Full time residents
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Cil
Beach Fanatic
Thanks Jdarg. I love yours. ;-)
We live in Phase 1 but most full timers that we know live in Phase 2. There are a lot 1st and 2nd graders and most have younger sibllings from 2 to 4 years old. There are also several teenagers.Camp Creek Kid said:
SHELLY said:
Shelly, I not disputing what you say, but I do have a question for you. In large cities--San Francisco, New York, Miami, Chicago, D.C., Boston--it is much more expensive to live than in SoWal. Yet, these larger cities do not have shortages of teachers, cops, and grocery clerks. The farther out of the city center one goes, the more affordable the housing, so many "regular people" live outside of the city center and commute to work every day, sometimes traveling an hour each direction.
SoWal has not gotten to that point. I don't understand why you predict a labor crisis in SoWal when all you have to do is cross a bridge (north or east) and you'll find affordable housing. I know many people who live in Andalusia, AL (about 1.5 hrs from SoWal) and choose to commute to SoWal. They WANT to stay in their home town, but are drawn to the higher wages of SoWal. Construction workers make much more here than in say, Chattanooga, TN. Why? Because subcontractors are in demand and they can charge more.
I agree CCK. There are still affordable places to rent in SoWal that most visitors don't know about. But soon it will be the island that it is with more and more workers coming from all points north of the bay. It is an easy drive now but will get to be a bear until the 4-laning of 331 is complete.
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Not to worry Cil. Those builders will be rolling over to Gulf and Franklin Counties in the near future. I already hear them talking.;-)Cil said:
One anecdotal way to estimate would be to look at the quantity of everyday services and retail (other than bars and restaurants) available in SoWal, the sort essential to full-time residents: Doctors, barbers and beauticians, dry cleaners, vets, grocery stores, churches, insurance agents, banks, gas stations, etc. Also the number and size of schools. Compare these to a typical small town. Adjust for business real estate cost, affluence, demographics, and excess service capacity for high season.
My street in Seagrove has 18 permanent residents, residing in 8 out of 18 houses. 2 kids, grade school age. 3 retired persons, everyone else (except the kids) working. No condos. Our area, near Eastern Lake, seems to me to have a higher-than-average percentage of full-time residents. But maybe 6 or 7 of probably 40-50 houses/condos on the first 3 rows from the beach are full-time.
By comparison, I drove through the eastern half of Seaside Thursday and it appeared empty.
I'm guessing 3,000-4,000 on all of 30A plus Pt. Wash. Any takers?
My street in Seagrove has 18 permanent residents, residing in 8 out of 18 houses. 2 kids, grade school age. 3 retired persons, everyone else (except the kids) working. No condos. Our area, near Eastern Lake, seems to me to have a higher-than-average percentage of full-time residents. But maybe 6 or 7 of probably 40-50 houses/condos on the first 3 rows from the beach are full-time.
By comparison, I drove through the eastern half of Seaside Thursday and it appeared empty.
I'm guessing 3,000-4,000 on all of 30A plus Pt. Wash. Any takers?
There are a lot more in most neighborhoods than one might realize. I live in Watercolor so I am most familiar with it. However, I also know of many other neighborhoods with similar or greater ratios of full time to part time. Many were mentioned like Grove by the Sea and Rosemary. There are also Gulf Place and Lake Place. With that being said, its hard to count 3000 to 4000 but I would not doubt it. I know at the first day of school at Butler, there were tons of out of state tags on cars telling me that they are moving here in droves. The service businesses that are here now are many compared to when I moved here in '96.TreeFrog said:
CCK, I think Shelly is on target. The least expensive home (not mobile) in Freeport will run you a good $250,000. Now I don't know about your world, but I don't think most construction workers making $10-$12/hour can afford this so called "affordable housing." Let's see, after a 10% down payment of $25,000 (what? I have to come up with $25,000), a 30yr mortgage at 6% will cost $1350 per month before taxes and insurance. Let's be conservative and say taxes and insurance total only $250 per month. The house payments are now only an affordable $1600 before utilities, groceries, health insurance, savings, entertainment, etc. Let's use the $12 per hour wage rate and say the worker earns $480 per week before taxes, and maybe only $400 per week after taxes. If this worker wants to keep his house and eat, he will need to find a second 40hour per week job with similar wages, and this is just to be able to afford Freeport on the cheap end.Camp Creek Kid said:
The math just does not add up. When the 331 bridge is 4 laned and the $4 toll is charged each way, this worker will not only have to pay out more money to drive here through higher gas prices, but also via the tolls. It will happen. Unless the employers are willing to pass along the higher cost of doing business to the homeowners, the labor pool will dry up faster than a watering hole in the Sahara. Currently, I don't see the wages matching the cost of living in SoWal, or Freeport. The future affordable housing will be around DeFuniak Springs, and that is a long haul, and costs more in terms of gas money. Robert Davis's concept for Seaside, was based partly on the worker not having to drive to work. Just because my friends in Atl are willing to drive 15 miles in 1.5 hours, doesn't mean that we should aspire to be like them.
