Can't afford to live here anymore
Once again we're reminded that South Florida is fast becoming a place for the well-to-do. More and more longtime residents are discovering that they can't afford to live here because of the escalating costs of property. Taxes are through the roof, and to add insult to injury, so are home insurance premiums.
My friends' neighbor, a third-generation Miamian, recently moved her family to the middle of the state because she couldn't afford the extra $1000-plus added to her mortgage payment in taxes and insurance. Both husband and wife worked.
I don't know how my children will ever be able to afford a decent home in a good neighborhood in Miami. We are a city increasingly divided between the haves and the have-nots -- with one ironic twist: The have-nots are working people, some college educated, many young and starting off. They've played by the rules, but the rules haven't played for them.
My friends' neighbor, a third-generation Miamian, recently moved her family to the middle of the state because she couldn't afford the extra $1000-plus added to her mortgage payment in taxes and insurance. Both husband and wife worked.
I don't know how my children will ever be able to afford a decent home in a good neighborhood in Miami. We are a city increasingly divided between the haves and the have-nots -- with one ironic twist: The have-nots are working people, some college educated, many young and starting off. They've played by the rules, but the rules haven't played for them.
posted by Ana Veciana-Suarez at 8:58 AM
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5 Comments:
This is a great coincidence, because, recently, my husband and I have been discussing this very same topic. We are approaching our retirement years and growing more and more convinced that we will need to relocate.
We both love Miami, but we can't see how we could keep our heads abouve water when we are on fixed income. We could sell our property - which we bought in the late 70's for $40,000. Similar homes in our neighborhood have been selling for around $600,000, and buy a nice retirement home up north.
We need to research what our final destination will be - but the irony is, that, when we were growing up, all the retirees used to come HERE. Now, our generation needs to leave to be able to afford retirement.
I was born and raised in Miami.
I am college educated and work for a major airline. I have done all the right things; paid all my taxes, donated blood and don't have a criminal record. Yet I cringe every day when I open the newspaper because I don't know who will try to get their pound of flesh from me. Between taxes, insurance, gas and the cost of tomatoes, I am not sure what this government thinks that I am supposed to do to be able to keep my head above water. I don't want to sell and move. I don't want to be forced out from my home...not just my house, but from my home, Miami. I am sad for my son who will likely not be able to stay here where he was also born.
Argentina is not so bad
... This miserable country's pathetic employment & financial markets continue to surprise me with what lows they're capable of reaching. It seems everything I can think raises in price every year. RENT, gas, groceries, everything!!!... Yet, employers still somehow lowball the middle income class of working America (like me) year after year, paying us all $40 grand a year... I'm not a genius, and does not take one to realize that we're all going to f---king sink if this miserable trend continues...
my family also feels your pain,this govt is not for us who make 60k or less,,,it just seems that they are trying to make us all commit suicide because of the mental pain we feel everyday we wake up knowing that our future will be just like our past ,sucks,in 1992 i was making a very good life my wife and i ,over 60k a year ,then i was disabled by an injury i had no control over ,now on disablity i make less than 20k and they hit me with all sorts of taxes,ive been on a fixed income for the last 16 years and my health is just getting worse trying to figure how to give my family a life they deserve when this govt just takes care of people who dont need the help they have all the money in the world but yet they are the ones that get all the breaks,living here in punta gorda for the last 13 years i came here after my disability for the warmth and it was affordable ,now the taxes of gone up 5 times and insurance has killed us ,,i have spent every thing i saved just to stay here and for what,Bush has killed this country and now people want to vote in this old asshole who will do the same for the rich and screw us again,,south florida is a great place if you have money but if you dont ,,forget it ,,move somewhere else cuz the middle of florida is no better than the bottom or the top ,they want every dollar we have and the rich owe nothing,its crazy that i pay over 3k a year in taxes and someone who makes a million or more pays nothing,thats right nothing ,,,,cuz they write everything off ,,dinners ,gas,food,insurance ,taxes ,imagine waking up and going around and spending like ther is no tommorrow because asshole Bush says they can write it all off,,,everything is for free for those who have everything and we owe and pay for everything ,,there is 20 % of those who have everything and 80% of us who are middle class,its time for us to take back this country one way or another some how,or it will be another 8 years of hell for us all if yous vote for that old man and that young rep from alaska. we need a change in this country to help us the ones who worked and made this country ,,they screwed our parents who made this usa and now they are taking everything out on us ,the rich dont care if gas goes to 10 dollars when they get to write it off anyway ,we are the ones that have to pay for it,,please americans stand up and stick together and vote for a change ,not the same thing that has taken everything i have and i dont have anymore time left to give to these rich assholes who dont care about the ones that serve them and feed them and drive ther goods to them and make this country for them ,,,its our country the workers of usa that need to get a break,,get out of iraq and gives everyone who makes under 100k a years 10k ,they could do that ,for what that asshole is spending a day in iraq is a joke and we have left him do it for 8 years ,take our kids and money to give to a bunch of iraqs who hate us, GOD HELP US ALL
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