[Need_affordable_home]

How much would Florida have to drop to be correctly priced or "worth it" for you?

I say 30-50% drop to be realistic and in line with incomes. Us middle class workers are making $35k to $50k a year and can afford $50k to $140k of housing depending on other debts, how well we manage our finances, how much the state decides to charge for property taxes and insurance and how much we spend on other expenses like food, gas, clothes, utilities, etc.

The problem is the cheapest houses in south Florida will cost $150k for a 2/1 shack in a questionable neighboorhood. Nicer houses in safer neighboorhoods cant be touched for less than a quarter million! North Florida is less expensive but there arent as many jobs and the salaries tend to be lower, I know this, ive checked the classifieds.

Condos are even more overpriced. They should cost 3/4th as much per living square feet as houses. But yet they cost the same! A few days ago I was driving past a huge billboard sign that said "new development condos for $229,000" Those condos are probably 2/2 maybe 3/2 and about 1200 living square feet. LOL you can get a bigger house with a backyard than those condos for just a few thousand more at a lower cost per living square foot!

Small 1/1 condos should be priced at $50k to $75k to be correctly priced. You can build 100 1/1 condos per acre of land for low rise and much more than that for high rise. Lets assume an acre of land costs $500k for condo developments, then this comes to only $5k of land per 1/1 condo. The construction costs should be $30k to $50k per 1/1 condo at a total cost of $3-5 million to build a complex of 100 condos. If I am wrong, let me know.

Larger 2/2 condos may be priced at $66k to $110k due to the increased space and the fact you cant build as many units per acre of land. I dont know if this is apples to apples but I have compared condos in Texas and you can easily get a 2/2 for $50k. I already know the land costs are much less but each condo only occupies a tiny fraction of an acre so not much saving there. Construction costs in Texas appear to be half to two thirds that of Florida. So the developers pay like $15k to $30k average each 1/1 condo and the land costs come out to $1,500 per condo. They are priced at $25k to $50k from what ive seen which is fair and gives them a big 50% plus profit over wholesale costs!

You can use similar math for the cost of houses and why I believe prices arent in touch with reality. Share your comments and if you think my math is wrong, feel free to do your own math

[bluemaddy]

I almost moved to Florida....I still have a Realtor and am checking the MLS daily. The wages are FRIGHTENING. I am an RN in NJ. I live in a beautiful home on an island. I definitely live with the upper middle class. I make a very nice salary and am able to travel, drive a new car, and as I said LIVE ON AN ISLAND. What could be better? I spoke with several different hospitals in the Tampa, Sarasota, and Saint Petersburg area. I even visisted a few and they wanted to hire me with my credentials...but the pay was minimally 1/3 less than what I make now. I couldn't believe it. A nurse is a nurse is a nurse but they don't get paid in the south. The NE coast does have more expenses in general...but WOW. I love NE coast living but am tired of the cold weather (as if hurricanes are fun).

I think Real Estate is over priced everywhere. My home is for sale in Ocean City, NJ with a price tag over $1,000,000. I can only afford this home because I have owned it since before the Real Estate boom. It's a problem everywhere. At least here I can pick up shifts and make an extra $25,000 a year. I could never do that in the south. I am hoping your taxes reduce and I will come down. I will be able to live mortgage free when I sell my property in NJ, but I can't afford your taxes and insurance.

[RedWingsFan]

The prices would need to drop a bit to be in line with salaries, no doubt. I don't find the home prices to be high overall. They are just high compared to the low wages. I can't understand why the salaries are so low in Florida. I agree with the nurse above, why on earth would she ever want to come here considering those wages? The wages need to come up so people feel like they are making a decent salary.

[LandShark99]

Originally Posted by RedWingsFan

The prices would need to drop a bit to be in line with salaries, no doubt. I don't find the home prices to be high overall. They are just high compared to the low wages. I can't understand why the salaries are so low in Florida. I agree with the nurse above, why on earth would she ever want to come here considering those wages? The wages need to come up so people feel like they are making a decent salary.

