Zombie Subdivisions: The Living Dead of the Real Estate Market

I never cease to be amazed at what real estate developers in Florida can get away with! But it's not surprising considering that the good ole' boy network, that's in the back pocket of Florida's real estate and construction industries, refuses to die. Florida, along with many other areas throughout the U.S., has been ravaged by  "developers"  and the politicians obviously don't  give a crap. All over Florida, and for decades, homes have been built on cheap land (typically swampland) without any consideration as to infrastructure, environmental impact, and community planning. And now that the real estate bubble has burst, the failure of our lawmakers to enact sensible legislation in regard to "development" has hit us like a tsunami and Florida residents are paying the price.Communities built on sink-holes, improperly engineered sewage and drainage systems, flooding, completely inadequate public transportation, roads falling apart, frequent power outages . . . these are but a few of Florida's infrastructure problems. And what's really scary is that these infrastructure problems are in relatively new communities. It makes me wonder whether, twenty years from now, half the communities throughout Florida will have to be leveled and re-developed from scratch.

All of the above  is bad enough. But this morning when I read on the front page of the St. Petersburg Times that "Florida lawmakers have eased the rules on developers", I came to the conclusion that the Florida real estate industry and Florida lawmakers are insane. The "Development" insanity in the state of Florida needs to stop. There's no justification for further development in this state other than for a few special interest groups to make a quick buck at the expense of Florida residents.

There have been millions of home foreclosures throughout America during the current recession and we can expect many more to come. The consensus, today,  is that most of the foreclosures are the result of the current recession and not the result of "sub prime" mortgages. Many of us knew that, however there are those out there that couldn't help pointing their fingers and saying that it was all the fault of those stupid American spendthrifts that took out mortgages and bought homes that they couldn't afford.

America is "development crazy" and I use the word "crazy" in the literal sense. The builders and local politicians, along with the real estate industry, cannot drive by a piece of vacant land without thoughts of raping that land and building something on it. It doesn't matter to them what they build on that land as long as they can make a buck from it.