[nomoresnow]

Originally Posted by faithfulFrank

Kimba,
A month ago I'd never think I'd be buying a house now.........
BTW nomore snow, Thanks!

A friend of mine convinced me to take the money out of the equity of my existing house now, and buy now where we wanted to be. Great tax advantages, we can visit a few times a year and write it off, etc.
homes in the zipcode I bought in went up 135% in the past 5 years......

If I wait until then, I may not be able to afford it. I'm usually real skiddish about this type of thing, but so far, I feel very "right" about it. My last son is a senior in H.S., so he will be off to college next fall, making us empty nesters......it feels great we now have a place to go.

Before now, retirement was just some "blob" I was working hard for. Now it has an address......

Frank D.

Frank, I think we're living parallel lives on opposite sides of the state! I went to N. Ft. Myers in March to visit a friend, came home with a new house. Tenants are currently in our home (which makes me extremely jealous!), and we're moving down in Sept. when hubby retires. If you give me a few minutes, I can tell you the # of days left! Once you get under that one year mark, it just starts to fly. I hope I can survive till then. What with single-digit temperatures up here, I'm ready to walk to Florida, regardless of the naysayers.

Fair warning, though - the tax write-offs aren't as good as we thought they'd be. I still wouldn't trade it, tho. It's still ours and we're still moving.

[faithfulFrank]

nomoresnow,
Funny thing was, in December, when this all started, we too visited friends in first Tampa, then Ft Myers for 4 days, then Leesburg.......
My friends in Ft Myers have 11 kids, thank God we stayed next door in their vacant rental.....(hehe) Great kids though, and some great churches in Ft. Myers area.
In as far as buying, I'm doing it now for many reasons.....

1) at the current rate of home prices in thae zip code we bought in, we got a good deal based on a small 2 month "dip" and motivated sellers.....I'm sure it will go up so as to not be affordable in 4 years.

2) My wife gets real down in the winter, and now we can go down there just before and after peak rental times to "get the place ready", and write off the trip.

3) 27 year straight line depreciation takes about 8k off the taxable income alone, not counting repairs, utilities, etc, to offset any rents.

There are more reasons, but those are some. How cool we seem to be doing simular things. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.

Frank D.

[dreamer1]

Hey Frank, I too am from WNY. My wife and I have a vacation home in Davenport Florida. But, there isn't a day that goes by in the winter that I don't think about moving down permanantly!! This Buffalo weather gets to you after a while. I continually read the complaints about high taxes and other bad things in Florida. Those complainers should live in WNY and get our annual property tax bill along with our January weather. They would stop their complaining.

[MB2]

Originally Posted by dreamer1

Hey Frank, I too am from WNY. My wife and I have a vacation home in Davenport Florida. But, there isn't a day that goes by in the winter that I don't think about moving down permanantly!! This Buffalo weather gets to you after a while. I continually read the complaints about high taxes and other bad things in Florida. Those complainers should live in WNY and get our annual property tax bill along with our January weather. They would stop their complaining.

We're just getting our bills, with OUR weather (hurricanes) here. And getting even more bills AFTER that (It's called hurricane damage), or complete loss of home.....
So, getting bills, and being snowed in right now, sound mighty fine to me

[Shores9]

Originally Posted by MovingBack2PA

We're just getting our bills, with OUR weather (hurricanes) here. And getting even more bills AFTER that (It's called hurricane damage), or complete loss of home.....
So, getting bills, and being snowed in right now, sound mighty fine to me

Ever hear of an evacuation because of an approaching snow storm… NO

In a snow storm there can be loss of power due to downed electric lines, businesses close - limbs of trees break sometimes causing damage. There’s shortages of everything including at times home heat causing broken pipes and flooding or at minimum cold showers. In some regard sounds similar to a Hurricane but there is no evacuation – not at least that I remember from living in NY.

Instead people stay and deal with the snow and ice and cold. Instead people injure themselves shoveling or get sick from the exposure or even die in car accidents.

