Happy States......Florida LAST

51. Florida

Previous Rank: 50

Non-Mortgage Debt as % of Annual Income: 36.81%

Unemployment Rate: 11%

Foreclosure Rate (1 foreclosure per # of households): 56

Happiness Index Value: 136

With the third highest foreclosure rate in the country, 11% unemployment and a high non-mortgage debt rate, it's not terribly surprising that Florida has dropped to the bottom of the Happiness Index. The Sunshine State is facing an extremely depressed housing market.

According to an Orlando Sentinel article, authorities have devoted significant resources to combatting fraudulent mortgages in the troubled state. U.S. Attorney Brian Albritton told the Sentinel that Florida is "ground-zero for mortgage fraud."

That said, now maybe some people will understand why soooo many people are disallusioned with the state of Florida, not many people walking around with smiles on their faces......nothing to brag about that out of all the states in the union we are dead last........way to go, Florida, Bravo

Joanne

Of course you know you will open a can of worms with this...LOL..do you know where this came from the stats?

I have to share what I saw on SHD near Waterfall today, a guy and girl....he had no shirt on(tatoos) and was holding her purse and they were hitting each other...charming.

I thought about calling the police as I drove by doing 45 miles an hour...she wasn't getting mugged and I'm not even sure if they were fighting or kidding around...did try to look in the rearview mirror..but again another example of what you have coming into this area.

Proably fighting over the last of the stolen pain pills...LOL.

But this is what you see now, if I have to put up with riff raff I want some culture as well....not just the riff raff.

Joanne

There is also in HT about all the breakins if vacant homes. Some woman trying to sell her dad's house and drug addicts break in and steal anything including stuff that is nailed down.

Neighbors do nothing. Below is the story.

SPRING HILL - Dorothy Kraft went to the house Tuesday afternoon and noticed a door to the garage was open.

She wandered around and noticed a doorway at the rear of the garage was unlocked.

Kraft's father is in a nursing home and no one lives there, according to the sheriff's office.

She has the power of attorney over the house and it's up for sale. She checks it from time to time.

None of the doors was supposed to be unlocked or open.

She searched elsewhere and saw two pillow cases and a purse lying in one of the bedrooms. She also noticed a snow globe was missing, according to a sheriff's report.

Kraft knew what happened. The row of houses behind her on Midway Street in Spring Hill is occupied by known drug addicts, she told authorities. One of them probably came over to sleep and shower, she thought.

Deputies arrested Donna L. Morrow and charged her with burglary. She admitted to stealing the snow globe and leaving her purse behind, deputies said.

Morrow also was charged with drug possession after deputies discovered she was carrying pills in her pockets while at the jail, according to an arrest report.

Kraft did not return a message seeking comment.

Kraft's father's house became vacant because he could no longer live without anyone near his side. There are thousands of more homes unoccupied for various other reasons – the most common is the escalating number of foreclosures during the past two years.

People who target those houses are looking for more than just knickknacks inside garages.

"Mostly what we see are people going into foreclosed homes and taking out appliances," said Sgt. Donna Black, a spokeswoman with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.

The burglars are brazen, she said. They don't show up at the homes at night or during times when neighbors aren't home.

They pull up into the driveway with their pickup trucks, enter the houses and tote the stoves, air conditioners and microwaves out of the house in broad daylight, Black said.

It is happening a lot in the Royal Highlands area near Weeki Wachee, where there are fewer homes and fewer pairs of eyes, she said.

Even when they are seen by neighbors, no one gets suspicious because they assume they are authorized to be there.

"They're acting like they're workers," she said.

Black said the sheriff's office is encouraging more people who live near vacant homes to keep a look out and to report anything suspicious.

Joanne

Everyone hides behind the curtains here. We have a three vacant homes on our block. I was on my way home and I saw a car sitting in front on one of them and I went around the block twice, real slow, they moved on.

I let them know without saying a word, and without pulling into my own driveway, that I knew they were up to no good...LOL.

Problem solved, at least on that day.

But many here sit on here their hands here. You can't tell me that you see people who look shady taking things out a house and you don't see it?????

No, they pretend they don't see it.

Hi Lights

that Joanne must be thinking'''should I carry a baseball bat?'''

HC resident

Trust me Joanne, that was not my intent, I found the article on Juno.com on their front page under personal finance, and just thought I'd print it so that everyone could see what polls are saying.

