This year in the South Florida housing market, sales centers for many proposed housing developments have been quiet as a library.

Not at Loft 3.

Last weekend, the downtown Miami real estate project aimed specifically at middle-income buyers had to keep its doors open to sales past midnight. The 33-story project is on track to be sold out by the end of this week.

Amid the ongoing slump in the housing market, there appear to be pockets of strong demand for well-located housing at prices middle-income buyers can afford. In Loft 3, for example, one-bedrooms start at $159,000 and two-bedrooms at $293,000, which means — finally — some affordable housing options for many residents.

“This has been a very, very underserved market,” said Oscar Rodriguez, who heads the attainable housing division of Related Group, the Miami developer building Loft 3.

After a five-year housing boom left home prices way out of reach for many buyers, the demand for projects like Loft 3 is drawing more builders into the “workforce” or “attainable” housing niche.

Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds of Los Angeles recently announced an investment in a condo in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, where buyers can put 5 percent down payments on units starting at $250,000. G.L Homes in Sunrise reported brisk sales for Boynton Beach houses starting at $312,000.

The starting numbers are lower than the existing-home median prices of $270,800 for condos in Miami-Dade and $370,300 for houses in Broward, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.

BUYERS FILING IN

At Loft 3’s sales center this week at Northeast 2nd Avenue and Northeast 2nd Street, dozens of buyers filed in — county employees, city police officers, a Miami-Dade College professor.

It felt like 2004 all over again, right down to the investors who have otherwise largely disappeared from the market as Florida mortgage costs have risen above their record lows attained in 2001-2005.

Two real estate agents from Swire, a developer that has built much of Brickell Key in Miami, came in to each buy units, one as a condo investment.

“I am buying a unit for myself and for a client who lives in Spain,” said Samira Ramirez, who was joined by her colleague, Susanne Rohatynsky. Both said they already own condos on Miami’s Brickell Avenue. “My clients think the price points are very good. I will try to resell my unit.”

One prospective buyer, who works for Miami-Dade County government, said he was tired of commuting from South Miami. Another, a dance professor at Miami-Dade College’s Wolfson Campus in downtown Miami, said her kids are moving out of their Kendall house.

“I want to be able to walk to work, to go to the Carnival Center,” said Diane E. Brownholtz, who has lived in South Florida for 31 years. “I grew up in Chicago, so I know what it is like to live in a city.”

The project is the Related Group’s third in downtown Miami that is largely focused on middle-income buyers. Related, headed by developer Jorge Perez, previously built Loft Downtown and is building Loft 2, a building that vaults the Metromover line. Both are on Northeast 2nd and 3rd streets.

As Florida home loan costs have risen, prices have soared and the market has turned, Related has refocused part of its efforts on building lower-priced condos near employment centers and mass transit hubs, such as a large development it is proposing near Jackson Memorial Hospital.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

Still, many developers say land and construction costs so much that they can’t sell for lower prices without government support. The city allowed Related to use a city-owned garage across the street for resident parking and Related bought the land several years ago, when land prices were better.

Related’s size, as one of the biggest firms in its field, often allows it to strike better deals with contractors and for construction materials.

The formula is paying dividends this week, despite an overall challenging market. By Thursday — less than a week after opening — the developer said 415 units were sold with 80 left. The activity prompted the kind of statements not heard in months. Said Frantz Cesar, a buyer in his 50s, as he walked out the condo’s sales center:

“You feel like you have to buy something before prices start going up again.”

In the Palm Beach housing market, property taxes sit atop the list of homeowner complaints. Understandably, these individuals want to move and take their tax relief with them.

Business owners also want lawmakers to rein in skyrocketing property taxes.

As a result of numerous complaints, The Florida Property Tax Reform Committee is trying to come up with ways to improve property taxation in Florida. On Tuesday, it met at Miami-Dade College’s Wolfson campus, where members listened to testimony by taxpayers.

Property tax takes

One of the issues the committee is looking at is portability, the ability of homeowners to take property tax relief with them when they apply for a new Florida home mortgage and buy a new property. Under the Save Our Homes amendment, assessments on property with a homestead exemption are limited to three percent per year.

Such a system penalizes young families trying to move into bigger homes, along with older people who want to leave their homes for a smaller property, said committee member Bill Donegan, the property appraiser for Orange County.

