Topic: Buying a house in Florida - Advice?

[Railton]

Good stuff guys!
Silver, my Wife and I are headed to Naples this March to look around there. Can you suggest some areas to check out?
We also are looking at purchasing RE in Fla. We came close last Fall but our 2nd offer was not accepted so we let them keep it. It's still for sale 3 months later. This was in the Daytona area.
How do you compare Naples with other FLa cities, pro/con?
Railton

[safristi]

Raily this is Retro Info.......20 years or so ago...............we enjoyed a few timeshare weeks in Naples........................at the time (and i suspect still now) it is  mainly mittel American with a  smallredneck backdrop(swamp buggy smatterinstuff/everglades)..............mixed with the usual  HI KLASS stuff...............wot u find anywhere in FLORIDA IMHO..................definitely WARMER as it's Miama latidudinally.........so all the TROPICAL "diseases" i.e Mold...bigger bugs ..etc  .. but i must say with Marco Island and decent beaches and an upper class infrastructure not a bad area all in all ..............IF'n Ya really want FLORIDA....passe,,,,,,,,,,,,,NEW MEXICO...(Santa Fe)...Mexico.............Arizona (IF the US housing CRASH is yer motivator).....S America..Nicarauga..Belize....Colombia..Chile...Peru....et al.............stir MY BLOOD..

[Ex-airbalancer]

You forgot Panama , as a foreign you pay no property for 20 years

[safristi]

..ahh the  humility HUMIDITY..............as wif  Belize...............Costa Rica has rescinded mucho O the benifarts...as is Panama in the process...local bitchin' and POLS A' TWITCHIN...........and in BELIZE they speak a tha LINGO...Anglish...quite a PLUS for many............and U can STILL bring in everythang PLUS the kitchen sink...........

[sirAQUAMAN64]

Good stuff guys!
Silver, my Wife and I are headed to Naples this March to look around there. Can you suggest some areas to check out?
We also are looking at purchasing RE in Fla. We came close last Fall but our 2nd offer was not accepted so we let them keep it. It's still for sale 3 months later. This was in the Daytona area.
How do you compare Naples with other FLa cities, pro/con?
Railton

Went to university in Palm Beach (along with a lot of time spent in Pensacola) and would love a house or friend's vacation place down there.

Naples is a very, very nice community. Found Daytona less so, kind of isolated IMO, and substantially cooler than South Florida (anywhere south of Orlando). Neighbourhoods change quickly in the US, so really depends on exactly where you are when talking about location desireability.

Raising sea levels and hurricane threat withstanding, generally think it a very wise investment.

[vdk]

Panama is a bit of a tax haven.

[99 Silver]

Good stuff guys!
Silver, my Wife and I are headed to Naples this March to look around there. Can you suggest some areas to check out?
We also are looking at purchasing RE in Fla. We came close last Fall but our 2nd offer was not accepted so we let them keep it. It's still for sale 3 months later. This was in the Daytona area.
How do you compare Naples with other FLa cities, pro/con?
Railton

My preference is to be quite far south as we usually go down right after Christmas and the weather can be quite cool in the northern part of the state.  In the past we stayed in Palm Beach and in Naples.  I like a place that is within a reasonable drive from an airport with frequent flights from the north.

Palm Beach was great at first, but it got really built up over the years.  Naples was out of the question until they built the new airport (RSW) south of Fort Myers.  We have been going there for the last 8 years or so.

Naples reminds me of the Palm Beach area of 20 years ago or so as traffic is still reasonable.  The town of Naples itself is very high end real estate.  Our place is in Estero which is 10 minutes north of Naples along Tamiami trail and is an area that has had rapid growth in the last decade, but has great shopping and restaurants and is only 15 minutes from the beach. I checked and we are 17 feet above sea level so the storm surge from a hurricane should not be a concern.

