[brrrinmass]

He guys and gals. Just toying with the idea of canal front living in Fla after a lifetime in Mass. We would be looking in the $250,000-300,000 range. Can anyone give us an idea what canal front living is like? We've been looking at realtor websites to see what you get for your money. Guess we're looking for things that one would not be privy to having never lived in the area or in a canal front home. Ocean access would be nice but not sure if you can get that in this price range. Thanks for any and all input.

[macrodome2]

You may want to check into the flood zone for properties on water. Flood insurance expense is a big concern in Fl- FEMA has been updating the zones and the insurance premiums have been rising.

Here is a website you can plug an address into and it will give you an idea of whether it is in a flood zone. If you plan to get a mortgage, you will need the flood insurance, most likely. If you are paying cash, then it's up to you.

https://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmar..._flood%20smart

[Restrain]

You can probably purchase an older home, built prior to current codes, 1 story. Pro-in your price range. Con-in flood plain, probably not updated, probably won't have a pool.

PC canal homes are generally lower priced vs PGI canal homes. More high dollar homes in PGI.

My-Florida-MLS has a open link to the listings available in Sarasota/Charlotte County. Cape Coral to the south is in a different MLS.

[tonyff67]

Maybe Pasco and Hernando for waterfront, in That price range.

[StarfishKey]

I wrote in another recent thread about this:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/flori...fo-needed.html

That is the real deal of what it's like.

Unless you are independently wealthy, it's not a great idea to purchase in a V zone, or oceanfront, as I explained in there. You have a strong chance of your house being wiped out or getting major damage in the next 20 years. FEMA won't cover all of it. Your rates will be astronomical, and your taxes will soar, especially without a Homestead Exemption. You may need to self-insure if legislation continues to change and oceanfronts are seen as too much of a risk to take on anymore - particularly if this country has another Category 5 hurricane. If a hurricane hits, you might end up upside-down on your mortgage. Worst, even if your house was carried completely into the ocean, you have to continue paying your mortgage in full, assuming of course you didn't buy with cash. It's far better to buy in an AE zone a minimum of a few houses down from the ocean, and "commute" from there. Cheaper property with less chance of skyrocketing value, but less risk.

It's pretty scary when you look out the window at a big storm coming up, and the waves are already lapping into your yard from the elevated tide and all the rain, and all you see is water in front of you. When you're waterfront in Florida very near the ocean, that is a sight you see many summers, even without a hurricane. You also have no protection from the wind. I'm actually glad my house is set back from my waterfront, and my yard is a little higher. But my next door neighbors have seen that sight a few times already in the past 2 years - their house is close to the water, and on slightly lower ground. It's something to consider also if you choose to put in a pool - that can be an expensive mess to fix each time.

There are also drawbacks to living on a canal - water pollution, crocodiles and alligators, and sometimes more bugs and snakes than people more inland have. Usually if you're on a canal you can't have a real dock. The water is not clean enough, or safe enough with wildlife, to swim in. Unless a gator or croc eats something, the government will not remove it either - you must learn to co-exist with them.

The pluses are pretty obvious with waterfront living. But these are some of the downsides.

[Gaujo]

Do you meen further up the canal or off the water?

[Fredesch]

Trulia has a flood overlay. With a click you can see where the flood zone is.

[bigh110]

I have a canal front house in the lower keys and to me canal front living with ocean access means rarely if ever needing to trailer your boat because its parked out back in the canal. you don't need a wooden dock because you have a concrete seawall to park your boat. plus living on the canal you can usually catch a mutton snapper or two for dinner if you want fresh fish. if you own a boat or are into boating then canal front living is the next best thing to living in a big ole house on the direct waterfront with a dock. its also nice to get rid of food left overs so the deer and raccoons don't always knock over your trashcans looking for food. just dump excess food in the canal and watch the fish feast and the trash cans survive till another day!

[StarfishKey]

Originally Posted by bigh110

its also nice to get rid of food left overs so the deer and raccoons don't always knock over your trashcans looking for food. just dump excess food in the canal and watch the fish feast and the trash cans survive till another day!

You are specifically NOT supposed to do this! Our local waters are not a trash can. Dumping fish cleanings or any leftover foods teach predators (including alligators and crocodiles, barracudas - and sharks for homes closer to open water zones) to come right up to humans and invade their spaces looking for food. Food usually has seasonings on it too like oils and MSG compounds that should not be in our water - if every person who lived on canals in the Keys dumped their food leftovers into the canals, our canals would be really gross, and full of all kinds of things that are not natural to the environment nor good for the fish. The reason we have increasing problems with predator marine life is because of people dumping like this. Additionally, on a canal, there are challenges to circulation. Not all of your remains that you dump will be eaten by fish, and so the remainder will just accumulate in the canal and rot, causing a stench and water quality problems for perhaps a month or more before fully being cycled out of the canal with a big rain or something.

Here is an article from CNN that mentions this issue, and the effort to educate residents about changing their habits.
Good with people? Willing to capture crocodile, if needed? Apply now! - CNN.com

This kind of information is everywhere in the Keys, but I can't recall other specific websites where I've seen it just now. Note one quote from the article: "Often, the role of the team is to educate residents about not dangling incentives in front of crocodiles, such as having an unfenced dog near water or dumping yummy fish remains into a canal after a day of fishing."

If moving down to Florida, please help keep our local waters clean and safe for both the sea life and our local residents!

[jghorton]

Most of the folks on canals are boaters who like the idea of being able to 'step out the back door and onto their boat' without paying high slip-rental fees. Watching the boats pass by on a canal is also often more interesting than living directly on the ocean and seeing only water (and an occasional cruise liner). We did the latter for about a dozen years and now live on a harbor. A harbor or a 'sound' gives one a more protected waterfront and deeper water. It also offers greater privacy than a canal where one looks directly into the backyard and house of one's neighbor (and vice-versa). Of course, there are wider canals where this isn't a problem, but, in the $250K range, many of those are in older neighborhoods with smaller canals.

Overall, people clamor to live on the water in Florida (canals, beachfront, harbors, bays, lakes, sounds, etc.). Canals are probably the most affordable. They live there because these are pleasant places to live (with very few as extreme as those embellished by Starfishkey ... not sure where that is). Many non-Floridians also fail to realize how diverse Florida is -- and how significant the weather differences are. South Florida is almost always hot, while Central Florida averages about 15-degrees warmer in the winter than the Panhandle, where it gets quite cool between Nov/Dec and Feb.

Before you simply start considering canals in general, you would probably do well to figure-out what part of the state is going to work best for you.