“Those are the two things that are going to affect Florida: people coming in and the seniors that want to move to the coast or move to The Villages,” he said.

Among the portability proposals before the committee is one where the taxes would be based on a county’s median home price.

Committee member Dennis Nelson, a Wellington real estate agent, said the committee should look at the issue of first-time homeowners who have difficulty buying a home; the goal should always be to assist these applicants and open up the market to as many buyers as possible.

Across the state, Florida affordable housing is a concern. Various cities are enacting various plans and policies to assist those simply wanting to purchase their first home at a reasonable price.

That being said - and in the wake of high-profile problems - a management team from Miami-Dade County has recommended a complete overhaul of the agency that oversees housing. The goal? To assist lower-income families in search of a Florida home mortgage.

Recommendations totaling $15 million in new funding call for:

- Expanded housing programs, including a local voucher program to assist very low-income, first-time buyers

- Improved security and safety in and around public housing properties

- An expedited process for rehabilitating existing public housing units to facilitate occupancy of 400 units as quickly as possible

County Manager George M. Burgess is expected to recommend additional funding when the county commission meets tonight to approve the 2006-2007 county budget.

“Our mission is to place Miami-Dade residents in affordable housing and to do it as expeditiously as possible,” Burgess said. “The new funding is a first step in putting our housing initiatives back on the right track.”

In addition to increased funding, the action plan includes measures to help developers deliver housing units, rapid completion of unfinished projects, such as Ward Towers, and thorough review of how the county oversees housing initiatives.

“We are committed to fixing how the county addresses its housing needs,” Burgess said. “It won’t happen overnight but we are putting the necessary resources in place to make affordable housing possible for those in our community who are in dire need.”

Earlier this year, the county manager replaced the entire senior administration of the Miami-Dade Housing Agency that failed to deliver on a number of affordable housing projects. In the near future, Florida home loans - on reasonable, low-cost residences - will hopefully be abundant in the city.

For sellers in South Florida, this isn’t an ideal time. The piece of property you own may not be worth as much as it once was, causing you to scarely make a profit and/or lower your asking price.

It’s a situation taking place across the country, as the following chart depicts. Who benefits from such housing price decrease? Those looking to buy, of course. If you apply for a Florida home mortgage (via our cost-free, risk-free form above) right now, you’ll be getting in on a time where buyers are in full control.

As you can tell, especially in the Miami housing market, sellers lack leverage. Prices are down. You can swoop in and make an offer that may not have been accepted a few years ago.

Who will blink first? That seems to be the issue at stake in Miami, where sales fell in July but home prices remained stagnant.

So, where does the county go from here? Will sellers cave and bring down prices? Making it possible for Florida mortgage loan demand to increase due to reasonable house values? Or will owners remain stubborn and continue in their staredown with hopeful buyers?

”The longer it takes for sellers to recognize the market they are in, the worse the market will become,” said Manuel J. Iraola, president and CEO of Homekeys, a Kendall-based brokerage that sells homes in Miami-Dade and Broward.

However, some real estate professionals still say sellers shouldn’t budge and that buyers will eventually adjust up. There’s no way of knowing which side is correct - but a number of bubble sitters certainly hope they come out on top as they delay applying for a Florida home mortgage until prices drop even more.

The Miami housing market in July

Last month, prices held more or less steady in the single-family home market. The median price for a single-family house came in at $382,200 in Miami-Dade and $380,400 in Broward. In Miami, that amounts to appreciation of 5 percent from last year and 1 percent from June.

In slightly worse news, however, the county’s condo market showed signs of weakness. Condo prices dropped to $252,200, down 2 percent from June and 11 percent from a year ago. It was the first double-digit percentage fall since the South Florida housing market started cooling last year.

A bright future ahead?

The South Florida market still is far ahead of where it was three years ago. In July 2003, for instance, a median-priced single-family home went for $232,700 in Miami-Dade and $236,700 in Broward.

Furthermore, the underlying economics remain strong: population growth; low unemployment; appeal to international and second-home buyers and relatively low Florida mortgage rates.

Unfortunately, even the most optimistic observers who predicted the return of a strong market this year have revised their timeline. Lackluster sales have continued through the summer months. said Ronald A. Shuffield, president of Esslinger Wooten Maxwell, which sells homes across South Florida.