I rather reconstruct my house than my back any day!!! I rather have the sun than seasonal attitude disorder/depression. I'd rather wait out a hurricane in a shelter than die in a 20 Car pile-up on the interstate

Say what you want about Hurricanes they are no worse than blizzards or quakes or any other natural event

[MrTudo]

Originally Posted by myfask

tudo, come on up to Jax. I have 3 dozen bagels stashed in the freezer that I brought back from Phila at xmas. They are soooo good, I had forgotten what a difference it makes in boiling the bagels before baking.
It was wonderful up here yesterday 70's with a great breeze I was out in the garden trimming and pruning. my blueberries and blackberries are putting out new leaves and there are blossoms on my strawberries.
Today was the perfect example of "why I live in Fla"
Karla

Heheh now if you told me you had salt sticks..............

Thanks for the offer !

[faithfulFrank]

Hey, this is getting to be a fun thread......
I dislike the cold season, but my wife gets somewhat depressed by it.
The new house.......there is an 8x10 of it on the fridge, it is my new screensaver on my mac, and there is a pic of it in my wallet and on my locker at the firehouse.

No place is perfect, I think it is more attitude then anything else.

I cannot explain it, but just knowing we own this new house, (well we will in a week or two), really helps living up here. If anything happens to me, (It's a bit of a dangerous job), I know my wife is set and has a safe and friendly place to go, and will not have to deal with the hassle of not knowing where to go or what to do.

Here in Western NY, at night, if you are real still and quiet, you can HEAR your car rusting....

As to the hurricanes, am I wrong to think that I am a bit safer then being on the coast.....Being in Leesburg, I'm an hour and a half from either coast.
I'm thinkng that MOST storms lose most of their punch by then, and about the most that could happen is that I lose some shingles....am I being naive?

I've talked to a few insurance folks in Leesburg, and they tend to mirror my thoughts.

Snowstorms can be bad...I think of the extra costs in living up here....$2000 snowblower, quickly rusting cars that look BAD underneath, (ask any mechanic) automatic generator ($5000) energy efficient windows, stormdoors, R50 insulation, calcium for walks, "winterizing' the pool you use for three months if you are lucky, etc,etc. Yeah, I'll pay for some A/C down there.......

Here is a thought I have that may fuel some discussion....

The retired folks I've seen and met seem happier then the ones I see everyday here in Western NY. The older folks up here are here because of one of two reasons a) family is close. or b) they did not plan well for "the golden years", and are now stuck here.

Down there, at least in the gated communities, they are there because they planned well for it, and want to be there. BIG DIFFERENCE.

Any thoughts? (If this is hijacking a thread, I'm sorry, I don't mean too...you can disregard, I do not want to be rude.....)

Frank D.

[nomoresnow]

As far as I'm concerned, Frank, go ahead and be "rude". At least you're not complaining constantly like some folks.

Once again, we're paralleling. Our home is our wallpaper, too, and at work, I have a photo from above of the community clubhouse/pool area. Sometimes it helps get me thru the day, sometimes it taunts me - "You're not here in this beautiful weather!"

Anyway...single digits here again this morning. At least the sun's shining...sort of. I hear Buffalo's going to get a bunch of snow. Please keep it there, ok???

Oh - we can't wait to sell that snowblower, either. Think we'll hold onto it for a couple more months, though. Oh, and the community we're moving to? They promise to mow our lawn and get rid of any snow that accumulates in the driveway.

We're keeping our generator, though (it's a portable). With any luck, it'll never get used.

[IBNYer]

Frank, No you are not hijacking my thread. I can't believe the replies!
We are on the same page, literally.
7 more years for me to become a permanent resident, but at least I have Mom to visit and the in-laws as well. Besides the numerous other family members and friends that don't seem to complain at all. In fact, all I hear are the positives. My cousin asks me at every family function how much time we have until retirement since we have the same year planned. Too bad he'll be 55 while I'll be 48!
So Frank don't apologize for hijacking, just keep up the positive attitude!!

[faithfulFrank]

Thanks Guys,
You are all too kind. This forum is kind of therapy for me......If I can't be there yet, I can be here on the forum.....

On a mac computer, we have what we call "widgets", that run in the backround..they are free......I have one that "counts down the days" until I can move down there....today it says I have 1623 days to go.....

There is a lively discussion going on another thread here about needing A/C in Florida....that has also been fun.

For us, I just got my finiancing in order, should close on the mortgage by the end of the month, so we can go down there and pay cash for the house....cannot wait until it is officially ours.....

Frank D.