Navigating the Florida Real Estate Market: Challenges, Trends, and Opportunities

Welcome to the latest update on the real estate market! As a real estate expert based in Fort Lauderdale, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges and opportunities in today’s housing market. Whether you're buying, selling, or investing, understanding the current landscape is crucial. Here’s a detailed look at the trends shaping our market and tips to help you navigate it successfully all based on experience and this weeks news articles. 

Florida Housing Market Overview

Florida is facing a unique set of challenges in the housing market. Pending home sales have declined sharply, with cities like Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and West Palm Beach experiencing the steepest drops. This slowdown is driven by several factors:

• Rising Costs: HOA fees and homeowners’ insurance have skyrocketed. These increases are linked to stricter regulations following the Surfside condo collapse and frequent natural disasters.
• Hurricane Recovery: Recent storms have left many homeowners dealing with repair costs and disruptions, further slowing the market.
• Affordability Crisis: Home prices remain high, making it tough for first-time buyers to enter the market. For instance, homes that once sold for $600,000 are now listed at over $1.3 million in some neighborhoods.

What Does This Mean for Sellers?

If you're selling your home, you need to stand out in a competitive market. Here’s how:

1. Price Competitively: Buyers are more price-conscious than ever. Research comparable homes in your area and set a realistic price.
2. Curb Appeal Matters: Simple upgrades like fresh landscaping, a clean driveway, and washed windows can make a big difference!
3. Stage Strategically: If your home is vacant, consider staging it to showcase its full potential. Even small changes, like decluttering or rearranging furniture, can make a big impact.
4. Highlight Unique Features: Compile a list of upgrades or special features your home offers and share it with your real estate agent to attract buyers.

Advice for Buyers in a Shifting Market

The current market provides opportunities for buyers, but strategy is key:

• Act Quickly: Well-priced homes still sell fast, even in a slower market. If you find a property you love, don’t wait too long to make an offer.
• Focus on Value: Compare active listings and look for homes priced fairly within your budget.
• Leverage the Shift: Increased inventory in some areas gives buyers more options and negotiating power. Work with a real estate professional who understands market trends to get the best deal.

Investment Opportunities: Single-Family vs. Multifamily Homes

For investors, choosing the right property type is essential. Multifamily units like duplexes or apartment buildings often offer higher returns, especially when rents are at market value. However, single-family homes can attract long-term tenants and require less management.

While condos may seem appealing, high HOA fees and restrictive rules make them less ideal for long-term investments. If you’re new to real estate investing, starting with a duplex or triplex is a great way to test the waters.

Builders and the Housing Supply Challenge

The housing market also faces constraints from regulatory hurdles. While inventory has increased since 2023, it’s still below pre-pandemic levels. Builders are optimistic about potential regulatory improvements in 2025, which could boost new construction and help ease affordability issues.

The Environmental Factor: A Barrier to Growth

Federal endangered species protections have created obstacles for developers trying to build new homes. These regulations often delay projects for years. Proposed policy changes could ease these restrictions, potentially leading to a housing boom in Florida.

The Bottom Line

Despite the challenges, Florida’s real estate market offers plenty of opportunities for those who know how to navigate it. Whether you’re buying, selling, or investing, partnering with an experienced real estate professional can make all the difference.

If you have questions about the market or need guidance on your real estate journey, I’m here to help. Let’s connect and make your real estate goals a reality.

Contact me today to get started!