”When we saw the price appreciation stop earlier this year we thought it would get everyone back on board,” Shuffield said. “But there has been such a dark cloud painted over the housing market that it hasn’t happened. Everybody gets anxious at a time when a market transitions, we forget that we have been here before.”

And every time before, especially in the Sunshine State, buyers have returned. Florida mortgages are always appealing option due to the climate and nature of local counties.

As the Miami housing market slows down and demand for Florida mortgage loans remains low in the area, developers have been forced to re-evaluate their plans. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But the effect of the situation on consumers in the city is a bit worse.

According to survey data from the University of Florida, the gap between consumer perceptions in Miami-Dade County versus the rest of the state is getting wider, with local residents increasingly feeling more negative about their personal financial situations. They aren’t applying for Florida mortgage loans of any kind, they aren’t confident about selling their homes and they fear for the future.

Consumer confidence hits a snag

For the first six months of this year, Miami-Dade consumer confidence took a sharp drop compared to the rest of the state. On an index of 100, Miami-Dade measured 76 compared to Florida’s overall 86. Last year Miami-Dade was 83, just three points behind the rest of the state.

Survey research director Chris McCarty attributes the Miami negativity to a combination of a slowing housing market and rising gas prices.

”Miami is poised to take it on the chin from the real estate market,” said McCarty, who notes that for many consumers, especially in South Florida, real estate had been a big source of wealth. That’s more difficult now with lenders tighter refinancing requirements. Others with adjustable rate Florida mortgages are feeling the rise in interest rates.

”People always depended on the fact, you could always sell your house,” he said. “But even here in Gainesville, houses are sitting much longer.”

Unlike Miami-Dade, respondents in Broward County have similar perceptions as the rest of the state, McCarty said, although the sample size for Broward is smaller than in Miami-Dade. In that region, at least work is being done on affordable housing, an attempt to satisfy lower-income buyers seeking a Florida mortgage loan.

McCarty doesn’t see local or statewide confidence improving for a while.

”The effects are probably going to linger through the remainder of this year and probably the beginning of next year,” he said, as the real estate market continues to cool off. “A lot of people think we’ve only begun to experience the effects in Florida.”

Across the country, real estate is no longer driving the economy. It’s unclear what this will mean for consumer, but home sales are STILL expected to be the third highest ever on record. It may be too early to panic.

Miguel Angel Barbagallo, a real estate developer headquartered in Coral Way, turned his back on the gleaming, high-priced, high-rising buildings along the Miami shoreline.

Then he looked to the west.

Surveying the squat buildings and houses with barrel-tiled roofs in the modest, inland segments of the Miami real estate market, Barbagallo knows where his future lies.

“This is my market,” he told the Miami Herald.

As the South Florida housing market slows down, especially on the high end, there are more houses for sale than buyers who want them. But there’s still a severe shortage of mid-priced housing that doesn’t require buyers to live on the fringes of the region.

In turn, Florida developers are starting to shift gears from selling the lofty dreams and lavish lifestyles of expensive condos to the mundane — but still potentially lucrative — task of delivering ample middle-income housing.

“The private sector is suddenly saying, wait a minute, no one is serving the middle class, and that is where we need to be. In today’s market developers also may not have much choice,” Rafael Kapustin, President of Kapustin Corp., said.

Hell may not be freezing over, but you know the market is shifting when The Related Group, a Miami company ranking among the biggest luxury condo builders in the entire U.S., has started an affordable housing division.

A host of smaller Florida builders are also aggressively targeting the middle market. The Miller Group and AmeriBuilt Corp. recently announced a condo project in the Pembroke Park section of Broward County, with one-bedroom units starting at a reasonable $165,000. Restless Development, a New York City developer with a project in North Miami Beach, has begun marketing what it calls “affordable luxury.”

Paradoxical as that term might seem, it’s certainly what developers are after. Experts generally divide the South Florida housing market into three sectors:

1. Market-rate / High end
2. Middle-income / Workforce
3. Low income

The lines between the three sectors remain inexact, and the middle market occupies a broad area between the two extremes.

For Eli Dreszner, a principal at mFm Construction, that’s anywhere between $200,000 and $400,000. The Related Group, which built affordable housing when it was founded more than 25 years ago before it evolved into a luxury builder, describes mid-market housing as an even wider range, from the low $100,000s to high $300,000s.

