[Wormwood]

Nope, the Florida real estate market is that bad..

It wasn't in 2005, was it?

[NonValueAdded]

It depends ... why buy used when you could buy new and new developments were going up all over. Selling your "up north" place for big bucks? You could afford anything you wanted in a brand new gated golf-course community and still have money left over. Who would want to buy theor old place?

Plus they couldn't sell to people with kids, could they? Also, where would they live after the sale? Even in 05, the prices were going up like crazy. So they had an older home, probably not in the best shape, and they had to sell it for enough to be able to replace it. Sounds like they couldn't qualify for much of a mortgage so they were just as screwed with the skyrocket's ride up as they are now with its return to earth.

[steve-b]

Nope, the Florida real estate market is that bad..
It wasn't in 2005, was it?

That's what leads me to deduce that there's some problem with the community (and hence with the HOA) -- in 2005, the sky was the limit.