Alert – Florida’s final straw as despairing residents are ambushed by new crisis: ‘The American dream is dead’

Parts of Florida could be facing a mass exodus in the coming months due to increasingly costly tropical storms pummeling the peninsula. 

Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton most recently struck the Sunshine State, killing hundreds of people and destroying thousands of homes and businesses through a record-breaking August to October period this year.

But perhaps the most widely destructive impact of the storms was yet to come. 

Insurance experts told DailyMail.com that premiums have sky-rocketed in recent weeks, prompting many lifelong residents to contemplate moving out of state for the first time.   

‘The recent hurricanes have been a major disruption in existing or pending sales, even for unaffected homes,’ said Phil Crescenzo Jr., Vice President of the Southeast Division at Nation One Mortgage Corporation. 

Insurance costs have soared in Florida – with experts pinpointing Tampa (pictured), Sarasota, and Manatee counties as among the worst-hit areas

Davida Wheeler, 47, told DailyMail.com she can no longer afford to live in her hometown of a decade, St Petersburg, after Hurricane Milton blew a power cable on to her rental home and it burned to the ground. (Pictured: Wheeler’s home during the fire in September) 

He said insurance costs have soared as a result – in some cases by as much as 100 percent. The worst-hit areas are Tampa, Sarasota, and Manatee counties, he added. 

‘Just today, I reviewed a homeowner’s quote for a $500K home, that was over $6,000 annual,’ Crescenzo told DailyMail.com. ‘This is more than double what a policy would be with adequate coverage.’ 

‘In the damaged areas, there is no choice but to relocate,’ he added. 

Real estate advisor Jenna Stauffer said Floridians are facing eye-watering home insurance rates thanks to natural disasters

‘It’s only a few weeks or a month, respectively, so it is hard to estimate the true impact yet, but in an already pressured market for rates and high inflation for consumers, this added element has added one more factor to consider and work through.’

Jenna Stauffer, a real estate advisor at Sotheby’s International Realty based in Key West Florida, said home insurance in the state has already gone up by 20 percent over the last two years due to the increasing risk of natural disasters. 

‘It’s a huge problem for a lot of property owners down here,’ Stauffer told DailyMail.com. 

‘Another thing we are facing in Florida is we have had private insurance companies which have been pulling out of the state so that’s why we are seeing costs go up…

‘We could see rates go up even more next year.’

Stauffer said the worst-hit homeowners tend to be those in properties in flood-prone areas which were built before new safety regulations came in following highly-destructive Hurricane Andrew in the 1990s.

‘Florida also attracts a lot of pensioners. The higher insurance costs are just too much for them,’ Stauffer added. ‘They were moving her for affordability reasons.

‘It also all ties into the other affordability challenges that Americans are facing – higher home purchase costs, and the cost of living.’

One retiree who lives in Havana on a fixed income told Newsweek ‘the American dream to accrue wealth in owning a home is dead – at least for me in Florida’.

‘I can’t afford to leave and I can’t afford to stay,’ he added. 

‘The recent hurricanes have been a major disruption in existing or pending sales, even for unaffected homes,’ Phil Crescenzo Jr., Vice President of the Southeast Division at Nation One Mortgage Corporation, told DailyMail.com

Wheeler (right) and her boyfriend Robert Stolorz (left) lost their homes in Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene respectively, just a week apart, leaving them both homeless 

The Hurricane Milton fire also killed Wheeler’s beloved cat, called Betty White

‘I’m combing through the ashes of what remain of my entire life and all I have are cardboard boxes of donation,’ Wheeler told DailyMail.com. (Pictured: Wheeler’s home after the fire) 

For others, the situation is even more dire. 

Davida Wheeler, 47, said she can no longer afford to live in her hometown of a decade, Gulfport in St Petersburg, after Hurricane Milton’s 120mph winds blew a power cable on to her rental home and it burned to the ground. 

Davida Wheeler’s Florida home was destroyed during Hurricane Milton 

To make matters worse, her boyfriend Robert Stolorz’s home on Treasure Island had been obliterated less than a week before when Hurricane Helene’s 140mph gusts and 15-foot storm surges tore through Florida’s west coast. 

The couple were on holiday in New York at the time and they returned to ashes. The fire also killed Wheeler’s beloved cat, called Betty White. 

‘Now we are both homeless,’ Wheeler, a licensed massage therapist, told DailyMail.com through tears. 

‘We both lost everything a week apart and it’s crazy because thousands of people have been affected by this.

‘I’m combing through the ashes of what remain of my entire life and all I have are cardboard boxes of donations. I had 47 years of a life and now I have a backpack.