The two main political parties in the U.S. may be poles apart with an ever-shrinking center, but when it comes to real estate, the race to the middle is nationwide and it is crazed. It comes largely because home prices have risen far faster than wages in recent years, resulting in large numbers of professionals and middle-income earners who are priced out.

A GROWING DEMAND

Oscar Rodriguez, head of Related Group’s affordable housing division, is one of many developers who believe increased volume will help compensate for lesser demand.

Real estate analyst Michael Cannon contends that if builders want to stay in the housing development business, they have to get into the market for affordable housing, which they should have been doing all along.

Still, identifying the so-called middle market and reaching it are proving to be entirely different propositions. Many builders say the costs of land, construction, insurance and borrowing money at higher interest rates are simply too high for them to deliver homes at relatively low prices.

THE DOWN PAYMENT HURDLE / BUYER INCENTIVES

Not to mention the fact that prospective buyers for new projects must, in most cases, typically make a 20 percent down payment, then wait two years for the condo to be built. Even if a unit is priced at $100,000, most middle- and lower-income buyers don’t have $20,000 to spend, then wait around two years. Especially as Florida home loan rates increase.

Another hurdle is the widespread corruption, waste and mismanagement of Miami-Dade County’s low-income housing programs reported by the Herald, raising questions about efforts to make a dent in affordable housing.

“There is a lot of demand there, but the problem is you can’t make any money doing it. You need some sort of subsidy because if you do conventional development there is no profit in the deals,” said Daniel Kodsi, president of RPC Holdings in Boca Raton.

City and county governments are now considering a variety of measures to encourage or mandate middle-income housing, and developers have differing opinions on how far government should go. Some builders, frustrated or impatient with government efforts, are going it alone simply by targeting neighborhoods long overlooked to get cheaper land prices.

Others insist they need government assistance because of high land and building costs. The help, they say, can come in various forms, such as waiving impact fees, opening up government land in urban areas for development or allowing developers to use city-owned parking instead of building costly garages.

Many South Florida developers also are toying with incentives and other proposals to help lower the affordability gap. Some lenders are agreeing to only 10 percent down payments, rather than the typical 20 percent. Some, like mFm, are making sales pitches directly to county and city workers, who in some cases get down payment help from their employers.

They require a 10 percent deposit but allow buyers to pay as little as 5 percent for their down payment up front, with a payment plan in place to make the rest before construction is complete.

“This is our niche. We started developing in this area because we found less competition. Now we are seeing more competitors all the time. But there is definitely enough space for a lot of competitors to come in. This is a big market,” Dreszner said.

Are you a discerning buyer? Looking for a piece of South Florida real estate with some character?

How about 93 Palm Ave., on Palm Island (pictured)? This was Al Capone’s seasonal residence, and where the gangster died in 1947. For a mere $6.8 million, and a desire to live in a place owned by one of the most notorious criminals of all time, it can all be yours.

While the thought of Capone previously owning the place is sure to give anyone pause, the Miami Herald reports that the current owner, Henry Morrison, has only good things to say about it.

“It was a good buy,” said the 73-year old Morrison, a retired Delta pilot who has lived there for 35 years but plans to relocate to Pensacola. “The price [$56,000] was really what motivated me, rather than any historical significance.”

Morrison does admit he did a Geraldo-like hunt for ghosts when he first moved in. But the four-bedroom, stucco mansion in Miami Beach has exceeded all his expectations over the years. As for whether there’s any sign of Al, results are mixed. There are no secret passages or bloodstains or bullet holes, but there’s surely something evocative about the Spanish-style, two-story getaway.

Paul George, Professor of History at Miami-Dade College, said that Capone bought the place from the Busch family (of the brewery fame) in 1922. Al made a number of additions, most of which weren’t decor-related. In the overgrown front yard, a large wall was constructed to keep out snoopers. Directly behind stands a decrepit two-bedroom concrete gatehouse, where Capone’s thugs could oversee the scene.

Raymond Baur, 74, was a teenager when his family moved to 24 Palm Ave., the same year Capone died of complications from syphilis.

“Sometimes when I came home from school late and it was getting dark, I’d walk by and hear the sliding metal [slat] and feel the guards looking down at me,” he said. “The hair would crawl up the back of my head.”