Regarding the break-ins, a couple of months ago, I went around the corner from my home, there are only three houses on that one block, and I knew that one was empty, I saw the front door open, went to do what I had to do, and on my way back, again checked, door was still open, I didn't want to get out of the car to go near the front door,(you never know if someone was in there) so I went home and called the sheriffs office and asked them to send someone to check on it, the dispatcher asked me if I went into the house, I said no way, I drove by there a couple of times and the door was always opened and I knew it was empty. Someone did come and investigate and the door was closed, and a note on the door. House is still empty but I haven't seen anyone around the property.

House two doors down they just left, moved not coming back, neighbor across the street came and took everything in the back yard that wasn't nailed down, another guy came and took the basketball setup, rolling it down the street. Someone else came and took the solar panels on the roof, he said he bought them from the owner online.
Don't know if thats true either, since the owner told everyone he was moving to a different state.

People have to been the eyes and ears of the law, if they see something going on that doesn't look right its better to call the sheriffs office and have them take a look, then to turn away and let them rob people blind.

Joanne

bought them online....LOL...sure he did. They sound like vultures, but when a lot of these people leave they leave a lot of stuff behind.

I just thought it reflected how people here are unto themselves. That is why I went around the block twice, they knew I was aware that they were sitting parked in front of a vacant house.

I can't believe the neighbors thought these people were "workers".....LOL... .I would pick up the phone and call the police.

See back on Long Island if we had a neighbor who was away or like in this case not living out the property we would keep an eye on out.

Here they could set the house on fire....LOL...nobody would do anything.

We had someone park a car awhile back for HOURS on our street, you can't park on the street here, I called the police, it could have been an abandoned stolen car. They were visiting someone...well park in the driveway...these roads are too narrow for that..

I'm glad you posted it, I am sure since FL is one of the hardest hit states and is going to have a hard time recovering more than other states it makes sense.

I think a lot of people move here and it isn't what they thought it was going to be.

Goldfarber

Auburndale, FL

Judged:

Do you understand that report you read is based on mathematical facts and not actually an opinion poll?
Probably not. The used the number you quote at the top of your posting in an equation to come up with this "happiness index value".
So it is not what the people are thinking, it is what is happening.
Did you read the St. Pete Times Sunday? It covered
very well the reason there are so many foreclosures.
INVESTORS. They got greedy, buying up properties for $180k,$230k,$289k, no money or very little money down. They figured 1, 2 years $260k,$375k,$450k in a short time. It went the other way.
What does an investor do when the investment turns sour and he doesn't have money in it? Walk away.
That's what he does. That is why MOST of the foreclosed homes do not have a homestead exemption.
Noboedy lived or planned to live in the house. It was an investment. So, yeah, foreclosures are high.
We are right there with the National unemployment rate which last time I looked was 10.2.
Factories didn't close up in Hernando, large employers didn't fold up and move out. Construction went down the toilet after raging for a few years.
There is your unemployment.
How many new businesses opened in the past 2 years here? Don't give me a list of restaurants that closed because its a known fact that most new restaurants don't make it more than a couple of years. 3 usually I think it is. Google it.
I see lot's of people smiling in Florida when they wake up in the morning, drive out of their nice suburban neighborhood and go to work. They didn't take out risky mortgages with no money down and didn't buy more than they could afford to pay for each month. I see them smiling in the stores and shops. I see them smiling on the Pinellas Beaches.
I see them smiling when the winters are in the 70's and 80's and not the teens and 20's. Oh well.
Some people wanted to be here, some people hate to be here. Why be somewhere you hate?
Maybe Iowa is better for you. Much more culture.

HC resident wrote:

51. Florida
Previous Rank: 50
Non-Mortgage Debt as % of Annual Income: 36.81%
Unemployment Rate: 11%
Foreclosure Rate (1 foreclosure per # of households): 56
Happiness Index Value: 136
With the third highest foreclosure rate in the country, 11% unemployment and a high non-mortgage debt rate, it's not terribly surprising that Florida has dropped to the bottom of the Happiness Index. The Sunshine State is facing an extremely depressed housing market.
According to an Orlando Sentinel article, authorities have devoted significant resources to combatting fraudulent mortgages in the troubled state. U.S. Attorney Brian Albritton told the Sentinel that Florida is "ground-zero for mortgage fraud."
That said, now maybe some people will understand why soooo many people are disallusioned with the state of Florida, not many people walking around with smiles on their faces......nothing to brag about that out of all the states in the union we are dead last........way to go, Florida, Bravo

Goldfarber

Auburndale, FL

Judged:

Joanne wrote:

I think a lot of people move here and it isn't what they thought it was going to be.

The same highway that brought them here can bring them back. Nobody is sentenced to live in Florida.
It's still America and people have a choice. If displeased, please excercise the choice. You're bringing down the happiness index.