‘I love St Pete with all of my heart but it’s just become so unaffordable.

‘I’m going to miss my neighborhood terribly. It was my sanctuary. My Florida dream.’

Wheeler said her business has also been ‘drastically’ impacted, because not only did she lose her massage table and linens in the fire, but locals are cutting back on luxuries like massages as they grapple with similar ordeals of their own. 

‘There’s a lot of emotional trauma,’ Wheeler said. ‘I’m really scared about what the future looks like.’ 

For the time being, Wheeler and her Stolorz are staying in the home of a Good Samaritan in St Petes, Ro Barber (pictured)

In this aerial view, boats are piled up in front of homes after Hurricane Helene hit the area as it passed offshore on September 28, 2024 in Treasure Island, Florida

Debris is seen in front of the Thunderbird Beach Resort in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton in Treasure Island, Florida, on October 11, 2024

For the time being, Wheeler and Stolorz are staying in the home of a Good Samaritan in St Petes, Ro Barber, while accepting donations on their GoFundMe page. 

Barber listed her home on Air BnB for the minimum charge – $8 per night – for those needing shelter from the storm after being horrified by the destruction Helene wreaked just a week before. 

‘I’m homegrown Florida. I don’t take hurricanes very seriously,’ Barber, 38, told DailyMail.com. 

‘But after I saw how bad Helene devastated our area, I thought, okay, that’s not good. People hadn’t even unburied themselves from that storm when Milton hit.’ 

‘My house is a half mile from the water but it’s 40 feet above sea level. I bought my house strategically,’ she added.

Over several weeks, Barber housed at least 11 people in her four-bedroom home, including an elderly woman from a mobile home in the flood zone, and construction workers drafted in for recovery efforts. 

Though Barber’s home seems hurricane-proof, it’s not immune to the financial impacts of the storms. 

‘I bought my house in 2014 with a handful of blueberries compared with today’s prices,’ she told DailyMail.com. 

‘I paid $450-per-month mortgage back then. It would cost $4,000 to $5,000 per month if I bought it now. I could never afford to move here now.’

In this aerial view, the roof of Tropicana Field is seen in tatters after Hurricane Milton destroyed it as the storm passed through the area on October 10, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Florida

Debris is seen on a street in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton in Treasure Island, Florida, on October 11, 2024

Like many families in the area, Barber’s parents moved over from New York, tempted by Florida’s west coast beaches and zero income tax. 

But she said people are now starting to move away because the demand for housing after storms pushes prices up. 

‘It’s not because of the storms, it’s the real estate trends that come after the storms,’ Barber said. 

‘All of the rental prices go sky-high and people just get priced out. We push out the middle class every time after a storm like this.

‘There has to be a point where you go, can I afford to rebuild my life here or do I go?’

Finance guru Suze Orman told DailyMail.com in March that the impact of climate change on soaring property insurance premiums is destroying the American dream of home ownership. 

The 72-year-old gave up on cover for her own 2,100-square-foot, ocean-side condo in Florida after she was quoted $28,000 a year by her insurer. 

Hurricane Milton destroyed thousands of businesses and homes (Pictured: A man cleans debris inside a gas station store in Lakewood Park, Florida, in the aftermath of the storm)

Last year, the US experienced 28 natural disasters which each cost at least $1 billion, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

As a result, the national average price of home insurance has shot up by 23 percent to $1,759 a year between January 2023 and 2024, figures from Bankrate show.

Miami Real Estate Agent Steven Kupchan previously told DailyMail.com that Floridians have started flocking to Georgia, Texas and the Carolinas.

‘With the rise of remote work, some individuals who had moved to Florida for work reasons are now considering relocating to states with lower living costs or more stable real estate markets,’ Kupchan said.

Following the collapse of the Champlain Tower South in Miame-Dade county which killed 98 people in 2021, legislation was brought in at a cost to condo owners. (Pictured: Miami) 

The tragedy killed 98 people, means hundreds of thousands of condo owners must now fork out hefty sums for previously neglected maintenance

Florida’s condo market is also experiencing ‘the worst real estate crisis in decades’ but for a completely different reason.

Following the collapse of the Champlain Tower South in Miame-Dade county which killed 98 people in 2021, legislation was brought in at a cost to condo owners. 

Under the new laws, all condos above three stories which are 30 years old or older must undergo an inspection by a qualified architect or engineer.

If ‘substantial structural deterioration’ is found, the condo owner will be on the hook for the repairs and will need to come up with possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix their property within a year.

The law, though well-meaning, has prompted a rush to sell properties to avoid the December 31 inspection deadline.