Letters from the Issue of August 9, 2007

Anyone who says they purchased real estate over 15 years in Miami Beach and Miami near the Biscayne Corridor, whether they fixed it up or not, sold, leased, or rented it and SAYS THEY MADE NO PROFITS BECAUSE OF TAXES AND INSURANCE IS A LIAR! From 1995 thru this year I have consulted with real estate people, and while "promoters" with no equity themselves or "flippers" who put 10% down and then plan to sell property before they close have lost out, anyone who purchased prior to 2002 has MADE A BUNDLE. A typical example on Miami in a Haitian neighborhood, a White Italian from Miami Beach purchased a vacant lot in a built up street off 79th Street, borrowed money, built a house, one family, and CLEARED $150,000.00 NETT within 18 months in 2005.

I have seen insurance documents, mortgage documents, for slum multi-family units off 79th Street that doubled in value in sales within five years.

I am sorry, the writer who is crying about getting "robbed" by taxes and insurance is an out and out liar.

Moreover, "fixing up" meansö kicking out long term senior citizens, Minorities, and the working class at minimum wage jobs. Tell me, what is the net worth of this, poor, over-taxed guy, 10 Million Dollars? Shame on a landlord with multiple properties writing to a magazine aimed at the young and Minorities and those of us who work for a living, not invest our parents' money in schemes to through people out on the street for greedy profits!

The nerve of this turd!