Adela Philipson (954)268-4105 

Video Transcript:

here we go all right welcome and good morning my name is Adela philipsson and I am your real estate expert I am here in sunny South Florida that's why you see this beautiful background behind me um I am going to be going over updates as far as what's kind of going on in the real estate market more importantly that just happened this week um we're going to start off with an article here from redin so let me go ahead and get that on top I see some people uh starting to filter in through here let me go ahead and present this screen

share and this is what we're going to be talking about more importantly um the housing market and what has beenen happening ever since the hurricane um so this is an article from redin it was actually just published yesterday it says home sales sink across Florida amid hurricane recovery surging HOA which I can definitely speak a lengths about as well as insurance costs a lot of people will be very surprised how much HOAs have gone up not just unfortunately after what happened at Surf Side which is near Miami but um the overall maintenance you know making sure that we had the buildings the associations have enough reserves um for future maintenance and the insurance is just starting to go through the roof not just for people who live in the buildings but also in houses so a lot of their fixed budg um unfortunately starting to climb up so this one again was published yesterday it says the five us Metro areas where where pending sales are falling most are in Florida that's where I am though the declines are easing in some metros following a destructive hurricane season now it goes on to say Florida is home to the five us metropolitan areas where pending home sales are falling fastest in Fort Lauderdale my city pending sales dropped 15.2% year-over-year during the first during the four weeks ending November 10th the biggest decline among the US metropolitan areas that redin analyzed next came Miami by 14% West Palm Beach at 13.88% Jacksonville at 99.5% and Tampa being 7.2% now Nationwide it says pending sales Rose 4.7 over the same period here it gives us a a chart as far as the pending home sales that are underperforming in Florida again majority of of them being in Florida with Fort Lauderdale Miami West Palm Beach Jacksonville Tampa including Orlando um it goes on here the Metro level ranking in this report came from a list of the 50 most populous metros redin included the 47 that had sufficient data Florida's house in Market has been slowing for months as residents grapple with frequent natural disasters along with the Surge and home insurance cost and HOA fees fueled by intensifying climate risk now there is a lot going on I feel like not just the HOA fees but the insurance as well as the the change in climate I don't know if you any of you are familiar with the last couple hurricanes PS that came through there were tornadoes um that was a little bit shocking especially since there were so many tornadoes throughout the state due to the hurricane and those ended up creating uh more damage in some areas now here it says the latest shoe to drop was an especially de devastating hurricane season hurricane Helen hit Northwestern Florida on September 26th and became the deadly storm to hit Mainland America in almost two decades then roughly two weeks later hurricane Milton swept across central Florida I actually have uh friends and past clients in that area and they did tell me it was a couple days without electricity um and it was just a lot of yard work from a lot of the debris and damage when and it didn't directly come over them but they were close enough to the center where it just made a complete mess of their property uh let's see here it says the state also has a housing affordability crisis that I will agree with yes I mean during covid from experience um because I've been in this for more than four years now I would say we had a massive wave of people moving to Florida for multiple reasons businesses moved down here and they're still moving down here I know Citadel um is moving down here as well as well as I mean just so many people wanted outdoor space the sunshine get away from the snow they figured you know I'm being locked up and I have the flexibility to live wherever I want to live so a lot of people moved here and they