Florida Bouncing Back

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

Lehigh was our first annual experience in SW FL, for several years. We were new to timesharing and quite naive.

As they say, ignorance is bliss.

Out of respect, I defer my opinion about Lehigh on this forum. Anyone can google it.

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

Why buy when you can trade in.

Well, if you want a lotta milk, maybe buying the cow makes sense.

&, if the cow doubles in value the first year . . . .



I can't describe how nice it is to be here, how pleasant everyone is.

I have to visit TS4Ms just to get a discouraging word.

[sreiml8 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sreiml8]

Out of respect, I defer my opinion

I haven't been here in some time. My how you've mellowed. It is very becoming on your girlish figure.

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

I haven't been here in some time. My how you've mellowed. It is very becoming on your girlish figure.

Ok, I'm on my way to HR to file a complaint.



I'm trying to keep from intentionally making someone feel bad, and we all know and love a Lehigh resident.

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

I have to visit TS4Ms just to get a discouraging word.

Gee, I thought it was the other way around...

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

Gee, I thought it was the other way around...

Well, it is the only place I hear from you, so . . .

It keeps me humble, from just busting at the seams with happiness.

On those days when I get really giddy, and hit the golf ball like I never have before, like yesterday for instance, I can't wait to get home and log on.

If I make a 40-foot putt, or get a birdie, I think, "Damn, wish I was on TS4Ms."

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]

On the news last night they said that the mandatory loan-restructuring program announced yesterday will not help 2/3s of those in Florida going through or facing foreclosure. The number still upside down is HUGE!, Caroline (reference to a Ft. Myers Kia dealer).

Here everything is transparent with an easy online search. You can see the amount of the loan that got foreclosed and the amount the house resold for.

An example: $165,000 loan foreclosed and house resold for $45,000. Deduct the expense of foreclosure and marketing, and the net would likely have been under $20,000. So, even without the guv telling banks it would be better to restructure loans, they should be able to figure that out for themselves after doing a few million of them.

But who am I?

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

As I've said, things are picking up compared to a year ago, but that does not mean things are great and that 2011 was not a tough year in Florida.

It was/is, in fact, the #1 foreclosure state, with 11.9% of all Florida mortgages foreclosed in 2011. As I've mentioned before, since the beginning of the recession, property values have been cut in half, 49% since 2006 to be exact.

States with the most homes in foreclosure - Yahoo! Real Estate

[bravesfan Member Find all posts View Profile Close bravesfan]

do you think now is the time to buy a retirement home in outhwest florida or should we continue renting?

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

do you think now is the time to buy a retirement home in outhwest florida or should we continue renting?

Now, but the selection is way down, 1000's of foreclosure having already been cleared out.

Keep in mind that the traditional industry is carrying on as if nothing happened, selling at prices much higher. An agent unfamiliar with short sale and foreclosures cannot help you.

All the ones I've posted on this thread as being desirable, plus the ones I've seen that are not, have sold.

There is a little short sale house a block away, like ours only not on a canal, & I suspect $35K would get it. The traditional market in the area is at $80K-$120K.

OTOH, owning in Florida is a hassle, more than elsewhere, because of taxes and insurance and county regulations, so if you are not one who handles BS well, renting is the way to go. A cash purchase, and self-insurance will eliminate a lot of the hassle. We would probably not buy to stay just three months a year, unless, maybe, we got a property manager and made it a vacation rental.

We would probably not rent for three months a year, either.

If you are truly buying to retire, now is a good time, then declare residency and homestead.

[bravesfan Member Find all posts View Profile Close bravesfan]

what is a hassle about the insurance and taxes? Can't you just send them a check which they cash? What kind of country regulations are troublesome?

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

what is a hassle about the insurance and taxes? Can't you just send them a check which they cash? What kind of country regulations are troublesome?

County regulations.

In our county, you cannot do a lot of repairs to your property yourself. You have to get a $90 permit and hire a licensed contractor. There is a short list of improvements the homeowner can do themselves, and, generally, it is limited to items costing less than $100.

For instance, you cannot install a new front door yourself.

