Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal came with a supplement magazine. When I opened it up I saw a couple of ads for private islands for sale. The properties looked serene and gorgeous surrounded by crystal blue water. The two I glanced at were priced at over $15,000,000. I said to myself, who in their right mind would pay a penny for one of these? Unless, of course, they didn’t care about the money. Forgetting hurricanes for a minute and the storm surge they produce, just the vision of sea level rise is enough to make buying one of these properties insane. There are already island nations that are figuring out how to get their entire populations moved to a mainland somewhere…environmental refugees. So why would anyone want to go the opposite direction???
I’ve been writing about the impact that climate change is going to have on real estate values in many ways. One is how rising sea levels will impact ocean costal properties and warning those who may own some that they had better sell and move sooner rather than later if they want to get some value for it. Property values along the ocean coasts are already being impacted and the following article describes some new developments that are surprising. There is beginning to develop a dog eat dog mentality among people who live near the coasts. Those that live higher above sea level are using that property feature to increase the value of their property to the chagrin of their neighbors who live closer to sea level. This is going to start getting ugly.
“Cortada repurposes “for sale” signs, painting partially submerged numbers that announce exactly how many feet above sea level each property is, for people to plant in their front yards.”
“Some residents aren’t happy about these art installations, warning on a community newspaper’s website that the painted signs and pavement could devastate property values.”
“They’ve also persuaded the city to study what they call climate gentrification: As property values rise along higher elevations, low-income people who remain above water fear they’ll be priced out of their homes by wealthier people fleeing once-desirable coastal neighborhoods.”
I am surprised at this development. I hadn’t conceived of anything like this happening. And it is happening way before I would have imagined. So I guess my previous warnings weren’t premature. If you have a lot invested, or even just a little, beware that values are already starting to be impacted.
Rising seas force ‘underwater homeowners’ to mobilize
Monday, April 1, 2019
Cortada’s signs show his home is on relatively high ground: 6 feet above sea level. His studio is at 8 feet.
Rising seas will spare no one concerned about quality of life in Pinecrest, a village of 19,000 not far from Biscayne Bay. Like the rest of South Florida, it’s trapped between the ocean and the swampy Everglades, which act as a western coastline. Water also rises through Florida’s porous bedrock, making sea walls and levees less effective.
“If your neighbor sees a No. 6 in front of your house, your neighbor knows that you, too, are a No. 6,” Cortada said. “So you are no longer a Democrat or a Republican, or an anti-science or pro-science person. You’re both literally standing at the same elevation.”
Cortada’s signs feature his swirling paintings of melting Antarctic glaciers. Other neighbors have made their own. Students also painted the elevations of four intersections — 6, 7, 9, 11 feet — along the city’s two-lane main road, which Cortada dubs “Elevation Drive.” It runs along what constitutes high ground in South Florida — a narrow coral ridge that appears to stay dry when models of sea-level rise show much of the region inundated.
Some residents aren’t happy about these art installations, warning on a community newspaper’s website that the painted signs and pavement could devastate property values.
“Does anyone seriously want this in front of the expensive homes in Pinecrest? Maybe they won’t be so expensive once they convince the world they will be underwater in a few years,” one wrote.
Whether people like their neighbors’ politics, global warming is already affecting homebuyers here, where average seas could rise 6 to 10 inches by 2030, and 14 to 26 inches by 2060, compared with 1992 levels, according to the most recent data from the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact.
Other projections show salt water rising another foot by the time a new 30-year mortgage is paid off, and 2 feet by the time today’s schoolchildren retire. Long before then, intruding seawater could wash away infrastructure, submerge public spaces and make even a trip to the grocery store difficult to navigate.
Cortada worked with Florida International University to create Eyes on the Rise, a website that shows the elevation of any address. Then he partnered with the Florida Conservation Voters Education Fund to help people understand how they might get involved.
Renters as well as homeowners are welcome in the Underwater HOA. There are no dues or other requirements. The main idea is to encourage neighbors to discuss climate change among themselves. What happens next is up to each group. Actions could include creating plans for individual households, doing climate education outreach, attending government meetings or lobbying elected officials.
That kind of hyperlocal advocacy is already having an effect: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez applauded neighborhood groups last month while showing off the city’s response to rising sea levels to former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Suarez said local activism was key to persuading voters to approve a $400 million bond initiative to strengthen Miami’s infrastructure against climate change effects. They’ve also persuaded the city to study what they call climate gentrification: As property values rise along higher elevations, low-income people who remain above water fear they’ll be priced out of their homes by wealthier people fleeing once-desirable coastal neighborhoods.
Cortada’s inaugural Pinecrest group has met twice so far, led by Brian Haus, an ocean sciences expert at the University of Miami. Their February meeting stuck to local water issues: the number of city residents still using well water, the lack of fire hydrants in some areas, whether sewer lines could extend to residents using septic tanks.
Saltwater intrusion already threatens that infrastructure, but the dozen or so residents had broader worries, too.
They don’t want to leave Miami — hurricanes are easier to endure than wildfires or ice storms, they said — but some caution against sinking too much time, energy and money into shoring up what could become a waterlogged burden. “Sell the house when I’m gone and get out,” some said they told their children.
Holly Zickler is enthusiastic: She hosted a picnic in a park in neighboring South Miami, encouraging neighbors to paint their own signs and launch their own chapter.
“I like that the Underwater HOA is flipping the script on what a traditional HOA actually stands for, which is mostly people standing around with pitchforks at the ready,” said Zickler, who lives at 9 feet.
“I would love to see this go all the way up the East Coast, to go nationally,” she said. “We all need to lurch forward with this, and lurch forward thinking consciously about this.” — Jennifer Kay, Associated Press
