Walkin’ in a Winter Summerland

Church bells ring,
Are you snoozin’?
Yesterday,
You were boozin’.
It’s really alright,
You’ll be fine tonight,
Walkin’ in a winter summerland.

Gone away,
Are the Sunbirds.
Here today,
Are the snowbirds.
They make the long drive,
Down I-95,
Walking in a winter summerland.

On the beach, we can build sandcastles,
And pretend that these are our dream homes.
He’ll say, “Do you own them?”
We’ll say “No, man.”
We used to but, then the bank foreclosed.

Later on,
We’ll perspire,
As we grill,
By the fire.
It’s sixty at night,
And eighty by light,
Walkin’ in a winter summerland.

On the beach, we can build sandcastles,
And pretend that these are our old homes.
He’ll say, “Are you homestead?”
We’ll say “Yes, man.”
But we’ll still pay ten times the tax you owe.

See the snow, that’s been gustin’?
That’s roach powder, I’ve been dustin’.
The bugs are so grand,
As big as your hand,
Walkin’ in a winter summerland.

We’ll frolic and play,
The tropical way,
Walkin’ in a winter summerland.

Merry “Crist-mas” everybody!

Credit where credit's due: The lyrics above are a rewrite of "Winter Wonderland." Winter Wonderland was written in 1934 by composer Felix Bernard and lyricist Richard B. Smith.

Foreclosures helping landlords Rentals filling with families

I assumed that when the going price for homes dropped in Seattle, I would lose my tenants who’ve been renting my four-bedroom house for a little over a year. The husband has a good, high-paying job; passed our credit check with flying colors; and says he and his wife are interested in buying a home so that they can settle permanently in Seattle near their grandkids.

Instead, my tenant asked for a long term lease. He says he is tired of moving, likes the house he’s in, and wants stability. If he does buy, he wants the prices to drop even further. I’m not complaining – he’s a good tenant.

Similarly, the area where I currently live in Central Florida has also seen a boom in rentals. Because I live in a tourist area, many of my neighbors have subdivided their homes into apartments and rent rooms to seasonal workers during the height of the summer tourist season. When two of my neighbors recently lost tenants this fall, they expected a long wait to fill the vacancies since tourism related employment is down. Such was not the case. Even my neighbor on the corner who lives next to the noisier commercial buildings, put out a sign for a studio apartment last week and had it rented by the next weekend.

The main difference in renters is that where a single person has moved out, a family has moved in. The top floor of the house to my north is a converted apartment that was vacated by a single man who took advantage of lower home prices to buy a condo. It was quickly rented by a family of four: two brothers who work in construction, one of the brother’s girlfriends from Russia, and their new baby. The vacant one-bedroom apartment in the quadraplex to the south was also quickly filled by a girlfriend and boyfriend and their new baby, along with at least two other friends. (Just in case you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking, I should mention that all of the above are white.)

Without being overly intrusive, I’ve wondered if the new renters used to own a house and were foreclosed upon, or found that they could no longer afford to each rent their own spaces. Normally, if you were to rent a place, you’d prefer to be alone. After sharing living quarters with friends all through college and sometimes many years after, there is no better statement to say you’d finally made it on your own than getting your very own apartment, or even better, buying your own condo or house.

In any case, I’m the winner here, along with my neighbors. Our neighborhood, once filled with sometimes questionable transient seasonal workers, is now filled with growing families, buzzing with laughing children, and smelling of grilled hamburgers (It was 80 degrees outside today). My neighbors have a further advantage because they qualify for Florida’s homestead property tax exemption by living in their homes (unlike apartment complexes), while making money by renting out a portion of them.

In the meantime, the newer developments sit empty with “For Sale” signs dotting the landscape. Neighborhoods are blighted with unkempt, overgrown lawns filled with weeds at foreclosed properties. City and Florida state tax coffers are drying up, since the banks won’t pay the property taxes after they kick out the would be owners.

Like Mr. Rogers said: It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.