Lake Gains While Others Lose
Ann Dupee
Posted: 03.23.2008 / 9:21 AM EDT
In Census Bureau data released Thursday, Lake County gained 10,000 or more people, according to a story in the St. Petersburg Times. Also having that gain were Marion, Orlando/Orange, Osceola, Polk, Pasco, Hillsboroug, St. Lucie, Lee and Miami-Dade. The Orlando Business Joural ranked Orlando (Clermont is 20 miles west and considered a bedroom community) 36th among the 50 metropoliton areas as the most expensive makets for homes. First was smog ridden Los Angeles. Median owner-occupied home in the LA area was valued at $604,500 in 2006. A 6%, 30-year mortgage on suh a house (aftera 10% downmaypent woulld cost $3,262 pper month. Property taxes would drive the total payment up to $3,491, consuming 75.5% of the median household income in the LA area, more than two and a half times the national average of 28.3. U>SDepartment of Housing and Urban Developent’s guidlelines say if chome costs exceed 30% of income, a familyk might find it difficult to afford some necessities. Reasonably priced homes concentrated in inland regions of the South, Midwest and industrial Northeast, with Oklahoma City toppi g the list where the typical owner-occupied house was valued at $109,600 in 2006. Interestingly, Miami-Dade/Ft.Lauderdale was ranked in the list of America’s 10 most expensive home markets. Is this one reason people are leaving South Florida and finding Clermont and South Lake County? OBJ said Orlando, with a median monthly mortgage payment of $1,312 and a median monthly property-tax payment of $147, which represent 35.78% of the median household income of $4,078 per month. Also interesting is the fact that emply nesters in the Clermont area are moving to Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia. One couple that is retiring from Disney soon says that in their new small subdivsion, six of the homes are owned by people moving from Florida. I kid those that are either moving permanently or acquiring a second home, that the people there will soon be complaining about the “newcomers” that are clogging their roads and diminishing their quality of life and telling them to go back where they came from.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Hello, Ann. Are you saying that the empty nesters are moving to areas where homes are less expensive? That only makes sense. Homes where I am are a bit pricey, but this is where we have to be to make a living. Were it not for that, we’d be gone from here, preferably to someplace less crowded. A small town with some trees sounds nice.
The towns left behind, though. How is your town changing with the loss of population? Is the town budget smaller? Or will the decreasing demand for services (due to the decreasing population) result in a better balanced budget? Is it only the empty nesters that are leaving? Where are their children going?