A couple weeks ago, I was listening to a
story by NPR's Planet Money team about "Toxie" a toxic asset
they had purchased to follow and help tell the story of the recent financial
meltdown. One of the mortgages in Toxie was on a home bought for investment in
Bradenton, Florida, and the team took a look at housing in the area. Many homes
there are empty and have been for years. Huge developments sit partially
completed among densely built up neighborhoods and swampland. A guest stated
that there were "enough housing lots in Charlotte County to last for more than
100 years". Boom and bust residential development has drastically affected parts
of southwest Florida for decades now, and I spent some time (with the help of
Google Earth), looking around the area. With permission from the fine folks at
Google, here are a few glimpses at development in southwest
Florida.
         |