In the Naples area, I would be careful with Fort Myers, avoid Lehigh Acres and focus on Bonita Springs, Estero or Naples which has the highest prices.  Fort Myers Beach is ok and it has some mid rise ocean front condos in it but is very exposed to hurricanes as it is a barrier island.

A friend of mine bought in this area last year and I got the name of his agent from him as he was impressed with him.  I wanted somebody who would do what I asked and not try to sell me something.  I told him that I wanted to steal a place - not buy one at normal prices. 

I started my search by watching the real estate channel, which then got me looking at MLS listings online.  When I saw that prices were close to what I was willing to pay, I contacted the agent and the hunt was on.

Our property was a foreclosure owned by CitiBank.  The listing came up and they would not accept offers until the fifth day.  There were multiple offers, and we bid a bit over asking price with no conditions and a thirty day closing.  I was amazed that I didn't have to make a deposit with the offer and only provided an email from my bank stating that I sufficient funds to close.  I put up a 15% deposit as soon as they accepted the deal.  In my opinion the market is still in distress down there and it will take a year or more to to stabilize so there is no big hurry to make a deal.

PM me if you want the agent's contact info or have other questions.

[Ex-airbalancer]

different stokes for different people
 I do not understand buying into a timeshare place but if it make a person happy go for it

[tpl]

No offense to anyone here but:
I just don't understand why anybody would buy property abroad instead of just renting a place when you need it; no headaches of any kind, no responsibilities, not subject to wacky laws and corrupt governments that can repossess your land in an instant because of civil war or various other reasons (central and south America).

Don't forget the possible world of hurt with the IRS if you die while owning a US property

[ovr50]

My wife & I have considered buying a small second home in either of southern Arizona or the deserts area of southern California. We did look around quite a bit when we were in Arizona over Christmas/NYs. There is lots of deals in AZ right now, and we could get a very liveable new property single family detached of about 1400-1600sqft for in the $140K or less range. Less, if outside Phoenix and Tucson. And much less if a repo or bank owned house. We may be going to the Palm Springs area in March and if we do, will look around there (but know the prices are higher there already).

The old puzzle - buy vs rent. There are lots of properties for rent in both these markets, plus Hawaii. Renting allows one to move around, and not return to the same place every winter. Plus, you avoid all the costs associated w buying and holding the property year round. OTOH, you will miss out on capital appreciation (say over 10 years) that "should" accrue to both areas once they recover from the recession (which is severe in both areas). We are leaning towards just renting to take advantage of the flexibility of differnet locales. Wife's sis and hubby have rented in Palm Springs area for last 3 winters, but have not always been happy with the house rented (usually done over the net, actual sight unseen). So, that's an advantage of buying.

Frankly, if it were not for the recession in the housing markets of both AZ and CA, we would not even consider buying. But, prices are very good, and so you look at it.....??

We have friends who have bought in both markets, and in one case, they regret is as they find they do not use the AZ property enough. In another case, friends (wealthy) have bought a gorgeous home in LaQuinta (Palm Springs area) at a strong discount both from former prices and even much less than cost to replace. They plan on a long term hold/use and can afford to leave their money invested in it.

Don't know what we'll do. I'm leaning towards just renting..............

[DockMan]

Everyone is looking for a safe place to stash cash these days and for me (although I'm not a fan of owning another property on my own) it's starting to make more sense to me.

The market has not bottomed yet perhaps, in any case, there is relatively little downside to the right investment play and a huge potential upside if you are willing to park cash for a decade, after all they are not building new waterfront property anymore (with the exception of Dubai).

The only thing that scares me is the idea of maintenance of a property that I own.

....anyone interested in setting up a small holding company where several folks could buy a pool of properties through the company and afford third party maintenance through economy of scale???

Who knows.

