Finding a home in Miami (Opinion by Wendy Guerra)

Editor's note:

Wendy Guerra is a French-Cuban writer and contributor to CNN en Español.

Her articles have appeared in media around the world, such as El País, The New York Times, the Miami Herald, El Mundo and La Vanguardia.

Among her most outstanding literary works are "Underwear" (2007), "I was never the first lady" (2008), "Posing naked in Havana" (2010) and "Everyone leaves" (2014).

Her work has been published in 23 languages.

The comments expressed in this column belong exclusively to the author.

See more at cnne.com/opinion

(CNN Spanish) --

The Miami that I inhabit is defined before my eyes as a mirror city, a floating paradise made up of small islands connected by bridges and highways.

During the pandemic everything seemed asleep, peacocks roamed free in the gardens and ripe mangoes were taken down from the trees, offering themselves, giving themselves away to those who dared to leave home for a walk in a public space, which before, few conceived as pedestrian.

In my neighborhood, Coconut Grove, new neighbors began to arrive.

Three or four families moved a week.

Spaces available for sale and rent were quietly occupied.

Dressed in black, warm in the middle of August, they arrived from New York, Colorado or Washington trying to avoid confinement.

They came looking for natural light and a large space to work from home.

They needed balconies, porches, patios, gardens, a room, a kitchen, a dining room with a view of the canals, the bay or the beaches of Key Biscayne.

• Miami, the coveted area of ​​the US that Latin Americans choose to live, according to experts

Little by little the city was populated with young entrepreneurs, children raised in apartments, newlyweds full of projects, single women and successful single men who planted orchards, populated the fertile gardens of Florida with orchids.

In just six months they shook the real estate market and, with it, finished off the legend -which had already been fading- of Miami as a seaside resort inhabited by retired old men who come to wait for death under multicolored umbrellas.

The social landscape changed suddenly, and shortly before Christmas, in November 2021, the average price of a house was US$502,750, 11.7% higher than the 2020 average. Properties with sea views, with more of three rooms and a small lot exceed US$ 1 million.

When browsing any specialized rental portal, you will notice that rentals in Miami reached crazy prices: in December 2021 the average price of a rental in Miami was US$2,850.

That's a 49.8% increase from 2020.

Florida does not have laws that regulate the prices of such contracts, the deals take place at the discretion of each owner and the full acceptance of the tenant.

Finding reasonable places in terms of interior space and location is today a real feat.

Rental contract renewals have also increased and many tenants have decided to move.

To this is added the drama of those who have just arrived from another country and have no income or credit history and it is impossible for them to show credibility before the increasingly demanding market.

The search becomes endless and those who want to buy or rent redouble their bets to inhabit the few places available in a city where, obviously, many want to live and there is more demand than supply.

Self-employed artists, researchers, scientists, with frequent but irregular entries, find it very difficult to pass the filter of the increasingly demanding real estate agents, who, barricaded in front of the goal, do not let any tenant pass who is not constant in their economy , or leave several thousand dollars ahead.

• The salary does not compensate with respect to the prices, says Miami resident before the increase in the cost of living

Latin America worsens its crises.

Miami continues to be that safe haven for thousands of people who leave their countries of origin willing to invest in cash.

Large companies take possession of the seashore, under the skirts of one of the world's largest airports, while a large part of its organic inhabitants can barely pay rent with their basic salary.

What will be the magic and what will be our economic maneuvers, or perhaps new real estate measures necessary, so that, from now on, Miami continues to be our sweet home and not a city of passage?

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