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PORT CHARLOTTE - Riding out the ferocious winds of Hurricane Charley in their ranch house, the Tanay family made a decision: They were moving.
The Tanays had come to Florida from New Jersey seeking a small-town atmosphere for their four children, but were becoming disillusioned with the hustle and bustle of their rapidly growing community. When Charley blew through town on Aug. 13 and left the area in shambles, that was all they needed to begin looking elsewhere.
"The hurricane definitely pushed us to make our decision sooner," said Joe Tanay, a home construction project manager.
In the aftermath of the state's four devastating hurricanes this year, Florida homeowners and real estate agents are nervously watching how the storms will affect the state's red-hot housing market.
After Hurricane Andrew slammed into south Miami-Dade County in August 1992, about 75,000 residents in Homestead moved out. While the conditions this year are somewhat different, some real estate experts expect there will be homeowners who will eventually make their evacuations permanent.
Whatever effect this year's storms might have, it will be short lived, most experts predict. Despite the exodus from Homestead, new residents have flocked back to the area, attracted by affordable homes built to higher safety standards and other amenities in the rebuilt community.
This year's storms have already caused a slowdown in building, delayed closings and complicated the process of obtaining homeowners insurance. But the long-term effects of Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne are less than certain.
Most don't expect the storms to permanently affect the value of Florida real estate, which is among the most rapidly appreciating in the United States.
"People are in such an emotional state because of the severity of those storms and the deaths and property damage," said Liane Bennati, owner of a chain of Buy Owner real estate offices from Atlanta to Naples. "It might take a little longer for it to sink in, but there are going to be more people who are ready to go home."
For the Tanays, their children's schools were in shambles and some of their neighbors were moving away to places such as Maryland and Georgia. Last week, the family went to Charleston, S.C., and found a house they liked.
Their 2,100-square-foot, custom remodeled ranch house, which suffered only minimal damage and has since been repaired, was put on the market earlier this month.
"Here in Port Charlotte, they are talking about a year to rebuild the city," Joe Tanay said. "We've got four kids, and they're only going to school a half day. You know the sayings, "The signs are there.' These were the signs for us."
Because property transactions typically take weeks or months to complete, it's impossible to statistically track which way the trend is going. One key indicator of people moving in and out of Florida - a survey by United Van Lines, the nation's largest mover of household goods - has shown that both moves in and out of Florida in August and September are down slightly this year.
But at least one Fort Myers real estate agent is so confident that hurricanes won't scare off potential buyers that she posts photographs of Charley's damage on her Web site hoping to attract prospects.
"Two days after Charley hit, this lady drove down here and said she was here to see property and she didn't care if it was destroyed or not, she wanted to see property," agent Tania Pleischl said.
Some people who think they can find steep discounts on damaged property forget the most valuable part of a home site near or on the water is the land itself, Pleischl said. Particularly in areas such as Punta Gorda, where thousands of small, older homes sitting on boat canals, the homes themselves hold very little monetary value.
Elsewhere in Florida, the allure of gentle winters and relatively low housing prices will still beckon, others predict.
Just days after Charley hit, the National Association of Realtors announced that Florida markets led the South in price gains. The strongest market was Sarasota where the median home price was $264,800, nearly 30 percent higher than a year earlier. Sarasota was followed by West Palm Beach where prices were up 27 percent and Ocala and Miami-Hialeah where prices were nearly 26 percent higher.
Real estate agents even in some badly damaged areas such as Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda said their phones continue to ring with prospective buyers aware of the lessons of Andrew.
"It's been an interesting month," said Johanne Wallace, a real estate agent in Punta Gorda. "We have had buyers panic and back out on deals. One might say some of these folks are making a big mistake."
Wallace said in the deals that did fall through, the homeowners were still able to sell their properties within days. She said she's getting a steady stream of e-mails from people whose winter homes were destroyed and who are looking for new properties in the area.
"They are not moving," she said. "They have such a heavy investment here in terms of the community. The elderly people who lost mobile homes still want to come back because their doctors are here."
Marla Martin of the Florida Association of Realtors said the impact of Frances, Charley and Ivan is being felt by home buyers who haven't been able to close on properties because few insurers are issuing new homeowners policies. Some buyers also complain they can't get electric companies that are busy restoring power to install meters on new homes, causing further delays.
Even homes that weren't damaged are being reinspected or undergoing a new appraisal because lenders are nervous about taking on hurricane-damaged properties, she said. "I am sure people are concerned. It may make some people rethink moving to Florida," Martin said. "But California has its earthquakes and the Midwest has tornadoes and there's flooding along the Mississippi. Florida is a place that people want to live."
John Cannon, the head of the luxury home building company that bears his name, had dozens of homes under construction and in the path of Charley when it hit. He said the storms complicated what already had been a difficult building season because of heavy rains.
Cannon said the delays might be irritating, but he doesn't think they'll dissuade potential buyers who might be seeking a dream home along Florida's Gulf Coast.
"A month from now, or two months from now, or next winter when the weather is beautiful," he said, "people are going to forget all about August and September."