The Dirty Little Secret: North Carolina Takes Advantage of Floridians

The State of North Carolina should take great pride in the fact that they did not buy into the problems and woes of the financial greed that has stricken the nation and brought the U.S. almost to its knees. While this gave North Carolina a distinct financial advantage in both the business and real estate market, there seems to be a dirty little secret that they are harboring. Over the last number of years, many in North Carolina are taking advantage of Floridians that have sought to do business in their state. Some of these schemes are down right scandalous.

In North Carolina, they refer to people in Florida as ‘Floridiots’. The reason is that many of the retirees, local business people and just general public have left the State of Florida to try to invest as well as rebuild in North Carolina. Many of these people are just average Americans; not wealthy, but taking the little money that they have left to try to start a new life. While North Carolina may have escaped the greed of the rest of the nation, they have designed their own little schemes and taken that ‘sin’ to the next level.

A friend of mine has been in the service industry all of his life. He saved a small next egg, invested in land in North Carolina and he and his son built a beautiful log cabin home. They sold it, bought more land and did the same again. His goal was to get away from having to be out in the sun every day, working ten and twelve hours a day. The problem is, he was trusting with the local North Carolina residents and business people and got taken. He made a bad business move in signing something he didn’t read and this was followed by absolutely illegal activities by friends and relatives of the North Carolina business person. Even hiring an attorney in North Carolina did no good. He paid enormous fees, for little in return. He ended up representing himself in a North Carolina court, only to find that they viewed him as a rich Floridiot trying to take advantage of some of their ‘local boys’. My friend was forced to give up land that he worked hard for and file bankruptcy.

If you think this is a unique story, think again. I have ‘bumped into’ a number of people in Florida that these kinds of things have happened to. Most recently, it was someone in the medical field that had hired a local contractor to build a home for himself and his family. He knew the contractor from their kid’s sports teams, and, since he was licensed and insured, wanted to give the business to him, rather than a large corporation. They didn’t have a lot of money, but, since they had just moved to North Carolina, they needed just a slightly larger home and this would be the place they would retire. The contractor accomplished the building, but, it was in such shabby condition that all of the walls leaked in the first rain storm. You would assume that there would be a place to complain or have the contractor repair it? Au contraire. This gentleman had to fight his way all the way up the official ladder of the State of North Carolina. Hiring an attorney, again, did no good. He lost his home. The settlement that did occur didn’t pay for even the cost of the home and his wife divorced him as a result of the chaos.

The good old boys of North Carolina should simply and totally be ashamed of themselves. They are actually worse than any of the actions of Wall Street or the financial institutions. But, what you give out to the universe will indeed come back to you, and now, North Carolina is seeing that return. While they have started out with people in Florida, the taste of greed is there; so anyone that is interested in investing in anything in the State of North Carolina: beware.

The information supplied in this article is not to be considered as medical advice and is for educational purposes only.