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Location: Orlando, FL - used to be nice, a dump now. Anyone speak English down here???
340 posts, read 433,143 times
Reputation: 77
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I live in Lake Mary because we were forced out of Orlando due to skyrocketing rent. Our rent on a 2/1 apt went from $800/month to $1,300/month. Prices in Orlando are certainly out of sync with salaries and some say FL is slowly but certainly becoming "the Southern California of the East Coast". That means sky rocketing home prices with salaries that don't match the cost of living.
Home prices have gone down some in Central Fla, no question about it. Inventory is very high because a lot of real estate speculators, "let's get rich" (regular folks who watched some infomercial on TV and decided to flip a house) flipped it right as the speculators were flipping their homes, creating this massive downpour of homes into the market.
Home buyers are currently demanding all sorts of stuff (payment by sellers of closing costs, have carpet steam cleaned, new paint, etc), which is great. Things have to even out. Prices are still too high in Central Florida due to high demand. It is considered a "buyer's market" right now, but sellers are still cashing in massively from the housing hype/bubble of the last 4 years or so.
One thing to remember: Homeowner's insurance in FL is through the roof since 2004 (worst hurricane season ever). Property taxes are also freakin' high, so new buyers, do your math before you buy!! It will save a lot of tears and grief to you, your spouse, and your family later on. See that home for $200,000 you know you cannot comfortably afford, but you feel tempted? Have you added the property taxes and homeowner's insurance to that online mortgage/payment calculator you found on the seller's website? Did you add the Homeowner's Association fees? Have you considered the yard water costs, which are high since your grass has to be super green to avoid a fine from the Homeowner's Association? If not, maybe you should start considering all that. If now you feel too stretched to pay for lal these costs, then it is time you either move along and avoid buying anything or buy it and have ulcers trying to pay for the property for the next 10 years.
If you are getting an ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage), come cry at the forums later, when you are foreclosed upon. I have heard this story in FL all the time, it's getting old, and it is time people wake up to this reality: ARMs suck!
Also getting some "magical mortgage" where you pay like $200/mo for the 1st year has a lot of catches on it. Have someone esperienced and legally savy with you before you jump into one of those mortgages.
Oh on apt. conversions... LOL Oh my goodness, these are sooo funny. People actually PAY massive bucks to buy a crappy old apt unit that used to be a rental. Hello?!? Do you remember when you lived there and was mad about paying $1,000/month is rent? Well, why pay $1,500 in a mortgage for the same exact crappy apt unit??! These apts are still the same cheap construction, where you can hear neighbors yelling upstaris, people flushing their toilets next door.... why would anyone get into one of those "condos" is beyond me. Try selling one now.... yeah, impossible, huh? Oh remember the association fees that started off as an affordable $150 or so per month? Now they are about $300... $400 a month aren't they? Try finding some otehr sucker to take over that!
The bottom line is not to be too risky and jump into a mortgage on a home you know you cannot afford. If you feel that you are stuck in an apt forever and want a house (like we do), then maybe you should consider moving as an option too. It might be painful now, but it may help you financially later. FL used to be affordable, but now it is expensive and it is getting too crowded. Crime and poverty are growing at alarming rates. Illegal aliens are everywhere and this is causing even more attrition to the existing problems. So maybe moving sin't so bad after all.
And remember: If it seems to be too good to be true, it probably IS too good to be true. Being smart is key to your financial survival in this ruthless world!
Ps. I am not trying to discourage anyone.... I just like to be real and down to earth and get everything to think. Knowledge is power and you won't get any of that from your real estate agent, that is for sure!
You make some good points regarding affordability issues, but put down condos like the one I enjoy living in. Well here's my opinion--if you're of modest income and insist on a detached white-picket type house then your time here IS up. Get the minivans heading north outta the Sunshine State. I guess Florida will soon be only for old rich folk, toiling immigrants, hot beach babes looking for fun, and myself, the native beach bum enjoying his habitat. Oh well, like The Terminator says, "Hasta la vista BABY"!
That is until the big wind comes and sweeps them all away. Once the herd starts going elsewhere, sanity will return to this state. It's not fair for anyone to have to pay big bucks for some lousy condo. At least if you have a house you'll have a place for your FEMA roach coach. Camping is fun!!
You make some good points regarding affordability issues, but put down condos like the one I enjoy living in. Well here's my opinion--if you're of modest income and insist on a detached white-picket type house then your time here IS up. Get the minivans heading north outta the Sunshine State. I guess Florida will soon be only for old rich folk, toiling immigrants, hot beach babes looking for fun, and myself, the native beach bum enjoying his habitat. Oh well, like The Terminator says, "Hasta la vista BABY"!
Houses are only for rich people? LOL, are you kiddinig? And it's cheaper elsewhere? Where the state government rips you off for 6-8.5% ON TOP of what the federal government gets you for? Or how about paradise, like NC where the health insurance is more than DOUBLE what it is in Fla AND you get to open your pockets for an additional 6-8.25% of your earnings? Good deal, yes?
