very houses can be totally seen from the footpath - it's all about high hedges and mainly wooden fences...a sneak look from a driveway if that's either open or a wrought iron work.
oops "very few houses.."
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