Capone, who returned to Miami Beach after a stint in another piece of waterfront real estate — Alcatraz — wasn’t in any shape to organize hits at that point. The syphilis had ravaged his brain. Baur recounts that he had lost most of his mental acuity and posed no threat to anyone. But the mob boss still knew to watch his back. Capone slept not in the master bedroom with wife Mae, but he chose the smaller front room with a view to the street.

Al also indulged his less paranoid side, from time to time, putting in a 30-by-60 foot pool, complete with a two-bedroom pool house for his buds. By inviting Miami’s top political officials to one of his famous bashes there on February 14, 1929 — the day of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago, which virtually wiped out his Windy City bootlegging competition — Capone gave himself a solid alibi.

Despite Capone’s history, the director of the Design, Preservation and Neighborhood Planning Division for the City of Miami Beach, William Cary, has no doubt the digs will sell.

“When Morrison bought it, brokers tried to keep the owner a secret,” he says. “But now, with the popularity of shows like The Sopranos, Americans’ view of mobsters has changed. We see them as people, and have the ability to dismiss all their evil deeds.”

A valid point. But those seeking glamorous amenities that come with a pricey home like TV mobsters have may be in for a shock.

“[Morrison] is a great guy… very laid back,” Cary said. “But the place definitely needs some TLC.”

Evidently, Capone wasn’t one for remodeling. Cracking walls, circa 1922 plumbing and long-neglected hardwood floors, plus a complete lack of air conditioning, make the place a little outdated. Then again, we are talking about Miami Beach real estate here. Barbara Hagen of Majestic properties, who has the listing, thinks the place is (wait for it) …

… a steal.

“I just sold a same-size lot down the street for $5 million, with nothing on it,” she said. “This is actually a good value.”

As investors - or those seeking an eventual return on their Florida home loan - consider investing options, they may be in for a surprise. The houses around the nation that have shown the most significant appreciation over the last two years can be found is less affluent cities than you might expect.

According to a Forbes.com ZIP code analysis, the California city averaging the LEAST amount of appreciation was the posh neighborhood of Holmby Hills. Conversely, Watts - an area known for poverty - showed rising home prices of 91.9% between 2003 and 2005.

A pattern of home loan appreciation

This is a pattern that held true in several of the largest cities in the U.S. over the past couple years. Many neighborhoods with lower median incomes, neglected housing stock and low home prices, or areas that were dominated by office or industrial space, have surged forward.

For example, consider Miami’s Little Havana. Prices increased more than 150% over the last two years. Similarly, there’s the tough Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia, which enjoyed appreciation of more than 70%.

“In the past, you would expect that neighborhoods with higher median incomes would have stronger demand for homes,” says David Lereah, senior vice president and chief economist for the NAR. “Lower-income neighborhoods will have more renters. Higher-income areas will have more demand from people wanting to climb the ladder. It means that some things have changed.”

Fall out from home price increases

As prices have increased, some of the most desirable neighborhoods - which have always been more expensive - have topped out, becoming unaffordable for many home buyers. So instead of buying charming but overpriced stone homes in the leafy Baltimore neighborhood of Guilford, for instance, young families turned to blue-collar areas near the water, rehabbing old row houses that seemed cheap in comparison.

Jonas Lee, a founder and managing partner of Redbrick Partners in Manhattan, a private investment fund that puts money into single-family homes, is not surprised. His company targets just such urban areas for investment.

“It takes people a while to figure it out, but there’s a very large arbitrage between these neighborhoods and some of the nicer neighborhoods,” Lee says. “Once that price differential is large enough, people start to recognize the opportunities, and then there’s a sort of a herd mentality. It’s leading to the revitalization of neighborhoods that had not seen a lot of investment for a long period off time.”

What does all this mean? Perhaps you should be looking toward Miami for your next Florida home loan. The best real estate investing advice we can give you at the moment is to focus on areas that are reflective of booming price appreciation.

Nelson Martinez of Miami Beach would like decent water pressure and windows that completely close. Manuel Blanco wants the leaking roofs and crumbling stairs fixed in his Kendall condo.

These South Florida real estate owners are just two of many who face a growing problem in condo living — the difficulty of persuading often reluctant neighbors to pay to fix deteriorating buildings.