Google Citizens Insurance and you can read about the insurance debacle. Anything over 50 years old is virtually uninsurable, unless you fight to get it. Google Four-Point Inspection, and Roof Mitigation.

If you are within 5 miles of the ocean or Gulf, you get nailed again. If you are in a flood plain, which includes on a canal, which is common, you get nailed again.

Property insurance is very high. Because of the foreclosure, our house is only valued at $50000 this year. Insurance is $1959, $959 for hurrican, $500 for flood, and $500 for normal stuff. The hurricane deductible is $10K. Things like the Florida rooms (screen pool areas) and sheds are no longer covered. So, you pay a lot for very little coverage. If you own your house outright, you can self-insure, if you have some sort of liability insurance, which is the stickler for us, and should be for anyone whose house sits empty some of the time.

All properties are re-appraised every year, and it is a big deal. Property taxes are high. In 2005, our house was appraised at $170K and taxes were $2207, with $25000 homestead exemption. Because of the foreclosure, it is now $50,000 value, and taxes are $1300.

We have friends with a house appraised at $383K and their taxes for 2011 were $6900.

Under Save Our Homes (another google), value increases are capped at 3% per year and your receive between $25000 and $50,000 in exemption. Google Florida Homestead.

As far as the living, it is very nice, very pleasant. People are friendlier, less assuming, and so forth than at our summer place, which brags about its hospitality.

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

compared to Illinois and wisconsin our Florida property taxes are low. we are homesteaded. Yes insurance is high, our insurance has gone up to 1500 for 210,000 coverage with one thousnd deductible for most things and 4000 deductible for named storms (hurricanes). no state income tax, and our utility bills are low. my sister has condo that would probably only sell for 50 thousand and her property tax in Illinois is $2300. ours are under 2 thousand. places are selling much quicker and the prices are much lower than when we looked in 2003, and less than half of what they were in 2004-5. we had no hassle, in fact, we find it weird after coming from Ilinois where a lawyer is mandated for property closing, some pleople actually went to the bank together and closed ont he house. One couple I know put in an offer and closed one week later. I think Jim is referring to buying short sales and foreclosures, they are a nightmare everywhere. also if you are homesteaded, your assessed value can only go up 3 percent a year.

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

I know I said a lot, and Rapssed some of it, like the 3% cap.

Property taxes are relative, and I realize city folks are used to paying high taxes. At our summer place, for $200K value, we pay $800. So to pay $1200 for $50K is high to us. $200K in Florida would be around $3500-$4000.

What is even more ricidulous is the tens of thousands of undeveloped, overgrown, worthless junk lots that are paying $1200-1500 in property tax. Here you can view any property on the Internet and see what it is appraised and what taxes are. We passed on one house, a very nice foreclosure for $50K, because we woulda had to buy the vacant lot next to it to be on the canal, and the taxes on it were higher than the house.

This week DW is trying to grow a lawn and watering, and folks walking by keep staring. Finally one told us we are going to see why no one has a lawn, why no one waters . . . the price of water.

Don't get the idea that short sales and foreclosures are impossible. Tens of thousands of them have sold. The traditional market doesn't have as good a deals, IMO. To get the ones that are half what they used to be, you need to look at distressed properties. For instance, when you look at Rap's online, market value is now 63% of what it was at the peak. Ours is 29%. We did not pay what they were asking.

What you need to understand is that when a lender sells a property as is, they don't feel they have to disclose anything. That runs afoul of the law, and there have been some lawsuits because of it.

The problem is that if you are not a cash buyer, the lender/seller is likely not gonna fix anything. You can't until you own it, and some things have to be fixed in order to get a loan.

I would not discourage anyone from shopping for a foreclosure. You can do it in the comfort of your own home. You can see the history of any house, the values and taxes, and all the houses around it, on the Internet. You can drive up and down the streets with googlemap.

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

yes, irrigation is a big cost, when we were looking we found out that in some subdivisions it is covered, and in some you pay your own. ours is covered. we are in a half gated community, the most coveted one in Florida, perhaps the only one in Florida.