[jojajn]

Tonight, 50,000 Florida children will go to sleep without a home. More than 1,300 of those children are living in Collier or Lee counties.

Number of homeless students increasing locally as economy sours : Lee : Naples Daily News

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by jojajn

You obviously have more than most in your state. Enjoy it! Just don't assume it is good for everyone there.

More than "most" in the state?

On what do you base that conclusion?

Please tell me whatever it is you "do" for a living does not involve analyzing and interpreting data?

Originally Posted by jojajn

BTW, homeless children could use our help.

Sure they can. And any number of the 4 billion people poor people in the world could really use all that extra space in your house. Want to move them to some of those spare rooms ya got? I'm sure they'd love the view.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by jojajn

Are you saying that those 50,000 homeless children in the state of Florida are in charge of their own destiny?

You would make a great attorney.

[TANaples]

Let me explain. Before most people can move, they have to sell their houses. If I won the lottery and could sell the condo and the house (yes unfortuntely 2) for $5 apiece, would I have any takers? In my current financial situation I cannot afford to do that. This brings this in line with the bigger issue, and not just MY personal situation.

I live in Collier. This area has the highest foreclosure and unemployment rates in the state, if not the country, as somebody else posted. There are a flood of condos and houses on the market. It is a struggle to even find renters, in the OFF SEASON. Who is going to move here and buy a place if they also cannot find work? How many retirees and snowbirds can there be? This, again, comes back to the OT.

The issue of homeless children is relevant to the topic; unemployment/foreclosures. Lee county lost 2,500 students last year. Collier lost 400. What will it be this year? Families are moving away. I work in the schools and can attest to this, although many posters don't want to hear this. I posted this on another thread. The father of the special needs child I worked with was out of work, and homeless for a while, for over a year. The family moved in with relatives. There were 6 people living in a 2 bedroom walk up condo. The boy was in a wheelchair and had to be carried up and down the stairs every day. When his Dad found work in N. Dakota, they left. Immediately. I am sure you can multiple this situation by the thousands.

So it all comes full circle. We don't live in a vacuum. Our personal lives and situations are impacted greatly by what is going on around us.

[stars99]

That's generally not a part of the state where anyone would be advised to move unless they were retired or independently in the first place, or had a real plan to start a business that caters to retired (or wealthy) people. Orlando, Miami and Jacksonville are not perfect as employment centers but you can't compare them to Lee and Collier counties, which have never even pretended to be employment centers. Those empty houses will be sold off at fire sale prices to investors, or condemned by the city and taken over by squatters (or both). Or snowbirds from Canada or other places in the world may eventually buy them.

As for the homeless issue, if they've moved out of the county and the state, I don't understand how this connects to homelessness in Florida, please explain.

Originally Posted by TANaples

I live in Collier. This area has the highest foreclosure and unemployment rates in the state, if not the country, as somebody else posted. There are a flood of condos and houses on the market. It is a struggle to even find renters, in the OFF SEASON. Who is going to move here and buy a place if they also cannot find work? How many retirees and snowbirds can there be? This, again, comes back to the OT.

The issue of homeless children is relevant to the topic; unemployment/foreclosures. Lee county lost 2,500 students last year. Collier lost 400. What will it be this year? Families are moving away. I work in the schools and can attest to this, although many posters don't want to hear this. I posted this on another thread. The father of the special needs child I worked with was out of work, and homeless for a while, for over a year. The family moved in with relatives. There were 6 people living in a 2 bedroom walk up condo. The boy was in a wheelchair and had to be carried up and down the stairs every day. When his Dad found work in N. Dakota, they left. Immediately. I am sure you can multiple this situation by the thousands.

So it all comes full circle. We don't live in a vacuum. Our personal lives and situations are impacted greatly by what is going on around us.

[TANaples]

Originally Posted by OrlandoRE_Miracle

That's generally not a part of the state where anyone would be advised to move unless they were retired or independently in the first place, or had a real plan to start a business that caters to retired (or wealthy) people. Orlando, Miami and Jacksonville are not perfect as employment centers but you can't compare them to Lee and Collier counties, which have never even pretended to be employment centers. Those empty houses will be sold off at fire sale prices to investors, or condemned by the city and taken over by squatters (or both). Or snowbirds from Canada or other places in the world may eventually buy them.

As for the homeless issue, if they've moved out of the county and the state, I don't understand how this connects to homelessness in Florida, please explain.

The Dad lost his job. They lost their house. They were living in their van until the school district contacted state authorities and the family was place in temporary housing (motel) until they could stay with their family. As I said, it might have been a issue with too many people living in that condo. I just don't know. Anyway, there was a happy ending. He found work in N. Dakota.

My point in our situation is that we will not be able to move until and unless we can sell. It isn't a matter of moving to a wrong area. This is where my husband got a job, but I very worried that given the bad economic situation in the Naples/Ft. Myers area, we will not be able to sell when it is time for us to retire. I do not want to spend the rest of my days on earth here.

[stars99]

I wasn't referring to you and your situation, but to anyone who moved to that area without a job and is now sour grapes about what's happening there. They should have known that area isn't exactly a hot spot for jobs.

You're right, there will probably be an increase in foreclosures in that area and a continual drop in prices in that area until an equilibrium is reached. In the mean time more "ghost towns", poorly maintained properties and lawns, and maybe more crime if things get desperate enough.

If you're going to be retiring, I'm sure you can sell the house and find some place with cooler weather to move to. You just might have to downsize. But most people do that anyway when they retire.

Originally Posted by TANaples

The Dad lost his job. They lost their house. They were living in their van until the school district contacted state authorities and the family was place in temporary housing (motel) until they could stay with their family. As I said, it might have been a issue with too many people living in that condo. I just don't know. Anyway, there was a happy ending. He found work in N. Dakota.

My point in our situation is that we will not be able to move until and unless we can sell. It isn't a matter of moving to a wrong area. This is where my husband got a job, but I very worried that given the bad economic situation in the Naples/Ft. Myers area, we will not be able to sell when it is time for us to retire. I do not want to spend the rest of my days on earth here.

[TANaples]

Originally Posted by OrlandoRE_Miracle

I wasn't referring to you and your situation, but to anyone who moved to that area without a job and is now sour grapes about what's happening there. They should have known that area isn't exactly a hot spot for jobs.

You're right, there will probably be an increase in foreclosures in that area and a continual drop in prices in that area until an equilibrium is reached. In the mean time more "ghost towns", poorly maintained properties and lawns, and maybe more crime if things get desperate enough.

If you're going to be retiring, I'm sure you can sell the house and find some place with cooler weather to move to. You just might have to downsize. But most people do that anyway when they retire.

Hopefully, things will change for the better for all in the next few years.

[doggiebus]

Lets try to stay on topic and have a polite conversation even with differing opinions, if not this thread will be closed.

[jojajn]

Has Economic Twilight Fallen on Nation's Sun Belt?

Good question. This is an interesting theory that Florida's economy was based on a "Ponzi scheme" dependent on a constant influx of new residents.

South Florida Professor Gary Mormino, who describes the state’s economy as a giant Ponzi scheme. He’s the author of Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams: A Social History of Modern Florida.

"A Ponzi State" - Univ. of South Florida Professor Examines the Economic Crisis in Florida

Be sure to watch the video about this too!