Goldfarber

Auburndale, FL

And a lot of people get in their cars and go to work every day. Someone sounds very paranoid.

Joanne wrote:

Everyone hides behind the curtains here..

yes

let us pray

our tabanacles are in many places

and that is fair for we all are as one and we pray to one

HC resident

Goldfarber wrote:

Do you understand that report you read is based on mathematical facts and not actually an opinion poll?
Probably not. The used the number you quote at the top of your posting in an equation to come up with this "happiness index value".
So it is not what the people are thinking, it is what is happening.
Did you read the St. Pete Times Sunday? It covered
very well the reason there are so many foreclosures.
INVESTORS. They got greedy, buying up properties for $180k,$230k,$289k, no money or very little money down. They figured 1, 2 years $260k,$375k,$450k in a short time. It went the other way.
What does an investor do when the investment turns sour and he doesn't have money in it? Walk away.
That's what he does. That is why MOST of the foreclosed homes do not have a homestead exemption.
Noboedy lived or planned to live in the house. It was an investment. So, yeah, foreclosures are high.
We are right there with the National unemployment rate which last time I looked was 10.2.
Factories didn't close up in Hernando, large employers didn't fold up and move out. Construction went down the toilet after raging for a few years.
There is your unemployment.

I see lot's of people smiling in Florida when they wake up in the morning, drive out of their nice suburban neighborhood and go to work.
<quoted text>

Interesting that you brought up unemployment, now that the whole nation is over 10 pencent, which if you factor in those that gave up looking for jobs and those that stopped collecting unemployment its probably around 17.5. Hernando Cty survives on building homes, what happens when all property and commercial is built out, then what will Hernando Cty do? Those that have a decent education and a degree don't work in Hernando Cty, they leave every morning and travel into other counties, where they buy gas, eat food and do some shopping, leaving HC without those tax dollars. Those that remain here, will at some point be taxed right out of here, why, because seniors and lower income won't produce enough tax monies for the county to survive.
As far are culture, there are some great museums and other entertainment, but its not here in Hernando Cty, its in Pinellas or Tampa and St. Pete. The closest museum is about 40 miles South of Hernando, of course, we have the Hertiage Museum in Brooksville but once you've seen it, thats it. Everytime a club opened here in Hernando Cty within months it was shut down, because of he seniors. Really if you think about it, the seniors rule this county. Timber Pines has three of the largest voter precints in the county.
While in Walmart today, I didn't see many happy faces, I saw people looking at prices and not putting items in their baskets. I see heavy sercurity all around the store, as they get at least 2/3 shop lifters a day. Happiness is what you make it, and there are also factors that add to whether your happy or not. Looking out your driveway and seeing empty houses and for sale signs, every which way you look, does not make me happy. Seeing those that bought cheap and come in fix up, paint and put a for sale sign doesn't make me happy. Before you know it, we'll be right back where we started, investors buying low and trying to make a killing. Its still going on, and once a home is bought, whose to stop them from putting up that sign? until the investors are stopped the cycle will continue.

Joanne

Shoplifting is big here, but it has been for awhile. I have been in four stores now in the last year where someone is getting arrested for stealing.

My husband witnessed an incident in Publix where a teenage girl got caught and the mother comes down and starts yelling at the Publix manager. She was so stupid if you she handled it better she might have saved her daughter a trip to jail....but she got mouthy and used foul language...well guess what...the little darling got arrested.

Joanne

Goldfarber wrote:

And a lot of people get in their cars and go to work every day. Someone sounds very paranoid.
<quoted text>

My post went right over your head....LOL. I am talking about the lack of civic involvement...they pretend they don't see things going on around them.

Two examples:

Several months ago that teenage boy who was kept a prisoner in a home by that phillopino woman. Many neighbors said they knew a teenage boy lived there, but they hardly ever saw him. Knew he didn't go to school and said he was very thin.....but no one bothered to call the police....even just to have them check it out.

It went on for a couple of years and no one did anything.

About a year ago an elderly woman was murdered by her son. She was out on the front lawn screaming for help late at night( he finally drowned her in the pool) again several people heard her screaming and did nothing....one of them was even interviewed by Hernando Today...admited she heard the screaming and did nothing.

They sit on their hands here too afraid to get involved.

You can't tell me if you know your neighbor is no longer living in a house but is in a nursing home and you see people taking things out of the house....and you do nothing??????