continued to move and still moving and the prices have not necessarily gone down yes the number number of pending sales is low but the pricing on the homes is remaining strong so don't let that you know deceive you so again the state also has a housing affordability crisis while it has been building a lot of homes something that tends to curb home price growth are prices and property taxes here we go this is exactly what I saying prices and property taxes remain significantly High than they were before the pandemic home buying frenzy that drove up housing costs that has cooled home buying demand so yeah not a lot of buyers are coming in because they can't necessarily afford you know a house that used to be 600,000 is now 1.3 million or since 2019 pre-pandemic levels um or even you know houses in a more affordable neighborhood that were made maybe about 190,000 200,000 are creeping up to 400,000 even 500,000 in some of those neighborhoods and those in particular still still have demand because it is lower but it's still not as affordable for like a firsttime home buyer for example now here we'll finish this off it says there's still some demand for vacation homes but in general the market is very slow buyers have been grappling with persistently High housing costs and uncertainty around the election that I do know people were kind of waiting to see what would happen um during the election thankfully that is now behind us but as it says here firsttime buyers are especially skittish that that is exactly what was happening people wanted to wait they're nervous what's going to happen um here it says said Lindsey Garcia redr Premier real estate agent in Fort Lauderdale the condo Market is really struggling because of high HOA fees and homeowners insurance costs and on top of that many condo owners are seeing special assessments due to new rules implemented after the Surfside condo collapse some condos are sitting on the market for over a year now this I have to say um is a little bit more of old news because Surfside did happen and it's been been a while now a lot of the buildings have already done their assessments so about two years ago I know a lot of homeowners in condo buildings were going through we were going through this massive wave of Assessments and they were getting the most I've heard actually $75,000 in assessment in some cases maybe it was 40,000 one year 30,000 another maybe 25,000 here and there which is a lot um but that kind has kind of subsided I feel like that's a little bit more behind us unless that particular building or the association hasn't gone through that but I want to say it's just from feedback okay so just from experience I want to say it's maybe less than 10% of buildings who haven't done that by now but they do know that they have to sooner rather than later um so as far as the assessments that I would say is kind of behind us for the most part so the future looks bright I would say the dust is starting starting to settle but I will say the HOA fees are going to remain high you're not going to be able to buy a condo in the future with the and the HOA fee is $250 a month or $400 a month if you're lucky because your insurance since Insurance costs are high and we have to make sure to not we but homeowners Condo building owners um have to make sure that there is a reserve and part of that HOA is going to the reserves for and in case anyone's kind of curious what I'm referring to when I say reserves think of it more of a savings account for the actual Condo building so maybe you don't own a house and maybe you don't have to pay for the cost of your roof for your AC because you live in a Condo building you still have to um contribute to the maintenance the overall maintenance of that particular building or the property that you live in so um yes you will have to at one point the building will have to need a new roof or maybe even Windows um or the common areas or the driveways the sidewalks um that kind of thing so that's what the reserves would actually go towards but of course every year you have your financial budget and they mark up where the money goes towards like new elevators for example new paint jobs um gardeners Landscaping maybe security if you have a security guard so that's that one uh let's go ahead and oh it looks like I have some questions let's see here if I can pull it

