[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by olddude

im coming down in jan. to look at a few places to move to my wife wants to look in and around melbourn.we are retired and on a fixed income,so we are looking to spend around 120,000 to 150,000.we really dont want to be to close to the beach,about 1/2 hour or so is good.also can someone tell me about insurance such as flood,hurricane,sink hole,and so on.also how are the banks down there about there foreclosures,do they except bids or are they stuck on what they are asking.

When I read your key words "retired, fixed income" and 150K max, and "old dude" (hahaha)...I'm thinking condo. You should drive a bit further down to Vero Beach. BEsides being a beautiful place, you can get a great condo in an active beautiful community for half your budget. Besides the usual pool, clubhouse, gym etc, some even have golf. And if you're talking foreclosures even less. And of course, there are singles, too.

The actual city of Vero Beach is small only around 17 sq miles and 17K people but it's the county seat in the Sebastian - Vero Beach MSA which includes many unincorporated areas commonly referred to as "Vero Beach" even though they are technically not. Like where I live is actually a CDP - Florida Ridge.

I don't think people should ever buy before moving here unless they've done ALOT of hands on research and know exactly what they want. It's so easy to get a rental in any community that you may be considering even for a couple of months, usually. Your opinons change about your priorities etc often once you're here. It's spread OUT and there's lots of driving to see it all. And FL has a weird thing with streets being gorgeous for a couple blocks then a few beat up ones, then more nice ones LOL.

My 2nd floor condo is 1200 sq ft, with a porch - some are enclosed, some are screened - a monthly HOA fee of $340 including cable, trash, water & sewer so all I pay is electric ($50ish on monthly budget), taxes and insurance. Taxes vary because of homesteading but you would budget 500 - 1000 until that gets worked out. Insurance is around 600 per year. My car insurance went up when I moved here from Philly. I'm paying around 850 per year. One vehicle. It costs 70 per year to get a new sticker but there's no emissions inspection.

Our community is impeccable, has a ton of reserves (so no assessments are likely), two pools, two clubhouses, tennis, gym, and all nice people ranging from 55+ and up. Plenty of seasonal people. My neighbors leave every year for the summer season and plenty of people only come here for the winter season.

Besides apartment condos, we also have single homes and "villas" ( I think that's what they call ranchers and duplexes that are attached in FL). It's not huge it's perfectly sized IMO. It IS VERY important in a condo to know that you will be able to afford it in the future and that the residents are responsible and fund the association properly. Some communities don't and that's a red flag. Things DO come up like structural maintenance and it all needs to be in the budget. Our HOA has not increased the monthly fee in at least 5 years that I know of, yet we get our stuff painted, refurbished and maintained perfectly even when I'm thinking "what the heck you just painted my atrium last year"....and the landscaping is impeccable. NO deferred maintenance at all. Gated with security guard 24/7. We have a property management company with an employee on site and the HOA pres also has an office in the office, they are workers not just people who show up when they feel like it at a meeting.

Obviously that's a concern in a SINGLE house, too, something always has to be done.

We are on the Intracoastal with a 50 acre nature park the residents maintain it's a buffer between the water and the subdivision...so nobody really is ON the water....with a dock that we can go out and enjoy the water view. Also a boat loading dock. Surrounded by a "preserve". I would compare living on this part of the Intracoastal to living on the bay in Longport but maybe wider at this part of it. (I'm from Philly/NJ)

Driving around Vero there are SO MANY different types of properties one for every budget and desire. Rural or not, high density or not, farms and farmettes or "city" type living, gated or not, mini cheap HOA fees for just a couple basic things or larger including more, water front or not, etc. Some subdivisions don't even have a pool or anything to keep the common areas to a minimum. Some have people putting in their own pools or not. You can even get a mobile home on a million dollar view of the Intracoastal or Beach (in Hutchinson Island) just for example. Half of them you can't see anything about the neighborhood at first because of the landscaping and mature trees.

You are also likely to find completely renovated units after the hurricane disasters in 2004. My unit was completely new from the walls out in 2009 when I bought, except for the fridge and AC and nobody had lived in it really, since they finished the renovation in 2006. It was built in 1987 but you'd never know it. And speaking of which you want a newer roof with Miami Dade standards. That's what failed for our subdivision in 2004, the roofs. Not all the buildings but some. So our entire community had the new roofs done.

You don't have to be near water, there are also plenty of subdivisions West towards I95 around the mall. In fact you could live right near the mall (which is small) and live very nicely even without a car! (we also have a free bus )

Now if you're the type that wants a big lot outside of a "subdivision" to keep stuff on like a boat or RV etc...and no neighbors caring pretty much because they all have them too, we have that as well.

[runswithscissors]

I don't live in Vista Royale but as you can see there are some really great opportunities here. They're selling for almost half the 1997 prices! This site Trulia shows you all the comps. It's sort of in my neighborhood. It's literally blocks from shopping, has a bank on site and golf. And the free bus stops there so you can jet over to the shopping center easily even not using your car.

Random listings...

Recently sold listings:

1/1.5 $20,000
http://www.trulia.com/homes/Florida/...Beach-FL-32962
1/1.5 $30,000
23 Vista Gardens Trail #105, Vero Beach FL - Trulia

For sale listing:
2/2 $42,000 asking
http://www.trulia.com/property/31288...32962#photo-10

$48K in a less dense area, larger, nice and new subdivision Laguna - it's very rural here but close to everything enough:
http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale...02_rect/12_zm/

Click this for street view of the neighborhood:
http://www.trulia.com/homes/Florida/...Beach-FL-32967

Vista Royale's HOA'a WEBSITE:

Home

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by olddude

you said west melbourn,would that be west of rt 95.do you have any idea about insurance there ,such as flood,hurricane.

Not true. West Melbourne includes areas west and east of I-95. You need to google it to see what I mean. In fact, part of west melbourne include the newer shopping area on palm bay rd (despite many people thinking that it's part of palm bay).

Insurance shouldn't be as bad. you're pretty far from the beach.