That is what I mean by hiding behind the curtain...it is a figure of speech...get it now????

abcd

Another post showing that people dont know what they speak of.
I read the entire article on one of the economic websites that I subscribe to. This is NOT a poll or any sort. It is an equation.
Has nothing to do with the opinions of anyone. The entire country has a depressed housing market. Yes, Florida is right at the top of the pile due to investors thinking they were going to make a killing when home prices seemed to be going skyward. These same investors never thought they would see the bottom fall out.

It is not Joe & Mary homeowner loosing their homes in 50 percent of the foreclosures. It is investors who walked away, stopped paying, cut their losses.

Oh, by the way, in case you didnt notice. The USA is in a depression.

As far as fradulant mortgages: Blame the banks who got bailed out by the government for their mistakes and greed.

The home builders are not without fault either. They were giving away mortgages like lollypops at Halloween. They didnt care if you had a down payment or not. They would lend you 100 percent of the value. They would waive/reduce closing costs. They would offer other incentives because "everybody should own a home".

This is not the fault of Florida as a state or a place. It is the fault of greedy people.

HC resident wrote:

51. Florida
Previous Rank: 50
Non-Mortgage Debt as % of Annual Income: 36.81%
Unemployment Rate: 11%
Foreclosure Rate (1 foreclosure per # of households): 56
Happiness Index Value: 136
With the third highest foreclosure rate in the country, 11% unemployment and a high non-mortgage debt rate, it's not terribly surprising that Florida has dropped to the bottom of the Happiness Index. The Sunshine State is facing an extremely depressed housing market.
According to an Orlando Sentinel article, authorities have devoted significant resources to combatting fraudulent mortgages in the troubled state. U.S. Attorney Brian Albritton told the Sentinel that Florida is "ground-zero for mortgage fraud."
That said, now maybe some people will understand why soooo many people are disallusioned with the state of Florida, not many people walking around with smiles on their faces......nothing to brag about that out of all the states in the union we are dead last........way to go, Florida, Bravo

abcd

HC resident wrote:

<quoted text>
Interesting that you brought up unemployment, now that the whole nation is over 10 pencent, which if you factor in those that gave up looking for jobs and those that stopped collecting unemployment its probably around 17.5. Hernando Cty survives on building homes, what happens when all property and commercial is built out, then what will Hernando Cty do? Those that have a decent education and a degree don't work in Hernando Cty, they leave every morning and travel into other counties, where they buy gas, eat food and do some shopping, leaving HC without those tax dollars. Those that remain here, will at some point be taxed right out of here, why, because seniors and lower income won't produce enough tax monies for the county to survive.
As far are culture, there are some great museums and other entertainment, but its not here in Hernando Cty, its in Pinellas or Tampa and St. Pete. The closest museum is about 40 miles South of Hernando, of course, we have the Hertiage Museum in Brooksville but once you've seen it, thats it. Everytime a club opened here in Hernando Cty within months it was shut down, because of he seniors. Really if you think about it, the seniors rule this county. Timber Pines has three of the largest voter precints in the county.
While in Walmart today, I didn't see many happy faces, I saw people looking at prices and not putting items in their baskets. I see heavy sercurity all around the store, as they get at least 2/3 shop lifters a day. Happiness is what you make it, and there are also factors that add to whether your happy or not. Looking out your driveway and seeing empty houses and for sale signs, every which way you look, does not make me happy. Seeing those that bought cheap and come in fix up, paint and put a for sale sign doesn't make me happy. Before you know it, we'll be right back where we started, investors buying low and trying to make a killing. Its still going on, and once a home is bought, whose to stop them from putting up that sign? until the investors are stopped the cycle will continue.

Let's break this one down:

1. Hernando County does not survive on building homes.
There was a major build up when Spring Hill was developed.
Then the sub divisions started popping up because of the increase in population and the desire for new homes, not 1970 models.
There are plenty of those homes in the inventory now.

Hernando County was an agricultural center. Not a bedroom community which it became.

2. Even those not "well educated" travel out of the county for their jobs.

3. What taxes are you talking about? Property tax? Where can you find it cheaper?

4. The seniors are on their way out. They are dying off and not being replaced. Forget that angle. The senior "excuse" for anything here is fading.

5. Culture. Who told you Hernando had museums and the "culture" you seek? Its a argicultural area. Its out in the sticks.
Culture? Try local history. That is the culture.

6. Clubs closed due to seniors? I cant even grasp that.
I dont see too many seniors out past 9 p.m. in the first place.
I dont know of any of them that is going to pay $5 or $6 for drink.

7. If seeing for sale signs dont make you happy, well, dont look at them. They are here. The banks and lenders who took over those houses when the investors pulled out are stuck with them.
What should they do? Tear them down?