up um let's see okay you guys are going to have to forgive me this is my first time live streaming which I'm very excited to be doing this with you um I just don't know necessarily how

to um I have to put up the question so you're going to have to forgive me but I will read it off here so Robin is asking should I invest in upgrades um or staging to make my property more appealing it's been on the market for six months uh condo on uh let's see off of Los Olas Boulevard oh Los wow you're here local oh hi Robin maybe I've seen you in town before well very nice to meet you um should I invest in upgrades or staging well I don't know what your property looks like um I understand you said it's a condo offl Olas Boulevard great location especially if you like that City living um I would recommend speaking to your real estate professional primarily to get feedback as far as why you know what buyers are saying um why perhaps it's not under contract yet as far as upgrades I always recommend it depends how much you're looking to spend what kind of upgrades what kind of timing um staging I would only recommend if it is vacant um more than anything you know I if you think I'm probably going to get $30,000 more selling my condo um but it's going to cost me $25,000 Plus time and permits and that's not something I would recommend for you to do um but if you you know in terms of staging what's really great too is I like to work with clients and just kind of staging what they already have whether they need to O uh get rid of certain Furniture rearrange certain Furniture maybe take some pictures down or put things up or get new pillows or just kind of make it more like HGTV ready um but I would highly recommend and just getting trying to get some more feedback from your your agent to figure out what's going on with the condo um now I did I do have a question here from Mary Beth um how can I make my house stand out if the market is slow very good question um first and foremost in terms of putting your house on the market it yes it is slow right now especially here in Florida um I would say you're going to want to make sure to price it competitively you want to go into the market making sure that everything you possibly have done to your home is um you know done before we actually put it on the market so for example curb appeal you know cutting the grass maybe some new flowers you can plant out front make sure to wash your windows you would be surprised a really good photographer is going to pick up on the dirt on your windows if that's the case make sure all your blinds and curtains are open when you take the photos hopefully your real estate professional you know is there when they do the pictures I know I am because I want to make sure every little detail is done you'd be surprised how much a a professional photographer can pick up when it comes to that um I would say maybe a a quick paint job from the front if at all possible don't want to exert yourself um but if you have like a low house maybe you know pay someone a couple hundred dollar to get a Fresh coat of paint um definitely get a cleaning lady to deep clean I actually have a list of vendors myself so if you know the house needs a really good scrub that will make a difference on your home um but more than anything you want to kind of see the homes in the mar on the market that that are somewhat comparable to yours to see how you can position yourself your property a little bit different but more importantly pricing it competitive you don't want to price it you know hundred thousands of dollars more than your neighbor because at the end of the day buyers are price um Savvy and it's as we call it the principal substitution you know can I get a different house for the same price elsewhere um excuse me can I get the same a house for the about the same price if not less in the same area so they're going to compare so just keep that in mind sometimes it's helpful to pretend you're the buyer um so if I may I don't see any other questions on here for the time being let's go ahead to the next one now this one is actually from Fast Company let's go ahead and see here is it up okay great it's up so this is going to be um the house this is from Fast Company it says housing market shift where power is quickly turning in favor of home buyers that is true if you are thinking of buying a home and you're serious about making the move it's better to start considering now rather than waiting you know and end up having a fight you'd be surprised there are still multiple offers in some neighborhoods depending on the price point depending on the house um for example I know one particular neighborhood in pompo Beach there every time I put a house up for a sale we have between 20 to 30 offers um mainly being because the price point is a little bit lower and it's not a condo it's a house it's a little bit easier to manage with insurance costs and there are no HOA fees so let's go ahead and read this here it says home buyers have gained some leverage in most housing markets over the past year with some markets even becoming buyers markets and you can kind of even see this little diagram where they have these um circles so you really get an idea of the concentration of where this is really happening so here it says uh W uh let's see ah when assessing home price momentum it's important to monitor active listings and months of Supply this is very true months of Supply I know one gentleman in particular I'm talking to um he's from the Northeast and he is looking in a particular neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale and he mentioned you know a house came on the market and I told him okay that's great it's a lovely home just FYI the homes in this particular neighborhood are sitting around for about three months and I also sent him some houses that were somewhat similar and I said