[bogie]

I've been renting in Palm Beach Gardens since December, after I sold my home in NJ. I'm just starting to look, but I can stay put until I find the right situation. I like Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens, but I'm open to other areas as well.

Now, I need to find a Realtor who is willing to help educate me on the Florida market and also willing to help me get a great price on a home. I'm a cash buyer, so I'm planning to search for a situation where I can get a home at 2005 prices.

[kort677]

Originally Posted by JimKing

It would seem to me that if you are completely new to Florida you should rent for a year first. Honestly, if you are starting from scratch and need to learn even the basics like what CBS is...why on earth would you buy in this crazy market? You would be setting yourself up to make a bad purchase and get taken advantage of. For goodness sakes, rent first and learn as much as you can about Florida real estate in that year before you buy.

this is true, but once you've gotten an education, if you find something you like, in a place you like, at a price you like, BUY IT!, houses are on sale and you'd be foolish to pass on the great deals available, those holding out might find themselves left out when things turn and they will turn.
The very low end may forever be down and town homes, which are rarely good investments might take longer to recover but decent single family homes in decent areas will more than likely be the first to get stronger

[pslOldTimer]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a well-built wood frame house in Florida. The trick is to know that one is well-built; if it was built by a major home building company, it is likely NOT well built. I personally have a strong prejudice against wood frame houses with stucco exteriors; they are dissimilar materials, and the flexing of the wood will cause the inflexible stucco mortar to crack. I have owned both CBS and wood frame buildings in Florida, and the new custom home I'm building will be 2x6 wood frame with HardyPlank siding.

As far as hurricanes are concerned, all homes in Florida must meet the building codes which have been greatly revised to cope with hurricanes. Even recently built mobile homes can withstand most storms. Technically, concrete block with withstand a storm until it breaks, which it will do catastrophecally with no warning -- when it starts to go, it's gone. Wood frame is flexible and tends to "give" with the wind, giving more warning before it is destroyed. Both can be destroyed if the storm is strong enough; neither has a serious advantage over the other given reasonable construction practices.

If it were true that no one should build anything but CBS, that would be required.

However, having said all that, if one does not understand the difference, then one should probably stick with CBS, because it's harder to screw it up when building even a cheapo house.

[tallrick]

Wood frame is a low-quality structure susceptible to Florida weather and pests. Reinforced concrete and steel are used for all large structures like skyscrapers, bridges, waterways because wood is a material that is too susceptible to weather and too weak. That being said there are some post-and-beam structures that are stronger than cbs, but they are much more expensive to build, and that quality is never used in homes anymore. Wood is only acceptable when used as heavy timbers, attatched with steel. Think of a bowling lane, it's unbelievably strong, but very heavy.

Another misconception is that a building should "give" in a hurricane. This is completely false. If a structure starts to move, it's like a piece of wire, you bend it over and over till it breaks. Also steel reinforced concrete is able to take loads better than wood ever can. A wood roof is only protected from the elements by 1/3 of an inch or less roofing material. A few holes from blown off shingles. or flying debris admits water to the home, soaking the cheap drywall used in a wood frame home. Meanwhile a concrete roof (like mine) can lose it's waterproof layer and still survive the hurricane with no water leaking through the concrete. Oh and you never have to worry about termites, and your home will outlast you with no problems.

If you must use wood for your home, use treated wood and a lot of hardware. Make your home as small as possible, and never, ever use stucco over wood. As for me I prefer the stability, beauty and peace of mind that only poured concrete can bring.

[rstate]

How was your roof built and is there a truss system? Also, how old is your home?

[tallrick]

Six inch poured concrete. No trusses and it was much easier to build! We finished the house in 1990. dad and I built it ourselves, the only things we contracted were place and finish of the first floor, second floor and roof. Total cost about 25,000.00.

[rstate]

That sounds solid - haven't seen many poured concrete residential roofs. Prices have gone up a bit since then. We just did a poured concrete wall system and it almost cost $25k just for the exterior walls.

[triton1]

isn't wood any good for the roof if 2 by 8s are used instead of 2 by 4s and everything is tied together with metal straps and/or screws? also, what if one just simply puts a hipped roof with a slope of no less than 35 degrees on the house instead of a gable end or shallow sloping roof?

[tallrick]

I prefer to live without the hassles of roaches, rodents, termites, rot, leaky roofs, replacing the roofing every 15-20 years, and the maintenance of cleaning or painting the roof. Wood can be strong, but you need to use tongue and groove sheathing at least 1 inch thick, or treated plywood. Concrete is easier to build and ready for hurricanes, tornadoes or whatever. Remember the Greenville KS tornado?

Despite being the biggest target in the town, the reinforced concrete farm supply silo survived the tornado. After hurricane Andrew even in the most devastated areas , reinforced concrete buildings survived. You can build well with the matchsticks, but I won't trust my life to pieces of dead trees.

[JimKing]

I also would stick to CBS. We had a CBS home in Jupiter Farms that was built by an engineer for his own family to live in. He had 18 inch thick reinforced walls and a roof specifically designed to survive high winds. We stayed through both hurricanes that hit Jupiter in August-September 2004 with complete confidence.