8. Investors
Yes, it may happen again. Look at the low low prices on homes.
They cant/wont stay that way for ever. However, investors want to make money now, not down the road. Real estate has always been an investors paradise. The price always goes up. Unless of course it got so overly artificially inflated before it blew up.

9. Happy faces in walmart. I wont even touch that one.

abcd

There is/was plenty of civic involvement before the crowds came.
It is not a southern thing to ignore your neighbor. It is a northern thing. Most of the people in Spring Hill arent southerners. They are transplants. Enough said.

Joanne wrote:

<quoted text>
My post went right over your head....LOL. I am talking about the lack of civic involvement...they pretend they don't see things going on around them.
Two examples:
Several months ago that teenage boy who was kept a prisoner in a home by that phillopino woman. Many neighbors said they knew a teenage boy lived there, but they hardly ever saw him. Knew he didn't go to school and said he was very thin.....but no one bothered to call the police....even just to have them check it out.
It went on for a couple of years and no one did anything.
About a year ago an elderly woman was murdered by her son. She was out on the front lawn screaming for help late at night( he finally drowned her in the pool) again several people heard her screaming and did nothing....one of them was even interviewed by Hernando Today...admited she heard the screaming and did nothing.
They sit on their hands here too afraid to get involved.
You can't tell me if you know your neighbor is no longer living in a house but is in a nursing home and you see people taking things out of the house....and you do nothing??????
That is what I mean by hiding behind the curtain...it is a figure of speech...get it now????

abcd

Good fact based posting. I read the story in the St. Petersburg Times and it should be an eye opener for those who think that the foreclosures are due to people loosing their homes.

The investors are at fault for driving up the prices to sky high levels. The banks and lenders gave the money to anyone who asked.
Qualifications were waived, apparently completely.

You had people buying 3, 4 5 houses all on 100 percent mortgages.
They were happy investors waiting to reap huge gains. Then the bottom fell out of the housing market, the bubble burst and the investors wound up with a mess on their hands. Hey, didnt cost them anything so just walk away. Simple as that.

Goldfarber wrote:

Do you understand that report you read is based on mathematical facts and not actually an opinion poll?
Probably not. The used the number you quote at the top of your posting in an equation to come up with this "happiness index value".
So it is not what the people are thinking, it is what is happening.
Did you read the St. Pete Times Sunday? It covered
very well the reason there are so many foreclosures.
INVESTORS. They got greedy, buying up properties for $180k,$230k,$289k, no money or very little money down. They figured 1, 2 years $260k,$375k,$450k in a short time. It went the other way.
What does an investor do when the investment turns sour and he doesn't have money in it? Walk away.
That's what he does. That is why MOST of the foreclosed homes do not have a homestead exemption.
Noboedy lived or planned to live in the house. It was an investment. So, yeah, foreclosures are high.
We are right there with the National unemployment rate which last time I looked was 10.2.
Factories didn't close up in Hernando, large employers didn't fold up and move out. Construction went down the toilet after raging for a few years.
There is your unemployment.
How many new businesses opened in the past 2 years here? Don't give me a list of restaurants that closed because its a known fact that most new restaurants don't make it more than a couple of years. 3 usually I think it is. Google it.
I see lot's of people smiling in Florida when they wake up in the morning, drive out of their nice suburban neighborhood and go to work. They didn't take out risky mortgages with no money down and didn't buy more than they could afford to pay for each month. I see them smiling in the stores and shops. I see them smiling on the Pinellas Beaches.
I see them smiling when the winters are in the 70's and 80's and not the teens and 20's. Oh well.
Some people wanted to be here, some people hate to be here. Why be somewhere you hate?
Maybe Iowa is better for you. Much more culture.
<quoted text>

Joanne

I never said they were "southerners", I can tell you this we knew all our neigbors on Long Island.

The whole block and people on the next block,here people keep to themselves. Here I couldn't tell you the neighbors names other then the two houses next door and the two across the street.

We have been here longer than most of the people on the street.

I think it is a couple of things: the heat, it keeps people more inside most of the year and less interaction with neighbors.

And the age of the population: as people get older the less involved they become, either they don't feel well or just don't have the desire to form relationships.

And we have people across the street who are from KY, they have been there two years, and you only get a hello or a wave from the wife if you do it first.

So don't just say it is "northerners", I think in general there are a lot of people who are under great financial strain and thought FL would be more cost effective for them. Then they find it is not so true.

There are a lot of people I have run across from TN as well who moved here and are struggling. The guy who came out from Brighthouse awhile ago was from TN and doing contract labor for them...not thrilled with the area.

abcd