[sunrico90]

Question, if you are retired will it be better to rent or purchase a home. Less expensive and zero overhead cost for renters. If you purchase a home you get a tax deduction but many other associated fees. I'm thinking that renting might be the way to go for the retired person. What you all think?

[tallrick]

Originally Posted by SKB

We certainly will not be entertaining ideas of living in any communities that support HOA. Five acres is a bit of a stretch, the three dogs would like that but for me no way,I want no more than 1/2 acre.
50's style wood lanes and 10 pin would be heaven to my husband. I better not tell him this or he will want to have a bowling ally in the house too. If you decide to put together a league let me know and I will tell him.

SKB

I have already contacted the USBC and they say when I am ready they will inspect the lanes and I can be sanctioned for leagues. The lanes are already in my storage room, along with two Brunswick A-2's. As for 5 acres, I would leave all the land natural, so there's no work. That is, unless I need to farm to get those taxes down!

[sunrico90]

Originally Posted by tallrick

I have already contacted the USBC and they say when I am ready they will inspect the lanes and I can be sanctioned for leagues. The lanes are already in my storage room, along with two Brunswick A-2's. As for 5 acres, I would leave all the land natural, so there's no work. That is, unless I need to farm to get those taxes down!

Rick,

Can you post a picture of your area?

[tallrick]

where I live or where I own the empty land?

[pianogal]

Originally Posted by sunrico90

Question, if you are retired will it be better to rent or purchase a home. Less expensive and zero overhead cost for renters. If you purchase a home you get a tax deduction but many other associated fees. I'm thinking that renting might be the way to go for the retired person. What you all think?

Sunrico, I have been thinking along the same lines recently. In the not too distant past it would have been a no brainer - owning was always better. Both mine and my husband's parents owned their home and upon retirement had no house payment to worry about. However, that was before the days of high property insurance and exorbitant property taxes. Even if my property taxes are frozen at the current amount - do I really want to pay almost 5K a year in property taxes when I retire? Will I have a choice? At least it's tax deductible - and hopefully the investment in housing will continue to appreciate at moderate levels. If I rent, I am at the mercy of a landlord raising rents and have no investment.

Right this minute, I would probably rent, but longterm.....I think better to buy...but perhaps that's still the old way of thinking. Times may be changing...

[tallrick]

Renting is not for me, ever. I have too much stuff to move at a moment's notice, and don't want to live in some run down house either. Then after a hurricane damages the house become homeless, NO WAY! Better to move somewhere affordable than rent because of bubble mania.

[brian_2]

Originally Posted by macguy

If you want real classic Florida this would be it
http://www.stranahanhouse.org/
Ivy Stranahan was good friends with my mom. I always liked that house when I was a kid. I even went to Stranahan high school.

OK, the following post strays from the topic a bit so read no further if you're firmly planted in the here & now.

There was a house in Coconut Grove back off Main Highway (the name escapes me, it's been a long time) that was a popular tourist sight (along with & near the Coconut Grove Playhouse), & it personified how they use to build houses to take advantage of the breezes (like the Stranahan House), and how those sweeping veranda porches provided comforting shade (w-a-y before thumping auto bass, flavored Margaritas, and meth. I can close my eyes & imagine the way back days of men sipping brandy in their white linen pants and straw hats, and ladies attending to babes in wicker hampers under those wide shady porches). How these homes fared in tropical storms I can imagine, having gone through Andrew, I know few structures escape that level of wrath.

Many of the negative changes in Miami since the early 1980's makes me very, very sad, but change is inevitable in life - no getting around it. IMO, I don't really call what has transpired since those times 'progress' at all (regression?). It's just more for the few, and less for most.

BTW, Did anyone here see that quirky little film, 'Sunshine State'? What did you think? For me, it felt funny seeing that actress outside of her Soprano character.

Sometimes I wish I could take a time machine back to my earlier days in South Florida - don't we all?

[sunrico90]

Originally Posted by pianogal

Sunrico, I have been thinking along the same lines recently. In the not too distant past it would have been a no brainer - owning was always better. Both mine and my husband's parents owned their home and upon retirement had no house payment to worry about. However, that was before the days of high property insurance and exorbitant property taxes. Even if my property taxes are frozen at the current amount - do I really want to pay almost 5K a year in property taxes when I retire? Will I have a choice? At least it's tax deductible - and hopefully the investment in housing will continue to appreciate at moderate levels. If I rent, I am at the mercy of a landlord raising rents and have no investment.

Right this minute, I would probably rent, but longterm.....I think better to buy...but perhaps that's still the old way of thinking. Times may be changing...

Pianogal,

This is the choice that many are confronted with. Not a perfect world and we all have to adapt and adjust to the fluctuations in the real estate world.

One suggestion for your in-laws/parents will be to get HOI with a high deductible maybe $10K and the policy should drop a lot. Also maintain a safety nest to cover in case that a hurricane hit.

I have another 8 years of payments and if we keep the house, I will increase my deductible as stated above or higher to keep some type of insurance coverage. Again is not black and white anymore, must look at all the shades and take a decision based on your needs.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Originally Posted by brian_2

BTW, Did anyone here see that quirky little film, 'Sunshine State'? What did you think? For me, it felt funny seeing that actress outside of her Soprano character.

I loved that movie. I love John Sayles. We visited the place where they filmed the African-American beach.
Remember Alan King's character? "Nature is overrated."
Pause.
"You'll miss it when it's gone."

Y'all, I have spent the last 17 months renting. Ugh! I realize there's different kinds of renting, but I've mostly disliked it. However, I agree that it is not a black and white situation.

[brian_2]

Originally Posted by cil

I loved that movie. I love John Sayles. We visited the place where they filmed the African-American beach.
Remember Alan King's character? "Nature is overrated."
Pause.
"You'll miss it when it's gone."

Y'all, I have spent the last 17 months renting. Ugh! I realize there's different kinds of renting, but I've mostly disliked it. However, I agree that it is not a black and white situation.

" I love John Sayles"

Yeah, me too. Not as much as Fassbinder, Hitchcock, or Cassavettes, but he's in my top 100.