Lower Keys overview Part 2

This Lower Keys geography has implications today mainly in two ways:

First, the fabulous ecosystem of the Lower Keys backcountry provides – some claim, anyway – richer opportunities for boating and fishing, and certainly better kayaking and birding than any other portion of the Florida Keys from the Mainland to Key West. Almost the entire area north of the Overseas Highway (US#1) is protected wild environment as part of either the National Key Deer Refuge or Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge. And that makes this part of the Keys very special, from a homeowner’s or visitor’s perspective.

Second, this north-south orientation of the islands provides dozens of flow-through channels in the event of hurricane storm surges, helping to reduce the extent of water pressure and flood damage. I’ve ridden out one category 3 hurricane in my friend’s house on Cudjoe Key, and while we had to deal with extensive flooding common to these great and rare storms, the damage was much less than it might have been if the storm surge water had been blocked and therefore tumbled whole houses in its path instead.

The Lower Keys overview part 1

LOWER KEYS MAIN OVERVIEW

For the real Estate buyer or investor, the Lower Keys start at Mile Marker 30 or Big Pine Key (home of the Key Deer, an endangered species, sort of a miniature Virginia White-Tail). Key deer?

You’ll immediately become aware of them because of the radically lowered speed limit the minute you cross from Bahia Honda and Spanish Harbor Keys onto Big Pine Key, imposed to make sure you don’t run one over.

Humor aside, you really have entered a different world once you cross over that huge seven mile gap of ocean from busy Marathon and the rest of the upper and middle Keys on the famous 7-Mile Bridge.

You have arrived in a world that is more laid back, slower-paced, more isolated in most ways, and geographically shaped differently.
• Until now you’ve been driving along the mostly northeast-to-southwest spine of each narrow Key, ocean to your left, Florida Bay or the Gulf of Mexico to your right, with neither body of water more than a few hundred feet away (or much less), for almost 100 miles
• Now, beginning at Spanish Harbor, you head north and then due west, before resuming (at Cudjoe Key) the trek towards the southwest (direction: Key West) that you’ve been traveling ever since you left Key Largo. (Ever wonder why it’s Key West and not Key South?)
• And something else is different! We are now crossing Keys that run more north-south than east-west. The actual ocean and gulf are now miles away, to our south or north, while we cross mangrove forests, wetlands, and pine barrens.
• Check out a map: the group of islands we call the Lower Keys are obviously different enough geographically from the Upper and Middle Keys (which run east-west, and end at Marathon) to have been considered by Colonial Spain as a different group of islands altogether. They were administered from Cuba, not from St. Augustine like the rest of Florida.
• When Spain sold Florida to the United States it did not intend to include Key West and the Lower Keys; the young (then Lt.) Admiral-to-be Perry was sent in the USS Shark (true story) to enforce the USA’s claim to the contrary. The rest is history.

Monroe County Exempt from new wind Insurance rates

MONROE EXEMPT FROM APPROVED WIND RATES

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty on Friday did what he said he was going to do: Exclude Monroe County in approving Citizens Property Insurance Corp.'s rate filing.

The rate includes two filings: actuarial and top-of-market, the latter being higher than the average of the top 20 companies. The state's insurer of last resort must charge higher rates so it doesn't compete against private insurers.

Monroe County is in a pilot project that limits rates to an actuarial filing, since the state found it has no competition.

After experiencing eight major hurricanes during the last two years, Citizens accumulated a $1.7 billion deficit. The Legislature appropriated $715 million to cover the deficit, which Citizens usually covers with an assessment it charges private insurers, as required by state law. Private insurers pass that cost on to customers through a surcharge on premiums, which are expected to decrease 20 percent, to a 3.5 percent levy, thanks to the legislative bailout.

"I am very pleased that the Legislature allocated a portion of the sales tax revenue surplus to provide rate relief to all Florida policyholders," McCarty said. "However, we still need to take strong measures to ensure that Citizens' rates are actuarially sound to minimize future assessments."

Citizens made its top 20 filing in December and actuarial filing in January.

"Our actuarial staff has rigorously examined these rates, and I am confident the approved adjustments achieve adequate rates given the risks involved," McCarty said.

McCarty's order approved combined average rate increases for homeowner's policies of 16.1 percent on a statewide basis; 6.7 percent for mobile home policies; no increase for condominium unit policies; and 21.5 percent for dwelling fire policies.

What makes a good Vacation Rental

What makes a good Vacation Rental
• A clean, well-maintained home on a canal or open water.
• Typically one of the bedrooms should have a set of twin beds if the renters are bringing children.
• Good linens and towels and a backup set. This is especially important for monthly renters.
• The washer, dryer and refrigerator should be newer if possible.
• A good Television hooked up to cable (about $35.00 per month) and a CD or tape stereo system.
• The kitchen must be completely outfitted. A microwave is also very important for renters.
• Patio and/or Lawn-Deck furniture. If there is an upper deck, a table and chairs plus loungers.
• On the waterside, a set of loungers and chairs.