[faithfulFrank]

So........Why am I buying a house in Florida?? There seems to be a lot of negitives here...some I have learned from, but just for balance, I'd thought I'd try to start a positive thread. I admit, I'm a newbie here, and have A LOT to learn about Florida, but a person does not spend 6 figures on a home without having some reasons........here are mine. If I find I made the wrong decision after a few years, I can always go somewhere else......

1) I liked the community in the gated community I am moving in. The neighbors seem great. Good sense of community.

2) I think I will actually like the weather. I think I will tolorate the summers better than I can tolorate the Buffalo winters.

3) Florida is one of the best states tax wise for my pension, etc. I do not think that will change.

4) I am not scared of hurricanes where I am moving to in Leesburg. I'm thinking that by the time one hits the middle of the state it should lose some of its punch. I know how to replace shingles.....

5) Real estate prices have gone up there steadily...my equity will grow more then it is here in NY.

6) My taxes are 1/2 what I pay in New York. Even with the higher homeowners insurance, I am making out better.

7) The gated community I'm moving to seems safe and almost no crime. There are many activities I think i'll like.

8) The local hospital system is rated very highly. The paid fire/ems station is less then 1/2 a mile away from my house. If I need a paramedic, they will be there fast.

I suppose I could go on, and i'm sure there are things I need to learn. No place is perfect, but this seems like it is worth trying. If I do not like living here, I could always relocate somewhere else. What a great country we live in that we have that freedom.

We close on the house this week, and we will be down there by Wednesday for a week or two, checking and buying everything for the house. Then back to NY.......until retirement.

Frank D.

[MrTudo]

Florida's excellent man. Enjoy

[Margel]

It sounds wonderful. I too am relocating from Philadelphia sometime the end of this year into 2008. This forum has scared me to death, but I have found enough good threads to keep my enthusiasm going. I wish you luck in your new adventure.

[Need_affordable_home]

Good luck is all I can say. If your not happy, I hope you can resell your house and get back what you paid for it and more because of property taxes, insurance, hoa.

[florigidge]

frank, best of luck. i don't think you'll regret it. but, as you know, hang around here in this thread, and this forum, and sooner or later the same people will chime in about what a mistake you are making, yadda-yadda-yadda, and try to destroy any good feelings you might have about moving to florida.

last time you checked, it was still your life, right?

personally, i think you're in for an absolutely wonderful time. leesburg is a small, quiet place (though granted it's been a few years since i've been there), but i would imagine there are many activities for you to join in. plus, it's a good location for other florida activities.

again, my best to you.

[faithfulFrank]

Thank you all.
Bottom line, it feels right. We have a few friends who live there who came from our hometown up here, so the trail has been blazed, and they have been happy.

The Plantation is the gated community we are buying in, and it does seem to have a real sense of community. We have met the neighbors, who seem already like precious jewels to us.

Property values seem to have been on a steady slow upward climb for both the past 5 and ten year graphs, with no big swings either way. So I am wondering if values are more volatile in other areas of Florida......I do not know.

I may be very naive, and I know that we have a lot to learn, and that no place is perfect, but if we find that down the road, it is not our cup of tea, we can always do something else. I bought the home for what seems like a good price according to many in the area who seem to be "in the know", and I am not retireing for another 5 years, so I'm not too worried. If it turns out not right for us, we can try Tenn, Kentucky, NC, SC, AZ, Nevada, ot anyplace else we want to. What a blessed country we live in that we ALL can do that.

Thank you for the affirmations.....I really was not looking for that, I just wanted to add some balance, and a few reasons why we were doing "the big buy" now. It looks like if I did wait 5 years, we would not be able to do it, with values raising 135% in the past 5 years, if they continue to do even a fraction of that, it may be out of range in another 5 years.

Between now and then, it is a good tax write off, good investment, and a great place to visit every chance we can until we make the final move.

Another thing this does for us I believe is that it gives us something tangible to work towards. Before this, we just worked hard for some hard to know thing called "retirement".......but what is that?? now, we know. The house is my screensaver on my computer, and we have a picture of it on the fridge and on my locker at work. now we see where the finish line takes us. I cannot explain the value in that.

Closing is this next week.......can't wait. I just write all of this, because I just wanted to share a "newbie", perhaps niave, balanced but positive view......so many people DO retire to Florida.......there must be a reason, and since I have not seen that reason posted, I thought I'd try.

Frank D.

[Floridasunshine]

Welcome to FLorida, I am from Lake Erie area, I love Florida. Have never regreted it. I come from snow country as you do. I am curious why you chose leesburg? DId you have family there? Good luck and enjoy your home.

[wacahootaman]

I think Leesburg is a nice area. Lots of lakes, some hills, and no big city problems.

There are areas of Florida that I would not want to live in, but Leesburg is not one of them.

[faithfulFrank]

Thanks again.
I picked Leesburg simply because of friends there. Good friends of ours live across the street. We fell in love with the property. It seems to be a smaller town by Florida standards, and we fell in love with the Plantation.

We prayed about it a lot, and it felt right.

There were a few things I did not like about southern Florida, and I've never been in Northern Florida. I liked the idea of being in the middle, to hopefully reduce the chance of hurricane damage and the property fluctuation that may bring.

Maybe I picked there just because I did not know any better.....I had to start somewhere. For us it was a quick decision.....everyone who knows us was surprised, because I'm the kind of guy who researches 6 months before he buys toilet paper.....drives my wife nuts.

In many ways, we still cannot believe we are doing it.

Frank D.

[nomoresnow]

Once again, Frank, you've voiced all of my feelings and done it so well. Maybe we're really twins separated at birth??? Good luck on the closing and be sure to share more photos.

Me? I go down in 3 months to "summerize" after the tenants leave. I'll be there for a week, come back home for 4 months, then we're on our way for good. I have my best friend down there and I can't wait to see her more than a week at a time.

You sound as excited as I was when I bought last March (wow - almost a year now!) When the realtor told me our offer had been accepted, I hugged her and cried all over the place like a big ol' baby! I think it took a week for her shoulder to dry out.

Ours is also a gated community and the neighbors are very, very friendly.

It's nice to have someone enthused like I was and still am.

Safe trip to you and your wife.