hey look there's a house a couple blocks over looks similar and it's been 60 days that one's already um you know sitting on the market so if you really want this house they say we go in with a strong offer um you know so definitely paying attention to those two things active listings and months of Supply if uh continues on here it says if active listings start to wrapid ly increase or get very high as homes remain on the market for longer periods it may indicate potential future pricing weakness so yes we're going to want to kind of pay attention to are the homes staying on the market for longer or are they starting to get picked up and homes are on the market for a short period of time if it is priced right and if you're a buyer specifically looking at exactly what you want and a house comes on the market I say don't wait you'd be surprised it might just go under contract we are still seeing that as long as it is priced competitively uh just yesterday I saw it was a townhouse because we're looking for a single gentleman he is buying his first home and that particular townhouse sold or went under contract in 10 days so you just kind of want to pay attention to the actual activity and what you're looking for uh let's see here where was I conversely a rapid decline in active listings could suggest a market that is heating up so you that's exactly what I'm referring to you have to make sure and that's exactly why you also want to work with a true true real estate expert who not just look you know sends you oh an active listing oh another house just came on the market but really can analyze as far as the actual movement of what's going on in the market so let's see here it says in October 2024 National active inventory for sale was up 29% over October 2023 so just a year ago the inventory is up while that's still 21% fewer us homes for sales compared to October 2019 the rise does suggest that nationally the market is softening its buyers aren't purchasing homes as quickly as they were before now you kind of have to take this with a grain of salt obviously no one's buying houses at the same rate that we were during the actual pandemic and I don't think that's necessarily going to happen again um but it does suggest that we are still on short inventory compared to 2019 um we still are considered having a short supply in fact there's another gentleman I'm talking to um and he asked me you know he he's looking at a particular City and and was curious as to why there aren't more homes for sale and he in his own opinion because he can tell you know there just aren't as many homes he can pick from so it really depends where you're looking we are still in a shortage inventory yes the national active inventory has increased from last year but compared to pre pandemic levels we're still short so if you are thinking of purchasing home it's better to be one you know one of the few buyers and really be able to pick rather than more buyers actually entering the market and then you're fighting you know for a home um simply put buyers have gained some leverage in most resell markets over the past last year with some markets even becoming buyers markets so I think there was a diagram yes here so this is a little diagram that they created it says one-ear change in active housing inventory for sale Mark Metro excuse me Metro shift between October 20223 and October 2024 so you can see here Florida is very heavily impacted we do have a lot more um for sale but and again you know I guess this is kind of like the Dallas Houston Austin uh Texas area and this is a little bit more San Diego La San Francisco New York of course a lot more concentration happening around here whether it's uh Kansas Tennessee Georgia um even Alabama there and then over here in Colorado as well so over the past 12 months active listings have inched up just about everywhere over the biggest inventory jumps over the past year are concentrated across the Sun Belt so yeah right here I was just kind of saying there's a bit more concentration there many of those Sun Belt markets have a greater concentration of new construction now this is talking a little bit more about home builders so it says home builders have greater margins to make affordability adjustments like mortgage rate buy Downs could be attracting buyers who might otherwise look in the resale Market this cooling with the help of strange strained excuse me with the help of strained affordability by the pandemic housing boom mortgage rate shock is helping to increase days on Market months of supply and active listing counts in terms of months of Supply it really depends what you're looking at I mean I live in I'm here in Fort Lauderdale we have a combination of condos tow houses um single family houses duplexes um you know Triplex so each one of those is going to be completely different as well is something that's a little bit more on the affordable end compared to luxury all very different markets so this right now is just being a little bit more General I always recommend you want to focus exactly on what you're looking for same thing goes if you are thinking of selling if you're thinking of selling if you have a condo you're going to want to pay attention to the months of Supply there I know we are very saturated right now in our condo Market especially near along our beaches and our downtown area but if you were to look at the single family homes in pompo Beach they are selling a lot faster and we have a shorter months of Supply there in pompo beach is just the neighboring city right above us now here it continues some of those some belt markets and around the gulf have also been hit by home insurance shocks and a Slowdown in pandemic remote work induced migration in Florida there's also a shock occurring in its condo Market oh gosh look at this I'm already coming up you know the the difference is I'm