Florida Househunting

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

We started this close to 20 years ago, and gave up in January '97 after we saw the results of the property boom.

The boom is bust and we have actually found acceptable places for $50-60, even with a canal!!! These are places that were $150K-$200K.

But because of all the other things screwed up with owning vacation property in Florida . . . taxes, insurance, property management, etc. . . . we have pretty much decided not to. Even a $50K house is gonna wind up with $1500/year in property taxes and $1500/year in insurance.

There are abandoned houses everywhere we have looked. Perfectly good houses that are just sitting unattended, trashed and overgrown, right next to well-kept houses.

Some RE agents are oblivious to it, still living in their dream world of upscale property, and some agents are pretty helpful. On the house we are most interested in we can't even get an agent to let us in to see it inside.

It is up for auction starting 1/13, so we still may be sucked back into it.

Plus, we have unfinished things to do at home, where we spend most of our time.

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

I wish you all the best in your property search and hope you find something that will suit your needs at a decent price. We purchased a vacation home last summer in the mountains. We bought a place that's in a gated community because we wanted the ammenities and the extra security. The $1500 HOA is well-worth it (and alot less expensive than our TS!) Taxes double that. The only other major expense is electricity. Since we have electric heat, the electric bill for the winter has been quite high, even though we have the heat set low and the pipes are winterized.
The most important thing to think about is getting use out of your vacation property. Someone told us that we will need to set time to make ourselves go away - even if just for a day ot two (the home is about an hour-and-a-half away).
For those who have the money or can afford another mortgage, purchasing a vacation home is often a great investment. Prices are great. We were able to purchase our home for about 65 to 70 percent of what it would have sold for about five years ago. And we even negotiated keeping all the appliances and most of the furniture.
Good luck with your search - your vacation home will bring lots of great memories for your family.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

But because of all the other things screwed up with owning vacation property in Florida . . . taxes, insurance, property management, etc. . . . we have pretty much decided not to. .

JLB, you have decided not to buy.

Let's just let this thread die instead of beating this to death.

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

Let's just let this thread die instead of beating this to death.

Wow! Ouch!

Edit, added: I am comparing Post 2 to Post 3, and trying to figure out why the difference in tone.

If I did something to offend someone, feel free to tell me.

If talking about the craziness in Florida, so that others similary inclined know the facts, is improper on a travel and vacation oriented forum, again, I'm missing something. So, let me know. I'm easy.

I came back to give an example, so here it is.

We were interested in this house, which is in excellent condition, not even a tear in the screening on the Florida room:


The ten year history shows it's appraisal peaked in 2007, at over $150K, and the taxes that year were $2470.64. Taxes paid for 2010 were $1589.25.

That house can be purchased now for $50K, as little as 3% down, 4% or less financing, no apprasial, and very low closing costs.

However . . .

To make it an ideal home would require purchasing one of the two vacant lots on either side, to have direct-to-Gulf-no-bridge canal access. Both are owned by New Yorkers.

The one I checked on was purchased for $1700. But, Charlotte County appraises it at more than the lot with the house. Taxes in 2006 were $3383.33. 2010 was $1240.48. Over the last ten years the owners of these virtually-worthless vacant lots have each paid more than $15000 in taxes.

By comparison, at home we pay $800/year in taxes on about four times the house, $110/year on a lakefront lot twice the size and $26/year on a scenic river front lot about the same size.

If anyone is interested, after that, I can explain insurance costs within 5 miles of the Gulf!!!

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Nice little house JLB. You should buy it.
You'll be sorry you didn't later on.
It's a bargain at $3K a year for taxes/insurance.
You can't compare Arkansas to Florida.

You could just buy it cash and self insure.
Many people here in FL do not have homeowners insurance.
My Mom for one. It's 5K for our home and we self insure.
10 years and so far so good.

And you don't need to buy those New Yorkers lots.
If they're not building on them you can use them, just don't build on them.
After a few years you can get an easement if they don't put up a fence.
When they build, then you sell.

So now you know why it's so "expensive" to own a TS in SW Florida.

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

So many holes in that advice I won't even comment.

I sat in the hot tub last night with three young people (20's) from Pennsylvania. It has been so long since I have had a meaningful conversation with folks who do not purport to have all the answers that I had forgotten how enjoyable, refreshing and envigorating it is. During the entire conversation there was not one snappy comeback, condemning correction, or stubborn statement insisting how anyone's view of things is the way it is.

