Floridians in Columbia (Lexington: mortgage, credit, home equity)

[sunstate]

Well....my home in Florida is sold and it looks like I will be on my way to Columbia soon. I wonder if I could hear from anyone who has made the move to Columbia from Florida and how they are adjusting. From what I hear there are quit a few Floridians there and I was wondering who is happy they made the move and who is not so happy and why.

[Brandon Hoffman]

Congrats on the home being sold. I'm waiting on a home to sell in FL so I can get one here sold. Is the market picking up some?

[JERSEYIAN]

Lots of luck, we used to live in Columbia in 2002. Now we are moving back to Columbia from NJ. Lake Carolina is really beautiful and that is where we are headed. I think there are a lot of Floridians that posted on the previous threads that live there now. I have family that live in Columbia and they absolutely love it. Good luck with the move.

[sunstate]

To Brandon: I have had four contracts on this home. Two fell through because of buyer financing and one contract was signed at 8p.m. and at 10 p.m. a car drove through the house. Yes, you heard right. Car vs. house. The car won. It has taken four months to put the walls back up and I have a contract on the home again. I hope all goes well and I make it to closing on the 15th of November.

Houses are selling here but for a bit less than folks would like. I just hope all I read on these posts (the positive stuff) is true. If you read the Florida posts you will see what I mean. Night and day.

[Brandon Hoffman]

Wow, 4 contracts and a car in the living room...never had that happen (knocks on wood)! That sounds great that homes are still selling because I'd really like to get this one sold and closed. I've had it for too long!

[DadofTwo]

so how long were you on the market ....we have been for 7 mo now and several showings lately but no solid offers we had one potential but could not qualify .....we have been very aggressive to sell - our price is very good - our house is 2008 sq ft and the other house in our range are mostly 1300-1400 - so we hope this will get it sold .....we too are trying to sell in florida so we can buy a house in irmo but we are not getting far with the sellers ...we even tried to lease until we close but they don't seem eager to negotiate even though they have been on the market awhile; and we still have a mortgage to sell ......and so we need to keep the monthly cost reasonable undr a teachers salary ..........but we have faith that all will work out soon....good luck on your move to columbia .....we have been here since august when school staretd and we love it ..........of course it did seem to be a bit chilly today! let me know if you have any questions for a native floridian

[sunstate]

I too am a native of Florida. That is the problem. I worry about culture shock and have read posts here mostly from family types who have different concerns than I. I have no children and worry about living in a suburb. I worry that I am a Dem. and am moving to a Republican strong hold.

As far as the house thing goes....I have determined that if for some reason this sell does not go though, I will forget about moving and stay put and ride out the coming recession.

The Feds are to adjust the prime today (again) in an effort to stimulate the housing market and they say to look for a 1/4 percent drop in the rates overall. That may help some buyers but I do not feel it will do much to increase sells.

The sad fact is that housing costs in Florida are not in line with incomes and home ownership is just not an option for a great deal of Floridians.

[DadofTwo]

well you know i love florida and would still love to be there .... not my wife she loves being here ....but i agree housing as become unbelievable - property taxes and insurance - along with ultilites etc. but there could not be a better place than columbia ...the only culture shock we have experienced is the niceness and politeness of people from work to church who have offered help to us - we are staying in a motel suite until we get the house sold - but even people you meet out in public are nice and courteous --- they do drive slow here though : ) but man there is no traffic like back in fl - you will love it ----the houses will blow you away what you can buy here for the value of our home in fl we could buy twice that size if we could afford it ---there are alot of nice communties here --- while the state politics seem to be dominated by republicans it looks like most local is controlled by dems just like in orlando --- i happen to be republican myself but hey whoever can get the job done ----have you visited columbia to scope things out ---we loved it as soon as we came back in march and knew this was where we wanted to be if we left fl ---and here we are .... my wife loves it .....i love it ...and the kids are loving it as well -----my son loves the winer jacket we just bought for him : ) let me know of any questions you might have......fl was getting too expensive for us so we got out

[waccamatt]

Originally Posted by sunstate

I too am a native of Florida. That is the problem. I worry about culture shock and have read posts here mostly from family types who have different concerns than I. I have no children and worry about living in a suburb. I worry that I am a Dem. and am moving to a Republican strong hold.

As far as the house thing goes....I have determined that if for some reason this sell does not go though, I will forget about moving and stay put and ride out the coming recession.

The Feds are to adjust the prime today (again) in an effort to stimulate the housing market and they say to look for a 1/4 percent drop in the rates overall. That may help some buyers but I do not feel it will do much to increase sells.

The sad fact is that housing costs in Florida are not in line with incomes and home ownership is just not an option for a great deal of Floridians.

To answer some of your concerns, if you're worried about moving to a suburb, why don't you move into the city? As far as being a Democrat, Columbia is anything but a Republican stronghold. Democrats usually carry about 60% of the vote in Richland County in both state and federal elections and every county-wide elected official in Richland County is a Democrat. Lexington County is a Republican stronghold, but not Richland.

Fixed First Mortgage rates are not bad right now (in the neighborhood of 6%, give or take) and are only nominally affected by the Prime Rate. The Prime Rate is traditionally used as an index for Home Equity Lines of Credit and credit cards, etc., but not as a direct index for first mortgage rates.

[DadofTwo]

well we did not go through with the contract so we have to move on to the next house ...