[Cleo]

Article in today's paper about how expensive houses have gotten here and how bad the shortage is and why.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...home-headlines

"We just don't have enough inventory," said Ron Shuffield, president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors, which has 13 offices in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. "It's the lowest inventory I've seen in my 30 years here."

Sellers are increasingly reluctant to put their homes on the market when they consider how much more they'll pay in taxes on a new home, said Richard Teboul, a Realtor with the Keyes Co. in Fort Lauderdale.

"They know they'll have no problem selling it and they'll get full price or more," Teboul said. "But then where do they go when the taxes make it very expensive to move?"

In Florida, property taxes can rise only 3 percent a year on homesteaded property. But once you move, your taxes will be based on the market price of the new home. That could double or triple a tax bill.

While sellers may be wary of listing their homes, buyers are making multiple offers and often end up losing a string of properties. Buyers are resorting to making offers at or above an owner's list price. And they begin to get desperate because they know a similar property will only cost more next month, said Ann DeFries, president of the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale.