[halfbuck]

I'm helping my inlaws search for a vacation home in Florida.

We are planning to visit in February to check out some different areas. We'll probably start around Ocala and work our way south to Lakland via Orlando and Kissimmee. We thought that staying in a bit from the coasts would help with insurance costs.

We're looking for a nice all around vacation spot for the family. Just a warm place to relax in the winter, but still with some things to do. Water, nature, shopping, dining, golf, etc. An area that would attract short term renters would be a bonus to help recoup some of our costs when we're not using the place.

Currently we are sorting through realtor listings and viewing their photos. We're trying to use the sattelite images of the neighborhoods to discern if the areas seem "nice" or not. I realize that what we see on the screen may not translate into reality, but some areas do look much nicer from the sky than others and some can definetely be ruled out.

At first, we were only searching for a small house, but then decided to also consider condos. We're thinking that a condo could be easier for us maintenance wise since we would be out of town 75% of the time.

Some of the places we've found look great, but I just can't wrap my mind around what seems like low prices to me. 2 BR, 2 Bath condos that are only a few years old and have very nice looking facilities for $40,000???