A good single family house in an acceptable-good neighborhood can still be bought for less than 200K in S Fla. Maybe not SE Fla, but certainly SW Fla and unless your a order taker at McDonalds you are still far ahead of places that some people have turned to flee toward ( NC, SC, GA ,) when considering state income tax, cost differentials in health care , technology infrastructure and more.
It may seem that Fla may have gotten out of reach , but unless your talking about living in the dark ages in the midwest, or deep DEEP south, it's STILL a better deal with a better lifestyle than most places.
I miss the old Fla that was such an incredible bargain, but guess what? It's gone. Now it takes a few bucks but when all things are considered.......it's not bad at all.
Have you personally gone and looked at properties elswhere?
That is until the big wind comes and sweeps them all away. Once the herd starts going elsewhere, sanity will return to this state. It's not fair for anyone to have to pay big bucks for some lousy condo. At least if you have a house you'll have a place for your FEMA roach coach. Camping is fun!!
I do understand your rationale on this post, but I don't believe that sanity will return. The tourism industry will purchase all available land in central and south Florida and develop as the biggest tourist community in the world.
Houses are only for rich people? LOL, are you kiddinig? And it's cheaper elsewhere? Where the state government rips you off for 6-8.5% ON TOP of what the federal government gets you for? Or how about paradise, like NC where the health insurance is more than DOUBLE what it is in Fla AND you get to open your pockets for an additional 6-8.25% of your earnings? Good deal, yes?
A good single family house in an acceptable-good neighborhood can still be bought for less than 200K in S Fla. Maybe not SE Fla, but certainly SW Fla and unless your a order taker at McDonalds you are still far ahead of places that some people have turned to flee toward ( NC, SC, GA ,) when considering state income tax, cost differentials in health care , technology infrastructure and more.
It may seem that Fla may have gotten out of reach , but unless your talking about living in the dark ages in the midwest, or deep DEEP south, it's STILL a better deal with a better lifestyle than most places.
I miss the old Fla that was such an incredible bargain, but guess what? It's gone. Now it takes a few bucks but when all things are considered.......it's not bad at all.
Have you personally gone and looked at properties elswhere?
My post was tongue in cheek, Mr. Tudo. Yes I'm kidding I fight doomsy inflammatory posts with scarcasm.
Location: Orlando, FL - used to be nice, a dump now. Anyone speak English down here???
340 posts, read 433,143 times
Reputation: 77
Boy, this thread really mushroomed, huh? ^_^
Folks:
I am done serving 10 years in Florida. To me, it has sucked so much I call living here for the past 10 years a "sentence". Ok, maybe it was nto THAT bad, but I am certainly ready 2 go.
SunnyDog, "toiling immigrants" is hardly what I would call the illegals aliens who cause a lot of the crime we see in Central Florida. I work in Immigration law and I see it everyday. Criminal aliens roaming the streets unsupervised, getting deported and coming back for more drug dealin a week later. FL wasn't always like that.
We, middle class, working folk, young familes, we are being driven out of FL by 3 things:
1. Housing costs (Buying is impossible, renting is getting impossible)
2. Property taxes
3. Homeowner's Insurance.
Tallrick is right when he says homes here are succeptible to hurricanes. We know that from the 2004 - 2005 hurricane season. This year it is a miracle from God that we didn't get hit. I am glad, because if one comes through next year, I will ahve moved by then.
MrTudo, you obviously are not looking elsewhere in America. In case you missed, Boise, Idaho boomed in the last 2 years because of places like FL and So. California and now it is a wonderful community. CO is full of wonderful, well priced communities too. Texas is another one... affordabl;e housing, awesome jobs. In Northern TX, the weather might even be tolerable in the summer.
Houses are for rich people only in FL. I tried to buy one a couple years ago, but it was impossible due to high demand. Florida is becoming So. California... it is too expensive to live here.
Condos are crap. You have to pay an "Association fee" that is usually over $300 a month. If a hurricane hit and the insurance is not enough to cover your home, you will finally read a section on your condo purchase agreement called "Special Assesments". By the time you decide to read it, you will probably have received a letter from the Condo Association saying you have to pay $15,000 cash (like every other condo owner) to cover for the damage. Sinkhole opens up? Well, wait for your special assesment letter. Don't pay the special assesment fee... be ready to be foreclosed upon. As a professional in the legal field, even the attorneys who work condo contracts say it is a bad idea to get a condo. I heard it from 3 lawyers just last month.
Don;t forget the mold. You own the inside walls in a condo and is mold pops in, YOU fix it! Yoy also still need homeowner's insurance for your belongings in your condo unit. That is important, as your downstairs or upstairs neighbor might set the **** place on fire with a candle after the hurricane or tropical storms knock down the power.
So, if FL becomes So. California (and we are begining to see signs of that with skyrocketing crime, home prices, insurance costs, massive traffic and road rage), then why stay here?