living it I breathe it I do real estate full time so there you have it they just it's exactly what I was referring to uh while active housing listings are rising year over-year in most Regional Housing markets most markets are still below pre-pandemic inventory levels one could argue that this inventory jump is a much needed shift given just how unhealthy and tight the housing market became during the pandemic housing boom so this is really interesting this is really comparing the Metro shift between October 2019 and October 2024 so if you'll notice we do have uh more here and less in these areas most of the Midwest Northeast and Southern California remain below pre-pandemic inventory levels in contrast many parts of the Gulf Coast including Tampa New Orleans and the Mountain West have ticked above back above prepandemic inventory levels and oh it looks like I have a question here from Bob let me move this over uh Bob let's see are there more homes for sale now creating more competition for sellers such as myself well it just depends I'm not exactly sure where you are Bob or um I don't know if you're in I have California Kentucky Wisconsin um it just really depends where you're located and what's kind of happening in your neighborhood um you know I would say just refer to a real estate professional in your area there is going to be competition if there are a lot of you so for example the condo market right now is saturated it's more competitive um so yes absolutely if there are more homes for sale it is going to be very diff diffult you just have to make sure to put your best foot forward make sure your property looks the best it possibly can price it competitively make sure you have a list of all your upgrades provide that to your to your agent if this is something you're just starting to think about maybe don't know of a true professional in your area who can guide you with Insight on how to best position your home then then feel free to send me a message I do I will link a form down in the description after this uh live or you can uh call me text me my information's all over my YouTube channel but if you need a referral I can definitely help you I would just need to figure out where you are located um so let's go ahead and switch gears here this is actually regarding the overall October housing um and this Believe It or Not happens to be from our Florida realtor organization I always like to go to the source and just kind of figure out what's going on what I discussed previously was mainly um on a national level this is a little bit more on a state level but it gives you an idea since we're perhaps more impacted from it um it says October housing starts slow on higher rates housing starts fell yes housing starts fell 3.1% in October with single family starts dropping 6.9% now Builders expect a more favorable regulatory environment in 2025 to boost the housing Supply that would be wonderful it would be great for uh buyers it would be great to for the prices on uh properties to level out if we had more uh new homes it says here housing starts edged lower last month as average monthly mortgage rates increased a quarter point from 6.18 to 6.43 between September and October according to Freddy Mack overall housing starts decreased 3.1 October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.31 million units according to to a report from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development of the census US Census Bureau the October reading of 1.31 million starts in the number of housing units Builders would begin if development kept this pace for the next 12 months within this overall number single family starts decrease 6.9% to a 970,000 seasonal adjusted annual rate on a year-to DAT basis sing single family construction is up 99.3% the volatile multifam Factor sector which includes apartment buildings and condos increase 9.1 99.6% and annualized 341,000 Pace but are down 29.3% on a year-to DAT basis now I'm not necessarily sure in terms of what's going on around you but paying attention to what's going around even just my myself um I know they had planned on about 20 new highrises by 2030 in downtown Fort Lauderdale uh just even in you know the neighborhoods that I drive through and do a lot of business in I see these developers actually buying old properties knocking them down and building these multi- uh you know these Mansions multi-million dollar mansions but this is primarily addressing like new development new uh neighborhoods um just kind of like sprawling making them bigger you know being able to provide more affordable housing because there just aren't enough homes I don't know if you've necessarily heard about the calculations from our population to the number of homes that we have built there isn't enough I know uh younger members of the families you know in their 20s or even 30s or some families even moving back in with their parents multi-generational um they're not necessarily able to you know purchase homes own homes or not enough homes that they can pick from so let me go ahead and continue on here although housing starts declined in October Builder stim improved for a third straight month in November as Builders anticipate an improved regulatory environment in 2025 that will allow the industry to increase housing Supply said Carl Harris chairman of the National Association of home builders and custom home builder from which talk Kansas while multifamily starts where were up in October the number of apartments under construction is down to 821000 the lowest count since March 2022 said the NB Chief Economist Robert Deets further interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve through 20202 should result in lower interest rates for con construction and development loans helping to lead a stabilization for apartment construction and expans ion for single family home

