[FL_TN_Nana]

Originally Posted by LauraC

What's so great about Florida, anyway?

Well, today is one of those days when it is GREAT to be in Florida! Woke up to temps in the high 50's and it's in the 70's now. Nice breeze, sunshine, & puffy clouds! I cleaned house wearing shorts and tank top and my husband is out now finishing up the mowing - without breaking a sweat! Just another reason to celebrate Thanksgiving in a few weeks!

[pixiewytch]

Well, I know that my grandmother lives in a very nice newer mobile home, definitely newer than 1992 and after last year's storms she was dropped completely by her insurance company. I do believe she was able to find insurance since then but I know she had a heck of a time doing it. That is the reason I brought that up. I remember it was all over the news recently that mobile home owners had their coverage dropped across Florida. Again, maybe something changed since then that I'm not aware of. It just seems a lot more difficult and I would imagine more expensive to get your mobile home insured.

Now I don't know specifics about the quality of mobile homes manufactured now but I still wouldn't feel safe in one through a hurricane, even if it was brand new. After all, when we get those evacuations, people in all mobile homes are the first told to go. I've also seen the prices on some of those newer ones and they are just about as much as a house. I would think a house would be a better investment in Fl for the same price of a mobile home.

Now if we were talking about another state, I might feel a lot different about owning a mobile home.

[scamutz]

[quote=pixiewytch;150405] I've also seen the prices on some of those newer ones and they are just about as much as a house. I would think a house would be a better investment in Fl for the same price of a mobile home.
[quote]


Agreed, for the same price..I'd rather have a CMU home as well. But a MH built within the last few years can be purchased much more inexpensively than a home built at the same time. And the big plus...if you are in a MH community where the land is leased.. NO PROPERTY TAXES.

[tallrick]

Things will level out, the entire US economy is due for a correction. Think 1930's. Once the foreign investors lose confidence, the insanity ends. I look forward to a deflationary economy so new businesses based on independant thinking can bring back the manufacturing of the United States. Florida survives only from outside investment, period.

[Need_affordable_home]

$70k for a mobile home? Only a brand new 2006 model costs that much. I can get one made in the mid 1990s that meets hurricane code for $30k for a double wide. Houses cost several times more in most areas. I would understand no point buying a MH in OH because houses there are $50k but when houses are $300k a MH makes sense.

[scamutz]

Originally Posted by Need_affordable_home

$70k for a mobile home? Only a brand new 2006 model costs that much. I can get one made in the mid 1990s that meets hurricane code for $30k for a double wide. Houses cost several times more in most areas. I would understand no point buying a MH in OH because houses there are $50k but when houses are $300k a MH makes sense.

Point taken, I was talking about a brand new one...and comparing it to a similar house which would cost about $132k to have built. ($110/ft including land)

[SunKrist]

Originally Posted by tallrick

Things will level out, the entire US economy is due for a correction. Think 1930's. Once the foreign investors lose confidence, the insanity ends. I look forward to a deflationary economy so new businesses based on independant thinking can bring back the manufacturing of the United States. Florida survives only from outside investment, period.

Wasn't the "Great Depression" in the 1930's?

[HolidayFL]

No snow to shovel, no leaves to rake, no bone chilling cold, more affordable homes, my job is 10 minutes from home, nice neighbors, many from up north where I am from, and a great family neighborhood. Anyone up in the northeast looking at our taxes and homeowner's rates and comparing theirs to ours has to be saying, wow, it's cheap in FL, what are they complaining about? When I left NJ my taxes were over $10,000 a year, and my homeowner's was $450 a year. That was 7 years ago. In FL, my taxes are $537 a year and my homeowner's is $1822 a year. So I am saving $8,091 a year by living in FL. I can't complain about that! I have family still in NJ and they tell me that jobs are scarce there now. There is no shortage of jobs near me in FL. They can't seem to get enough employees around here. I work in the medical field and my first year on the job I got 4 weeks vacation, and I'm a lower level employee. When I was in NJ it took me 8 years to get that much vacation time. Not to mention that while my family in NJ is hunkered down in their homes with the heat on inside and the gray dreary skies outside, I'm sitting with my windows open enjoying the beautiful weather where the skies are blue almost every day. As for TN and other states people are talking about maybe moving to, be sure to do your research. Those areas get snow and get cold and you don't have the many months of nice weather FL has. Many of those areas have no jobs. Many of those areas that appear so great may not be. There is a reason that some of those towns are only 45% owner occupied (i.e. Cookeville) and 11% vacant (i.e. Crossville) properties and 21% of the population is living below the povery level (i.e. Crossville). In Holiday. FL, where I live, the homes are 82 % owner occupied. The vacant homes here are only vacant because a lot of people come to FL only part of the year and return north for the summer months. My neighbor does that because they are retired and can afford that luxury of the best of both worlds as far as weather goes. Since I have to work I chose FL as this feels like paradise to me compared to the northeast. Just my opinion and preference here.

[pixiewytch]

Well, there you go. If you are comparing it to the NE economy, Fl probably does look better but I have no desire to go live up there either. There are other options in different states that look much better than Fl. I also look at it this way. People up North may be huddled up in their houses with heat and/or fireplaces on for half of the year. Well, Floridians are holed up in their houses for half of the year with the A/C on because it is too humid (and dangerous in some cases) to do anything outside. Aside from not having snow to shovel, I don't see where that is necessarily any better or cheaper on the utility bills.

Oh, and since I've been seeing so many posts about "open windows" in Fl, let me just say that there are maybe 2 months out of the entire year where you can enjoy that. This is coming from someone who can handle a great deal of heat and keeps the thermostat around 80 degrees. Summer is too hot to open any windows and winter is too cold, unless you are nuts (maybe from up north) and you like your windows open when the temps are in the 50's. That is just to cold for me. So basically you get one month in the spring and one month in the fall where you might be able to open your windows and enjoy the fresh air, which I try to do as much as possible myself.

[SunKrist]

Just another note about the "great weather" in FL:

We have to run our A/C eight or nine months out of the year because of either the heat or the humidity, mostly a combinaiton of both. The rest of the year (three or four months) we are able to leave the windows open, or we need to run the heat. Nothing beats FL in late fall and winter. But the rest of the year, I would rather not be outside.

Granted, this weather pattern may not be the same in the rest of Florida, but here in the Tampa Bay area, that's what you get.