03-08-2011, 07:48 AM
Well, remember, all those folks buying second homes spend a lot of their cash here to fix them up and maintain them, bringing money into our local economy. They also (hopefully) pay property taxes (at a higher rate then local residents) and their community association fees, and they usually don't significantly use county services, thereby subsidizing the rest of us. If they are using their properties as vacation rentals, they are helping to bring additional revenues to the county in the form of transient accommodations taxes and general excise taxes (roughly 14% of the rental income). And if they don't live here, they are also employing locals to manage and maintain their properties. So just because they could afford a second home doesn't automatically make them bad people.
I'd be interested to hear what you consider "wealthy," and does being better off than the average American automatically make one "greedy"? I feel bad for anyone who responsibly lives within their means and then suffers a major loss because of extenuating circumstances, which can happen at any income level. But I agree, I don't feel as bad for folks who were clearly living beyond their means (buying additional homes or extravagant homes that they clearly couldn't afford over the long term) who lost out when the house of cards collapsed..