The Economy

I live 15 miles straight west from Palm Beach. In today’s market it would be tough to buy a house in my town, but Wellington is, well, unusual because of the horse shows, farms and concentration of crazy wealth. Should be able to rent something at that salary, though. There are much less expensive communities around me, some closer to Palm Beach than Wellington. They may not be able to afford home insurance, though, wherever they can afford to buy in Florida.

 

I had a connection to Wellington about 25 years ago; the Aero Club built around the private runway to be exact, you know around the corner from the Polo Club where the stables were million dollar replicas of the multi-million dollar homes. It wasn't a cheap area then.
I felt more at home in Belle Glade, where most of those maids probably live.

 

There's a former motel halfway between my house and the center of town that's used as a dormitory for the seasonal workers employed by the fanciest resort in town (it's the kind that gets listed in glossy travel magazines), whose need for workers swells each summer. Most summers, you see dozens of bicycles there, which the workers use to get around. This summer, it's parking lot is full of cars. This means that the immigrant temps have been replaced by American college kids. I'm sure they are getting paid more than last year's group. But as with Palm Beach, the guests at the resort can stand the gaff if it's prices go up from their past exorbitant level. They might not even notice.

 

I went to several bonkers house parties in the Aero Club when I lived on Palm Beach Island.
I suspect 150K can still get you a livable domicile in Boynton Beach, Lantana, parts of WPB.

 

Doesn't that family from "Renovation Island" live in a Wellington McMansion?

 

Amy, living in inland Florida must suck your soul. It did just as a kid visiting a relatives' cabin in Basinger. It's just a stone's throw from Sebring, which I'm told is the peritheosis of Florida.

 

free link

https://www.wsj.com/finance/home-in...tc1utgxnjqv&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Joshua Enloe has gone from home-insurance paragon to pariah in just three years. Since 2021, the 36-year-old Texan has been twice dropped by insurers, and his annual rate has almost tripled to $13,000 from $5,000, before ending up with a bare-bones state insurer of last resort.

His offense? Living in El Lago, a coastal suburb of Houston. The 1960s, 2,200-square-foot home Enloe shares with his wife and dogs is in Harris County, hammered by 2017’s Hurricane Harvey. Last week the city’s latest deadly storm swept through El Lago.

One leading, but little-discussed, cause of this coverage crunch: a big increase in the cost of reinsurance policies. Now all eyes are on a round of reinsurance renewals currently under way in Florida and elsewhere that will help determine whether more premium increases are in store for homeowners.

 

Everything south of Disney that's more than 5 miles inland should be given back to the orange groves, ranchers, and the Seminoles.

 

My grandparents lived in Sebring. Every time a classmate told me I was lucky I got to vacation in Florida every year, I just sighed.

 

My aunt lived in Kissimmee and then St. Cloud, when it was still deep country. (Last time I was there c. 2005 it looked like they'd put in a few stoplights.)

My grandfather lived in Englewood.

I never saw the appeal of the damn place.

 

None of these towns are anything like Wellington, FWIW.