They were even timesharing for the first time on one of their sister's recent purchase. That was even a refreshing discussion, as they were totally oblivious to it.

I remember that from long ago, college days, when stimulating, polite discussions were a daily regimen.

Maybe it's time to turn everything over to the youngin's, and let them figure things out with a fresh vision.

- - - - - -
One thing I can't figure out in the foreclosure mess is how it is better to foreclose on a $150K, 8% loan (thousands of them), pay all of the legal expenses involved in that process, pay all of the expenses of ownership of that property until it is resold, and pay all of the expenses of marketing that property, and wind up with a $50,000, 4% loan, rather than just try to work things out with the original owner, say forgive a bit of the mortgage and drop the interst rate to current levels.

Just adjusting the interest rate to current levels, without forgiving any of the principle, would lower the payment $300-$400/month. How many foreclosures could have been avoided that way?

Look at all the hardship that might have avoided.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

I'm sorry I insulted you.

You are right.
You've got all the answers and I know nothing.
I'm much to young to know anything.
That's what my Mom keeps telling me.


Enjoy the rest of your vacation.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

I'm sorry I insulted you.

You are right.
You've got all the answers and I know nothing.
I'm much too young to know anything.
That's what my Mom keeps telling me.


Enjoy the rest of your vacation.

I told ya so!

Jim, I try to read your posts (as do others) and offer advice (as do others) but if anyone post ANYTHING that you do not agree with...... well, you see where this is going, don't you????

As Chris said, enjoy the rest of your trip ....

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

Whatever I did to trip your triggers, again, I'm sorry. I hope you get over it.

Y'all, too, have a nice day.

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

You've got all the answers and I know nothing.
I'm much to young to know anything. .

Not at all what I said. In fact, exactly the opposite of what I said.

But, have a nice day.

[Pat H Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pat H]

$1500 for taxes on a $50-$60,000 house is not expensive. I'm paying close to $4,000 in PA on a house that was appraised at $145,000 and I'm in one of the lower tax areas. My sister in NJ pays $16,000!

Now in SC where I am, my taxes will be about $600/yr when I turn 65. The next county over pays a lot more. You are very lucky to have such low taxes where you live.

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

Okay, Okay, Okay

Hmmm?! Must be why so many people from the left and right coasts buy places where we live. You really do get a lot for the money, and the cost of living really is low.

Sorry I feel compelled to add the following, but . . . some places in Arkansas compare very well to some places in Florida . . . not that I know what Arkansas has to do with this. & many places on Table Rock Lake, in Missouri, compare favorably to almost all of Florida, except for a very small portion of it.

I can't believe I said that since I am so opposed to and it is so offensive for one to regard what is one's as superior to what is others'. We would not have settled on Table Rock Lake, in the Missouri Ozarks, if it was not one of the most beautiful places on God's Earth (& the fact that he/she elected to make it affordable to the little people).

Today it is rainy, dreary, and we have resumed our househunting, DW having been re-assured that the crappy-looking houses are not a sign of crime and danger, but of something else . . . . lack of money, lack of energy, lack of being here to take care of it, whatever.

There is no pattern to the crappy houses. They are in nice neighborhoods and they are in not-so-nice neighborhoods, but as the old folks at the thrift store said, there are no slums. The cutest Florida places are sitting right next to trashy abandoned places. & it does not seem to be a big deal to anyone.

Plus, we saw a couple jet-skiing in a canal near the one we like.

So, we will give the auction route a try on the one where we really want to be.

We are also confident that this one will not be the last, that we (all) have a ways to go before things are back to anything resembling normal, and there will be more opportunities.

We are all in this together.

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

that is why we bought in a community with real strict covenants. Even the house that had no kitchen and bathroom looks great from the street and the yard is well tended.

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

that is why we bought in a community with real strict covenants. Even the house that had no kitchen and bathroom looks great from the street and the yard is well tended.

You and I go back a long way with this conversation.

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

Granted, for those who are accustomed to high property taxes, the taxes I'm talking about don't seem bad.

But, let me ask this. Do you feel it is fair that the overgrown, virtually worthless, adjoining vacant lots, are being taxed the same, m/l, or higher, than the lot with the house?

In 2006, for instance, the vacant lot that cost $1700 paid $3383.33 in tax, while the lot with the house, which would have been 8 years old, paid $2272.79?

If you look at the "back yard" picture here, you can see the unkempt condition of the adjoining lot to the left.

County, FL - Fannie Mae REO Homes For Sale

(Homesteading is not a factor)