Does anyone winter in Florida?

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Dave, we in southern Florida think of the places you listed as up north. Everyone from here says it's cold up there.

Yeah, I've been saying that, too, trying to inch em further south. They can go visit their friends in Clearwater, or have them come visit them further south.

The most important factor to us in not buying in FL is taxes and insurance, plus property management for the time we would not be there. In that regard, a condo makes more sense, especially if they allow short-term rentals.

As far as quality resorts on the beach, we get good ones and we get bad ones. The area is the most important factor to us.

As far as my comment about Ray and Darlene, they mostly got good stuff, which there is an abundance of in Orlando . . . well, except for Weston in "Southern Atlantic". They have 93 available for January, 2012, when The Keys and SW FL have ZERO.

[Nancy Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Nancy]

DG,

Look in neighboring cities near Clearwater such as Safety Harbor, Palm Harbor, Largo, Seminole, Dunedin, etc. Many condos have carports. Also at the end of snowbird season, lots of units sell, If you wait awhile, you might find more bargains.

Nancy

ps. The Tampa area isn't much cooler than Ft. Myers area. Usually only a couple of degrees.

[ttt Member Find all posts View Profile Close ttt]

We used to do 3-4 weeks in the winter in SW Florida, but the weather is not always warm enough for my wife, so we spent last Feb. in Playa Del Carmen Mexico and loved it. We are going back for 6 weeks this coming winter.

[Dori Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dori]

This winter was very cold during our 6-week stay in Florida. This was the longest vacation we have had there. We have gradually gone from one to six weeks, since we have retired. Next year will be interesting for us, as we bought a park model mobile home the day before we came back to Toronto. We went for dinner and golf with friends at their park, and wound up buying one ourselves.

It is almost 900 square feet, with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, and a 12x12 screen room. Our winter sojourns will take a whole new direction for us.

Dori

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Yeah, not the normal 80 degrees this year.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

There's a Bonita Springs condo for $19,900.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Perhaps it is one of those you had to be there things, the fact that we searched so hard for a Florida place up until 13 years ago, when prices shot up to the hundreds of thousands, even millions, that prices like the following are so amazing to me:

26585 Robin Way # U105
Bonita Springs, Florida 34135
$33,250
2 Beds, 3 Baths
1,104 sq. ft

27324 Horne Ave
Bonita Springs, Florida 34135
$33,500
2 Beds, 2 Baths
1,044 sq. ft.

10107 Sandy Hollow Ln Apt 301
Bonita Springs, Florida 34135
$19,900
2 Beds, 2 Baths
870 sq. ft.

11360 Ridge Rd
Bonita Springs, Florida 34135
$28,000
2 Beds, 2 Baths

10699 Childers St
Bonita Springs, Florida 34135
Lee County
$39,900
2 Beds, 2 Baths
1,430 sq. ft.

27941 Quinn St
Bonita Springs, Florida 34135
$38,000
2 Beds, 1 Bath
903 sq. ft.

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

there are some undesirable neighborhoods in Bonita, don't know if those are part of it.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Some are, some aren't, but back when we were looking nothing was this low.

Really desirable is also a lot lower than when we were looking. I just handpicked the ones under $40K.

A Gulf-access canal home like we were looking for back then was just listed for $284K. It is up in Placida/Cape Haze, a stone's throw from the Gulf, and I had a friend look at it and call me. A decent place with a large lot, near $800-$900K ones.

[JoAnn Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JoAnn]

Jim, go to Lee County Property Line and look those addresses to see the history of them. Very interesting sometimes as they should give you the original price, year built etc. And if you go back far enough, it should tell you who built them. Stay away from 1st Homes.....

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Jim, go to Lee County Property Line and look those addresses to see the history of them. Very interesting sometimes as they should give you the original price, year built etc. And if you go back far enough, it should tell you who built them. Stay away from 1st Homes.....

The foreclosure site does show the last sale date and price, plus the taxable value.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

There is no reason to believe that real estate there is not much different than real estate here. There are crappy foreclosures and there are good foreclosures.