[99 Silver]

I decided to buy because of the following reasons:

1) I was renting a 2br 2 bath condo which was fine for us, but daughter and son in law had two kids and it was too small for all of us.
2) We were the renting single family homes with 3br with mixed results for 4-5k per month.  Some of the houses were good, but some were disappointing.  Some stupid stuff bothered me - uncomfortable furniture, lousy TVs, no Tivo, basic cable package, having to arrange high speed internet myself.  Every year was a new exercise in aggravation.
3) I was costing me 9-10k per season to rent which is roughly my operating costs for the new home.  Granted I now have to make a capital investment, but I hope to double my money in 10-15 years.
4) We will travel as much as we have in the past.
5) It's a condo, so there is no worry about exterior maintenance or security. 

To each there own, but I found the value compelling at the current prices.

[ovr50]

Jerry - I understand your logic on the purchase. For sure, one can have mixed results when renting, and the rentals for several months can be considerable money. A condo is likely a better buy than a SF home. It's just my wife and I are not condo people, but we could likely handle a few months in a ground floor unit somewhere warm....

It is tempting to buy right now and take advantage of the beaten-down market. Sounds like you did well on your deal. Good for you. 

[99 Silver]

Jerry - I understand your logic on the purchase. For sure, one can have mixed results when renting, and the rentals for several months can be considerable money. A condo is likely a better buy than a SF home. It's just my wife and I are not condo people, but we could likely handle a few months in a ground floor unit somewhere warm....

It is tempting to buy right now and take advantage of the beaten-down market. Sounds like you did well on your deal. Good for you. 

I agree with you about being on the ground.  It is a one floor townhome.

[safristi]

..sound like yer gettin' in on the ground floor.. ..................................doubling yer $$$'s in 10 to 15 years NOT SO SURE IMHO..................how often are the other 4 persons (Son/wife 2 kids) in the building Elvis???  surely they only holiday occasionally with U? or is your logic a 3bdrm is a better resale?.....

 i'm with the renting camp ,we are easily bored with the same spot no matter how fun the first time...like eating, the 1st bite is the BEST and U just walk away Rene..............surely $5K fer a SF home monthly rental is extreme now (exempting mega mansions etc......)friend recently rented a beauty 3 bdr'm Condo overlooking the Panhandle Beach ...going for $3K a month...............all the Toys   HD TV   wireless...granite out the wazoo.(painful!)..we also have 2 timeshare weeks in Canada (Purchased 30 years ago for peanuts..... ( pause for Guffaws from the peanut gallery) and these have given us amazing "swaps"..just back(late NOV...70F weather) from a 3 bdr'm in Hilton Head on the golf course with all the ammenities ....for $170 exchange Fee...also Last Minute( 6 week window) and other specials can give unlimited deals for around $250 /2 bdrm....$300 3 Bdr'm........NOT PEAK SEASON tho'......


  but as they say diff needs/wants/ideas make the Whirrled go Around...............Enjoy NAPLES and keep an eye on POMPEII....here the market there is BUBBLING....

[No H2O]

What would you do?

The weather might be nice, but the roads are so terribly boring; flat and straight.

That is what came to mind the first instant while on a two-week vacation down there.

By the way, you can buy an apartment in Portugal very reasonably. The food and wine is better and the roads are far more interesting, so are the drivers.

[DockMan]

By the way, you can buy an apartment in Portugal very reasonably. The food and wine is better and the roads are far more interesting, so are the drivers.

 

[tpl]

I agree.  France would be my choice although it is more expensive than Portugal

Trouble with a cottage across the Atlantic is the cost of travel in season.   And you end up only going once a year. And dealing with Euro bureaucracy for everything.

[ovr50]

I don't think I want to own a place that I cannot drive to from here. Rentals overseas are fine, but I won't own there. No only the driving issue, but too many other variables for me. Just personal choice, I guess.

[Minou]

I don't think I want to own a place that I cannot drive to from here. Rentals overseas are fine, but I won't own there. No only the driving issue, but too many other variables for me. Just personal choice, I guess.

X3

My goal is to spend the 5 winter months straight in Florida.  Living there just like we do here but retired...  Renting for so long would quickly become prohibitive.