building all right so let's wrap this one because I do have one more article to share with you for today for Real Estate news it says here on a regional and year-to-date basis combined single family and multif family starts are 10.4% higher in the Northeast 1.7% lower in the midwest 5.0 lower in the South due to the hurricane effects and 4.4 lower in the west overall permits get this decreased 6% to a 1.42 million unit annualized rate in October single family permits increased by 0.5% to 968 ,000 unit rate and are up 99.4% a year-to date basis multif family permit decreased 3% and annualized 448,000 Pace looking at Regional data on a year-to DAT basis permits are 0.9% higher in the Northeast 3.9% higher in the midwest 2.4% lower in the South and 4.8% lower in the West multif Family completion are elevated as the apartment construction slowdown continues in October there are 1.8 apartments that completed construction for every one apartment that started construction all right so let me just see here any

questions uh where did we go

let's see ah here we go [Music] um oh this is interesting are multifam units a better investment compared to single family home oh that's a good question it's funny you asked that I actually have uh friends who own both the multif family units they actually have apartment complexes um one in particular he owns about five apartment complexes and they at least have 20 minimum in each and he loves it he is believes himself that it's definitely a lot better than o you know a single family home he I think you know he handles it all and he loves it and he believes it's a better return on investment especially if the rents are at market value rent um whereas I know other people who have single family homes and that's all they want to do they'll have between five to 10 single family homes and they rent them out they say it's just kind of easier um I don't know if it's maybe because it's one story or they feel like they have people that are a lot longer more long-term tenants but either way at that point I think it's better for your dependent on yourself what you like to manage if you're okay with doing Builder apartment complexes you could always consider like duplex or Triplex I know some people like to dip their feet into the water there start off with a duplex maybe expand I would not recommend um condo buildings as Investments primarily because of the HOA fees there are lots of roles there it's a whole entire process to approve uh tenants I only recommend uh leasing out condos if it's just kind of for a short period of time but not for a longterm investment where you want to have multiple of those so it just really depends on your personal preference um I've heard both but I would recommend either you know if you want to go large scale an apartment building or if you want to have multiple little single family homes um or if you want to just try it out maybe start like with a duplex um all right I'm going to go ahead and jump over to another article

here let's see close this

out uh share this one all right we should

be view [Music]

tab oh looks like did you did we

lose do I still have internet here [Music] oops I apologize for that

um let's see here oh I'll have to give her a call back um let's see here's why yeah you can see it okay great we are back up and running here's why oh now this article's from housing wire this is very interesting and all of this is from this week so it says here's why we won't build millions of new homes housing starts and permits remain at recession levels it kind of piggybacks off of I what I was referring to earlier today oh I have to um log

in let's see

here oh it's I have to log

in all right well that's fine let's go ahead and pull up our other one we had head lined up

here all right well let's switch gears all right election is behind us and let's talk about the low inventory as well as um needing more homes and this is really interesting um this particular oh sorry not sharing let's share that shall we share screen

this one is from Fox News uh someone just happened to send it to me thought it was a really good topic check this out it says Morning Glory Trump can unleash a housing boom by ending the endangered species scam this is the first time I'm hearing about this I don't know about you guys um but it says the country needs new houses and apartments but Federal beer rats hate them what is this all about well it says more than 1300 species are listed as either endangered or threatened in the United States under the federal Endangered Species Act the 51-year-old statute has been administered and abused by the United States fish and wildlife service now I did I I've read all these articles um this one in particular is lengthy but it's so juicy um they actually go on into detail how this has been happening and what's going to be done um so let's keep reading here it says uh two other agencies play enormous roles in the administration of the esa the US which are the US Army corpse of Engineers inside the Pentagon and the Environmental Protection Agency set aside the complexity of dealings with the fishery service and focus on the esa at work on land the esa prohibits The Taking of an endangered and threatened species and the Fish and Wildlife service has its own law enforcement division that can and does arrest people for violating the esa uh taking as they're putting it is any act that falls within the definition of harass harm pursue hunt shoot wound kill trap captured or collect the the fish and wildlife service has declared that harm includes significant habitat modification and degradation the Civil penalties for taking an endangered species begin at 25,000 per individual of the species taken and a person or company that knowingly harms harasses etc etc a listed species and is looking at $50,000 fine Andor year in Jael for every taking now I said it's a bit lengthy so I'm going to kind of skip I just wanted to premise the entire story as far as what they're referring to but was shockingly and I kind of want to get to this one where it's a particular person kind of behind the scenes I don't know if maybe they're now able to speak um let's see here it's actual what what was her name she was like an attorney or something here let's see um some oh just to give you an idea of those that are endangered so my favorite endangered species are the California Gat catcher the Stevens kangaroo rat and the San Diego fairy shrimp because all three are spread throughout large swaths of Southern California and land owners large or small threatened with prison for an illegal taking taking um here kept my phone ringing for 27 years of Private Practice so this is the person let's see it's speaking where oh I guess they did jump ahead what was her name