Easy. Everyone wants to live in Florida. Everyone moves here. There are not a lot of jobs here so people take what they can get and employers can ALWAYS get more workers. There is a steady pool of fresh yanks and immigrants that will grab those jobs if none of the Floridians will. Tourism is the biggest industry here spawning tons of minimum wage jobs in Food Service and the Hotel industry. As long as people will keep filling those jobs there is no incentive for employers to have to raise wages.

In Atlanta people quit taking the minimum wage retail jobs. Before you knew it all the malls were paying $10+/hour and begging for workers. See? It works if you revolt. Didn't take long either!

[the_pines]

Florida doesnt have to pay high wages. They probably dont ever plan to. Its meant to be a retirement state and a tourist destination. They count on millions of seniors who are retired, dont work, and have a lot of money to spend. As long as there is cheap labor around to build housing and landscape everything is working as intended. No not everyone wants to live in Florida. Many do, atleast until the heat and humidity, or lightning, torandos and hurricanes remind them how unstable Florida is. Im one of the many who want out of here. Another day is to long.

I cant imagine how bad a lot of people in SoFla want to leave. Its very overrated. Ill take more affordability and the cold and cloudy weather over hurricanes and tornados anyday. Anywhere pays better than Florida does. Oh and do you really want to know how hard tradeskills are here in the heat and sun?? Its brutal on a person and there are no benefits. Florida only has illegals to look forward to soon enough to build everything for them because jobs dont pay. Forget any benefits altogether. If you make more than $10 you're "lucky." A good job here pays $12. Thats intense blood sweat and tears labor in exhausting heat, humidity and relentless UV rays. And you get to look forward to trying to over-extend yourself for adequate square footage on a home, high insurance rates for everything, and the oncoming hurricane season.

[hiknapster]

Interestingly, the retirees take a lot of the retail jobs, too. You would really be surprised. Retailers LOVE them because the seniors are only looking for a part-time job with no benefits. A lot of them want a small job just to get out of the house. It really cuts into those unskilled folks who are just struggling to put a roof over their head.

[Jackiev]

The point is...you get what you pay for. The weather, the beaches, the lifestyle. That is all a part of it. If you wanted to pay $150k for a nice house, go somewhere that does not have any of those things and you will find it. It is not just about the house here. It is about the life that comes with it. You can't expect to live in paradise without paying a little extra for it!

As for jobs, I really don't know what industry you are looking for, but people move here everyday because of the abundance of jobs. The real deal is that if you are not good enough at your job, someone else is right in line behind you ready to take it.

[Jammie]

Jackie, although I agree with part of your post, I do want to add that Fla. isn't the only state that has beauty to it. Many people are leaving Fla. for a less expensive life and they're going to areas with beautiful mountains and waterfalls.

But back to the original question. What they need to do is go back to the prices of 2002. Add 3%-5% for each year thereafter and that would seem like a fair value. There are just too many people losing their homes or struggling to pay their insurance and taxes and mortgages to be able to say that real estate is priced correctly.

[RedWingsFan]

Jammie- you are so correct!

I for one don't see Florida as paradise. Not after having lived in the west for a decade. Is it better than places on the east coast? Yes. It's better than my native Michigan. But is it better than living in the west? Not to me. To me there's a lot of beauty in the west- I miss mountains something terrible. I miss open spaces and being able to see aross a valley and see all the lights at night. Florida is filled with mangled trees... they are mangled from the storms I guess. But they don't look pretty to me, they look like a mess.

I love the ocean, which I also visited regularly in the west as well (when we would take the four hour ride to California). But I really miss the landscape of the west. I miss mountains! And with those mountains there were higher paying jobs, no hurricanes/tornadoes, lower property taxes, etc.

So... the point is - that while Florida is paradise to some, it's not to others. I came to this side of the country to be by family... not for paradise. But I'm rethinking the whole thing after learning so much being here.

[Need_affordable_home]

Great posts everyone. Can anyone re-read my first post about $50k condos in Florida? Maybe You guys can find 100 people that all want to buy a condo and we can cut out the developer as a middle man and go directly to the construction company to get them built. Then we can live in $50k condos instead of paying those greedy developers $150k for the same condo!