Lack of action could lead to greater problems down the road, reports Donna Gehrke-White of the Miami Herald. The hurricanes of 2005 (especially Wilma) revealed the cost of not keeping up with maintenance, unleashing fury on older buildings. But owners pressing for repairs face difficult obstacles and circumstances:

• Ineffective government agencies.
• Hostile boards and management companies.
• Aathetic owners who don’t want to get involved and certainly don’t want to pay more for repairs.

Cyber Citizens for Justice, a Florida grass-roots association group, has gotten scores of complaints from residents who say needed repairs aren’t being made.

“This is one of the biggest problems owners are facing. They often don’t really have a say how their money is used or spent,” says Jan Bergemann, president of Cyber Citizens.

Indeed, condo associations and owners have been sparring over hurricane damage for months, and owners say they often get the runaround when they ask the government for help. State and local agencies refuse to intervene, or may allow boards to take years to make repairs.

COMMON PROPERTY
Florida requires condo boards to maintain and repair common property, says Kristen Ploska, spokeswoman for the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR). Condominium documents must spell out what is and what is not considered common property. Typically the building’s structure, pipes, parking lots, landscaping and amenities are common.

Yet there are plenty of gray areas. Such as when the condo board admits there’s a problem but wants to fix it later. Much later.

Bill Raphan, the state’s condo ombudsman, suggests owners worried about a certain safety issue contact their city or county’s building enforcement division. Municipalities will investigate reports of potentially unsafe structures (as well as plumbing, electrical or structural problems) and look into violations of local codes.

When Wilma forced scores of families out of their homes last fall, the difference between proper and lackadaisical maintenance was never more clear. Across Southern Florida, roofs were ripped open, windows shattered and units flooded. If a building escaped major damage, it had replaced its roof and common fixtures in a timely manner.

“The new roofs held up surprisingly well,” says Dean Decker, a Lauderdale Lakes building official who went up on many a roof after the storm. He would like to see more homeowners associations educated about their buildings’ maintenance, including part-time residents.

“They should be more involved,” agrees Miami Beach senior building inspector Andres “Andy” Villarreal.

Florida condo associations need to let owners know when major common elements, such as a roof and plumbing, need replacement and to start planning out how to pay for their share. State law requires associations to collect reserves for future repairs, but also allows owners to vote not to collect reserves, which many associations do.

Doesn’t that defeat the purpose? Donna Berger, president of the Community Association Leadership Lobby (CALL), a group of Florida community associations, says condo boards don’t do more repairs because some owners complain about spending money.

Indeed, there are many people like Martinez, whose waterfront one-bedroom unit in the Bonne Vie condominium in South Beach has a serious water pressure problem. He has phoned, faxed, written and attended board meetings to complain — with no luck to date.

WHEN THE WALLS COME CRUMBLING DOWN
Meanwhile, Martinez’s walls are beginning to chip off at spots near his 39-year-old windows, where rain has poured in at times. Board president Joseph Bravo says the board realizes the Bonne Vie needs new windows, but other repairs have priority at present. In 2005, the board approved assessments totaling $1,477 for Martinez’s unit. As a result, monthly maintenance went up about 20 percent, from $344.56 to the current $410.

“There are a lot of things to be dealt with,” Bravo adds. “It’s never ending. In the past… a lot of things were let go. We are now playing catch-up.”

In Kendall, Blanco says state officials and his condominium board have been unresponsive to his complaints. Most of the massive 1,067-unit condo complex’s owners aren’t clamoring for repairs, so nothing happens. Blanco even ran for the condo board as a reformer trying to get repairs, but he was defeated. Three months later, owners are still waiting for the promised roof repairs to begin.

Unfortunately, he is not alone. Many Florida condo owners balk at paying, including many elderly residents who don’t care about preventative repairs because they will not be around when the work is needed. Younger owners are often just as resistant because they don’t realize the importance of maintaining condos.

Some lawmakers are pushing for reform. In the Florida State Legislature, Rep. Juan Zapata (R-Miami) and Rep. Rene Garcia (R-Hialeah), are co-sponsoring a bill that would require condo boards to hire an engineer or architect to inspect the structural and electrical safety of a building at least once every five years.

But will minor legislative tinkering convince owners that this maintenance needs to be done, or will they continue to put it off? This approach is a common one in America these days, as we leave problems for someone else to clean up later. Hopefully, Florida home loan applicants and future condo inhabitants can count on both reforms and forward-thinking attitudes in the coming years.