Househunting Again

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

Oops, sorry! I always thought the "a" was a bell shape. I love that store!

Dori

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

Yes, their A is a bell shape.

The girls are doing well at Chicos, Goodwill, and Ross.
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Back to where the deals are . . . although they are everywhere, since we have decided to pass, we were at Rotonda. Just google it, then get an agent to try to find you a deal. Ours was Steve Cocalides, or something like that, a Greek with a strong accent, and he did a good job of emailing us stuff . . . stuff we had already found, but with the listing pages.

If you have questions about Rotonda, I can answer some of them.

As I have been trying to explain to folks about the state of the economy, it affects us all. The foreclosures and short sales affect those who are not upside down, but just want to sell their houses. They cannot do so at true value when the distressed ones pull down the market, so you can pick up one that doesn't have to have third party approval, and delay.

&, the Gov obviously has not resolved the tax and insurance problem, his stated objective during his campaign.

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

Third day on generator back home.

Rotonda is sounding pretty good.

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

State Farm is withdrawing from insuring homes, condos, rentals, etc in florida. We have to start shopping for new insurance.

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

Been there

Rapmarks,

Had same problem with Allstate. Kind of maddening when you've fed them money for lots of years and then they say too bad. We move auto insurance also.

Nancy

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

When we were there way back a couple weeks ago the State had denied SF's rate increase, and State Farm said they would look at leaving.

Guess it looked pretty good.

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

State Farm is withdrawing from insuring homes, condos, rentals, etc in florida. We have to start shopping for new insurance.

So do we, Pat, and when we go we are taking everything away from them. We've been with SF forever because Gerry's uncle sold it way back when.

We have a friend from Ohio who bought @ Bella Terra (in Bonita) nd he is an Allstate agent up there and couldn't get Allstate insurance for his own house here. But, we might find a good company and get much better rates.

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

The little house we were had been listed for $139K, dropped to $85K, then dropped to $65K.

When I saw the listing sheet, the property tax is $2700. Insurance would be whatever it would be, homeowners plus flood since all of that area would be affected by hurricane storm surge.

All that added up to still too much for a winter place, when we can timeshare fairly reasonably, if we can.

the Gov obviously has not resolved the tax and insurance problem, his stated objective during his campaign.

[Anne1125 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Anne1125]

Rotunda is a bit far from the beach if you ask me.

Anne

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

Regarding insurance and property taxes, the two issues the Gov campaigned to resolve, and the sticky points with me in buying something, there doesn't appear to have been any improvement in either, and with two huge carriers opting out it is even less likely that the insurance situation will improve. Time will give us the answer.
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Regarding beach, I didn't recall that this thread was about beach property, but in reviewing it I saw that beach was said once.

In that instance it was to say that ample, nice public beaches, shark's tooth beaches, are convenient. If you are a crow (osprey), a couple miles away, and if you are not, maybe 10 minutes.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...64452&t=h&z=12

If you will googlemap Rotonda, FL, you will see that it is so close to the Gulf (bay) that a couple more Charleys may make it beachfront.

I may be repeating myself repeating myself repeating myself, but you may also notice that the original intent of Rotonda was for all of it to have Gulf access. You will see that the SW 1/8 spoke is undeveloped, with water coming fairly close. The story is, repeated often, that the guy who laid it out POd someone in Washington, so he did not get Gulf access.

In the other 7 pieces of the pie there is a canal around the outside and one looping in and back out in each of the pieces. In each piece, a road follows the canal in and out on each side, and then golf courses are in the center of the pieces. Thus, the majority of the lots are either golf course or canal properties. Understanding what makes retirement/vacation/recreation property desireable/valuable, it was a great plan, screwed up by a pencil pusher bureaucrat, if that was really the case.

If you want beach out the back door, there is a stretch of beach properties on Englewood Beach (Manasota Key). Several are for sale so we called a RE agent from one of the signs. They go for $3M m/l, mostly m.

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

I just noticed that State Farm walked away from Mississippi, too, after they lost Katrina lawsuits.

They seem to be getting good at taking their ball and going home if the game doesn't go their way.

State Farm is withdrawing from insuring homes, condos, rentals, etc in florida. We have to start shopping for new insurance.

[beanie Member Find all posts View Profile Close beanie]

Rotunda is a bit far from the beach if you ask me.

Anne

rotunda is about 5 or so miles to englewood beach , a little bit longer to boca grande. I loved the look of rotunda so much we bought a Ilot there with the idea to build on it . we then bought a new townhome to live in while the house was being built in north port and have decided to stay here as we really like our community. the bad thing is we probably couldn't get a quarter of what we paid for the lot now but its paid off so will just hold on to it. I drive 50 miles to Ft. myers each day to work and when people ask me why I live up there I tell them " because I don't want to live down here " too much traffic for me

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

I understand.

Say Hi to Cecil.

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

(Top 10) Real Estate Predictions for 2009

As I have been trying to explain to folks about the state of the economy, it affects us all. The foreclosures and short sales affect those who are not upside down, but just want to sell their houses. They cannot do so at true value when the distressed ones pull down the market, so you can pick up one that doesn't have to have third party approval, and delay.

&, the Gov obviously has not resolved the tax and insurance problem, his stated objective during his campaign.

Sellers Will Shun Loan Modification Programs in Favor of Short Sales
Real estate agents who specialize in short sales will see an uptick of business.

[nicklinneh Member Find all posts View Profile Close nicklinneh]

bargin house on Sanibel

Jim,
I think you can get that house on Sanibel I. cheaply, where the 'gators rush up into your back yard. Just stay in the house all the time and don't worry about sprucing up the back yard. Oh, and putting your boat dock in the back might not be a good idea either. -ken