Not very many real estate professionals are working/representing the foreclosures; most are representing regular sales from owners still trying to get higher prices, and most are representing that things are hunky dory and now's the time to snarf up their non-deal deals. Ads by real esate agents here are saying stuff like, "We said that the real estate downturn here would be short-lived, and it is was, so now is the time to take advantage of the great deals available." Boy is that a mouthfull of contradictory BS.

As I said on another forum recently, the traditional system for valuing real estate using appraisals and comps is pretty much useless right now. We had two appraisals of our own house last summer; one was $225K and the other $175K. It has become a crapshoot when nothing is selling nearby!!!

As I also said on that other site, the problem now is how to know when a deal really is a deal. It may look like it compared to previous selling price, taxable value, or appraisal, but since no one knows where the bottom is going to be, and values are still declining, is a foreclosure price you are seeing now going to be a deal 6 months from now? Most of the ones I have been watching have been/are being reduced.

It is not dis-similar to buying a timeshare retail or resale, so I am surprised that on a site that encourages the latter regarding timeshares, there is not much encouragement regarding full ownership.

The stigma of foreclosures and short sales, the hassle with committees and bidding and so forth, is not involved with those I am looking at. They are ready to go, with lenders in place, no PMI or appraisal needed, and quick closing. Although you have to stay away from the ripoff foreclosures sites, the hundreds that have popped up wanting a fee to show you foreclosures that they have just copied from legitimate sites, if you use the legitimate sites, they are simple and the properties are ready to go.

I have watched one near us go through the legal process until it is now listed.

Today in Florida there are Listing Results 1 - 15 of 6,812 . That is just one lender/site!!!

Like with higher priced purchases, one should exercise due diligence . . . probably book a couple of weeks at FL timeshares and go look at a few and pick one out. That's what Rapmarks did when there were no distressed properties available and it makes sense to do that now.

That Gulf access canal home in Placida is still available @ $289K, and I had a friend go look at it. 13 years ago, when things took off in SW FL, and when we gave up on it, something like it would have been at least $1.5M.

I have seen some unbelievable, upper-end condos, new and spotless, too.

I am not just blowing smoke up y'all's shorts, cuz I've spent a lot of time on this lately, and I am close to both sides of the ball game in my home area. I got started when I lady contacted me from a certain other timeshare forum and asked me about stuff in my area. She had been getting BS from traditional RE agents, and when I looked into it I found the same stuff for 1/2 price or less.

But, it's your money to do with as you please, so good luck.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

For the facts, take the time to read this:

Strategic Default: Walking Away from Mortgages - 60 Minutes - CBS News

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

OUr friends are doing this.
They bought a furnished condo for $92k, then refinanced for $160k,spent all that money. now worth 40 to 60 k. they sold as much furniture as they could, and gave it back to the bank. that was over a year ago. They had a buyer but the bank won't close on it.
Our friends make over $150 a year, so I think they can afford the mortgage, but they don't want to. They own another home, are both over 65. when they knew they were going to default, they bought a top of the line van before informing the bank.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

OUr friends are doing this.
They bought a furnished condo for $92k, then refinanced for $160k,spent all that money. now worth 40 to 60 k. they sold as much furniture as they could, and gave it back to the bank. that was over a year ago. They had a buyer but the bank won't close on it.
Our friends make over $150 a year, so I think they can afford the mortgage, but they don't want to. They own another home, are both over 65. when they knew they were going to default, they bought a top of the line van before informing the bank.

It's a simple as "we made what turned out to be a bad investment, tried to work it out with our lender and could not, weighed our options, and made a decision to cut our losses."

When I say the traditional system of evaluating real estate is out of whack, here is an example of what's going on, which I just posted elsewhere:

"Just picking one out at random, here is the current listing price:

$149,900
2 Beds, 2 Baths
1,306 sq. ft

Here is the historical information that RE professionals would use to evaluate it:

County Tax Roll Details
Lot Size: 43,560 Last Sale Date: 10/05/2004 Last Sale Price: $229,000 Taxable Value: $176,630 Total Sqft.: 1,306 Year Built: 1993

It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see that things are out of whack, and what is going to happen to comps and values when the depressed/distressed sales replace the previous sales. Are the appraisers just going to throw them out?"
- - - - - -
That is a Florida one, and a benefit of them over other states is that the previous sales information is a matter of public record, so you have the facts to go by. Not so in my state.