If you are moving or staying here for the "nice weather", yeah, you will enjoy it from Early-Dec to Mid-April. The rest of the year is 90 - 100 degrees every day. Humidity is usually no less than 90%, so you sweat like an animal. It starts off at 75degrees around 7:30am and it goes up to the sky from there. Nights are not bad... except the humidity keeps the temp on the upper 80s.
If you like all this BS, Florida, here you come and here I leave!
I am done serving 10 years in Florida. To me, it has sucked so much I call living here for the past 10 years a "sentence". Ok, maybe it was nto THAT bad, but I am certainly ready 2 go.
SunnyDog, "toiling immigrants" is hardly what I would call the illegals aliens who cause a lot of the crime we see in Central Florida. I work in Immigration law and I see it everyday. Criminal aliens roaming the streets unsupervised, getting deported and coming back for more drug dealin a week later. FL wasn't always like that.
We, middle class, working folk, young familes, we are being driven out of FL by 3 things:
1. Housing costs (Buying is impossible, renting is getting impossible)
2. Property taxes
3. Homeowner's Insurance.
Tallrick is right when he says homes here are succeptible to hurricanes. We know that from the 2004 - 2005 hurricane season. This year it is a miracle from God that we didn't get hit. I am glad, because if one comes through next year, I will ahve moved by then.
MrTudo, you obviously are not looking elsewhere in America. In case you missed, Boise, Idaho boomed in the last 2 years because of places like FL and So. California and now it is a wonderful community. CO is full of wonderful, well priced communities too. Texas is another one... affordabl;e housing, awesome jobs. In Northern TX, the weather might even be tolerable in the summer.
Houses are for rich people only in FL. I tried to buy one a couple years ago, but it was impossible due to high demand. Florida is becoming So. California... it is too expensive to live here.
Condos are crap. You have to pay an "Association fee" that is usually over $300 a month. If a hurricane hit and the insurance is not enough to cover your home, you will finally read a section on your condo purchase agreement called "Special Assesments". By the time you decide to read it, you will probably have received a letter from the Condo Association saying you have to pay $15,000 cash (like every other condo owner) to cover for the damage. Sinkhole opens up? Well, wait for your special assesment letter. Don't pay the special assesment fee... be ready to be foreclosed upon. As a professional in the legal field, even the attorneys who work condo contracts say it is a bad idea to get a condo. I heard it from 3 lawyers just last month.
Don;t forget the mold. You own the inside walls in a condo and is mold pops in, YOU fix it! Yoy also still need homeowner's insurance for your belongings in your condo unit. That is important, as your downstairs or upstairs neighbor might set the **** place on fire with a candle after the hurricane or tropical storms knock down the power.
So, if FL becomes So. California (and we are begining to see signs of that with skyrocketing crime, home prices, insurance costs, massive traffic and road rage), then why stay here?
If you are moving or staying here for the "nice weather", yeah, you will enjoy it from Early-Dec to Mid-April. The rest of the year is 90 - 100 degrees every day. Humidity is usually no less than 90%, so you sweat like an animal. It starts off at 75degrees around 7:30am and it goes up to the sky from there. Nights are not bad... except the humidity keeps the temp on the upper 80s.
If you like all this BS, Florida, here you come and here I leave!
You "work in immigration law"? You a lawyer? My sister is a lawyer, commercial real estate litigation, makes a six figure income, she lives in a condo and loves it. And I'm trying not to laugh out loud that you're planning to move to escape the immigrants (who you assume to be random "illegals") when you're someone in immigration law and immigrants are providing for your making a living. How do you you know the "illegals" you see on the street are in fact illegals? Did you demand to see their paperwork? Or is it because they look Hispanic?
....windstorm has raised that "special assesment" 300%....everything about the condo situation is true....door #1, #2, or #3....which problem do you want to take over?
I've lived here since the 90's built a home on the water & experienced all that brings, had my kids, got my kids outta here and I'm about ready myself.
Florida is a wonderful place to vacation...but when you live here it's so much different than that two week vacation where everything is palm trees & margaritas...
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Prices in Orlando are certainly out of sync with salaries and some say FL is slowly but certainly becoming "the Southern California of the East Coast". That means sky rocketing home prices with salaries that don't match the cost of living. 
Oh my goodness, these are sooo funny. People actually PAY massive bucks to buy a crappy old apt unit that used to be a rental. Hello?!? Do you remember when you lived there and was mad about paying $1,000/month is rent? Well, why pay $1,500 in a mortgage for the same exact crappy apt unit??! These apts are still the same cheap construction, where you can hear neighbors yelling upstaris, people flushing their toilets next door.... why would anyone get into one of those "condos" is beyond me. Try selling one now.... yeah, impossible, huh? Oh remember the association fees that started off as an affordable $150 or so per month? Now they are about $300... $400 a month aren't they? Try finding some otehr sucker to take over that!
Boy, this thread really mushroomed, huh? ^_^
I work in property management...