okay uh let's go ahead here ah many of the species on the federal government's list are not actually endangered in any Common Sense understanding of the term but they are on the federal list of extrapolations made by bureaucrats into the distant future of the theoretical amount of habitat the species will need to Sur survive uh let's see here these three species are abundant in Southern California as are their cousin species and a good lawyer can get the permits after a few years of persistent patient persuasive pestering but sometimes even the best lawyers and real biologists cannot move the bureaucrats so this is just kind of um I guess we've been protecting what was it rats and shrimps and you know certain species that are actually apparently abundant now and this has just kind of been an ongoing thing with the esa and the wildlife Serv Fish Wildlife Services so here it goes on it says more than 20 years ago then DC Circuit Court Justice John Roberts descended from one of my clients appeal to the federal courts to curb the outrageous application of the esa to private property this species in question so long ago was the aoo toad hence the species in question was so long ago was a royal Toad and its alleged presence was stopping my client from proceeding an approved land use on its property judge Roberts wrote in his descent at this time the panel's approach in this case leads to the result that regulating The Taking of a helpless toad that for reasons of its own lives its entire life in California constitutes regulating Commerce among the several States indeed the majority in this case did hold just that and thereafter I counseled clients it was a Fool's game to challenge the application of the esa to their property in the courts but to instead dive into the Maze of section 404 permits apparently these are issued by the army Army corpse of Engineers and that's what impacts the navig navigable Waters which I'm very um familiar with since we have so many waterways here in Fort Lauderdale that's uh a term we constantly refer to especially when it comes to seaw walls for people's homes but moving on they're talking about the actual permits um that are issued by the fish and wli Service as well as the elevation process and the EPA could deploy at its will over the original 40 404 permitting decision realistically people have just been trying to build on their private properties but unfortunately they can't due to the EPA and the fsw or is it FWS um and it's just been going on for a decade so maybe Trump can make a change um to some of these laws get rid of some of the protection that has been ongoing for even some of these animals that don't need protection anymore to allow Builders to actually build uh let's go ahead a little bit further down here it says unlike local government with its zoning plans and permitting rules the federal bureaucrats with zero interest in economic prosperity for the country or increasing housing stock but they do have an obsessive attachment to their own species a particular species invests particular biologists in the bureaucracy with enormous power in particular biologists and the private sector with a huge Payday for studies and monitoring none of it is necessary not much of the elaborate mouse trap actually works to preserve the species again it is a SC scam it has always been a scam but it's a legal scam that ignores the Constitution curious exactly what Trump might do here wonder how long it'll take him to do anything about this who will do anything about this if it's not him and what it will have our impact on our housing economy so but if the United States is going to Boom again if h yes but if the United States is going to Boom again if houses and apartments are going to be built at a rate that will actually provide the only solution to the housing s shortage which is more housing units team Trump will have to spend three or four days hammering this out and directing the permanent bureaucracy to get it done or get out I don't know we shall see I saw I did see a couple questions I apologize for that lengthy article it was lengthy kind of skipped around here and there but I wanted to make sure to address that um one question here is do you have a list exactly of the location of where this is happening what animals are um I don't off the top of my head I don't have it saved here um this is from Gary hi Gary nice to meet you thank you for joining um I don't I would like to say I'm assuming on the website of the environmental or was it Esa or FWS perhaps the actual list of those animals and their locations um I'm just curious do you think you're impacted is that why I don't know if you're trying to build or no of someone in your area trying to build um that's a good question now I'm curious maybe I should check to see if there's any near me um of course we have so many animals here uh so anyone who needs um you know if you need a real estate professional whatsoever in your area unfamiliar with how to interview them what questions to ask or just kind of need guidance on getting a real true professional you can always feel free to connect with me I will leave in the description the forums otherwise you can always feel free to call me email me whatever is easiest for you thank you so much for those that joined and I'm sure this will be continue to be live on my YouTube channel if you ever want to pop in and maybe refer to some of the articles that we went over through today this in particular was from Fox News this last one hope everybody has a wonderful day and see you guys on the next one