The Miami Herald. "The state-run insurance pool is getting ready to move second homes, vacation homes and most investment properties off its books. An insurance bill passed in May requires Citizens Property Insurance to stop offering windstorm coverage to non-homestead properties after March 1, 2007."

"The one exception: Lower-value rental properties that are rented will be grandfathered in. These properties must be valued at under $200,000 and have a tenant with a signed lease for at least seven months."

"If owners of non-homestead properties can't find coverage from another insurer, they can stay with Citizens. However, they will be charged a 25 percent surcharge."

"Nearly half of the 924,578 properties where Citizens provides hurricane insurance are in South Florida. It covers more than 1.2 million properties statewide."

The News Press. "Snowbirds in Southwest Florida are viewing the dual lifestyle as more of a trick than a treat. 'These taxes are killing me,' said Louis A. Nitti, who divides his time between West Orange, N.J., and Cape Coral. Nitti has watched in dismay as his 'little two-bedroom home, built in the '60s,' went from having a tax bill of less than $1,400 in the early '80s, to $7,900 in 2006.'"

"'A lot of people are going to North Carolina,' Nitti said of fellow snowbirds. 'I've been seriously thinking of that, also.'"

"Brad Hobbs, associate professor of economics at Florida Gulf Coast University, said a gradual attrition in snowbird residency here 'is very likely.' 'There is still the draw of the environment, the Southwest Florida cachet,' Hobbs said, 'But people make choices based on what things cost.'"

"'Middle-income people have second homes,' Hobbs said. Those second homes comprise a significant chunk of Lee County's tax base."

From MarketWatch. "Baby boomers may not be as in love with second homes as once thought. The rate of second-home ownership among 50- to 60-year-olds has remained flat during the 12-year period between 1992 and 2004, according to a report sponsored by Radian Group Inc. and the Research Institute for Housing America of the Mortgage Bankers Association."

"Early boomers were no more likely to own a second home than older generations of homeowners. Those who do have a second home are using the residence on a limited basis too: One-half spend two weeks or less and two-thirds spend four weeks or less per year in their second home, the report found."

"Only 12% of second-home owners said they intended to sell their main home and eventually use their second home as their primary address, debunking speculation to the contrary."

"'There have been relatively few scientific studies on second-home ownership and mortgage activity,' Doug Duncan, MBA's chief economist said. 'The report indicates that baby boomers are not acting differently than their parents when it comes to second-home ownership.'"

From Reuters. "Baby boomers are not flocking to cities from suburbia, defying some expectations and posing problems for some developers, according to a new study."

"Condominium developers who had been counting on an exodus of baby boomers into cities seeking cultural and other services could suffer, said Gary Engelhardt, senior research director at Syracuse University, who conducted the study."

"Flying in the face of other research showing suburbanites with a penchant for urban culture lured into buying second homes in cities, this study found just 2 percent of empty-nest retirement age suburbanites can be expected to make such a shift."

"'This is tremendously important because when you go to any metropolitan areas, you notice lots of condominiums being thrown up and substantial efforts to market these condominiums and townhouses to older individuals with the idea of them returning to the central cities,' Engelhardt said."

"'It seems at this point there's not a lot of evidence that its going to materialize,' he said, noting that some condo markets are already overbuilt. 'That's probably not very good news for condominium developers who are placing big bets on these baby boomers returning in large numbers.'"