When we were down there full time (04 to 08~9) we had some local friends that we talked a lot to. One thing we admired was that few homes had a mortgage on them. They would get a piece of property, and then build the house a part at a time as they had the $$. At times it took multiple generations to get it to an almost a finished state.

We asked why we saw so much re-bar sticking out of the tops of houses??? We were told that the house could not be taxed until it was “finished”. As long as it looked like more was to be built, no tax!

Sort of JUST LIKE the tax dodges we use in the US, no?

May be that things are changing all over.

Greg