Danish family moving to Naples- HELP (Tamiami: for rent, insurance, mattress)

[gamel]

Hello to you all,
Now we are in Naples and like the place so far. We live in at hotel- we had some apointments to see houses for rent, but the brokers never showed up. We have found some houses ( leawood circle) but too expensive. Now we consider buying a house here. The prices are very low. We have looked at Melrose, Berkshire and Sanctuary dr. 3 bedroom houses, bult within the last few years, prices 250.000-300.ooo.

What is your opinion for these areas ? We have been driving around and like the areas. Close to wallmart, close to school for the kids ( calusa) not too far away from the airport, I would be able to drop off my husband at the airport in the morning before the kids have to be at the school, don't think the traffic is much heavier than we are used to in Denmark.

Do any of you have any experiense in house-buying ? Anything we should be aware of ? We have found a very nice house ( status as condor- thats what we want because its easiest for us, we dont have to think about painting house, taking care of garden ect)1750 sqfeet from 2006 in sancutary dr with lake view for about 250.000, we might be able to get the furniture in the price or for a bit more. Theres also a never lived in house in the same street but not with lake view, price 235.000- but the view is to a lot of palms- not much sun for us.

Camilla

[CJFlorida]

Originally Posted by gamel

Hello to you all,
Now we are in Naples and like the place so far. We live in at hotel- we had some apointments to see houses for rent, but the brokers never showed up. We have found some houses ( leawood circle) but too expensive. Now we consider buying a house here. The prices are very low. We have looked at Melrose, Berkshire and Sanctuary dr. 3 bedroom houses, bult within the last few years, prices 250.000-300.ooo.

What is your opinion for these areas ? We have been driving around and like the areas. Close to wallmart, close to school for the kids ( calusa) not too far away from the airport, I would be able to drop off my husband at the airport in the morning before the kids have to be at the school, don't think the traffic is much heavier than we are used to in Denmark.

Do any of you have any experiense in house-buying ? Anything we should be aware of ? We have found a very nice house ( status as condor- thats what we want because its easiest for us, we dont have to think about painting house, taking care of garden ect)1750 sqfeet from 2006 in sancutary dr with lake view for about 250.000, we might be able to get the furniture in the price or for a bit more. Theres also a never lived in house in the same street but not with lake view, price 235.000- but the view is to a lot of palms- not much sun for us.

Camilla

That area is predicted to have the largest drop in housing prices of any in Florida. Those houses you mentioned are still way overpriced. You are talking about $142/square ft. Still much too high. Wait for that $250,000 house to fall to $175,000 at the very most.

Rent a house for 1 year, watch the prices fall, learn the market, and then buy a house you like for a lot less.

[RMD3819]

The Berkshire are is very nice and safe. In your situation I would rent first as CJ suggested. It is not a good idea to be buying when you are not only new to the area but new to the country as well.

A condo can be a good idea but you have to know about all the costs associated with condo ownership. All have maintenance fees that pay for the common areas such as the pool, parking lot etc., and these fees can be quite high. Some single family homes have these fees depending on where you live so you need to check that out also.

[gamel]

Originally Posted by CJFlorida

That area is predicted to have the largest drop in housing prices of any in Florida. Those houses you mentioned are still way overpriced. You are talking about $142/square ft. Still much too high. Wait for that $250,000 house to fall to $175,000 at the very most.

Rent a house for 1 year, watch the prices fall, learn the market, and then buy a house you like for a lot less.

Hello,

175 ?? How is it possible to get that low ? We looked at at new built home for 235- the seller loses money, its sold cheaper than the cost of builting.

We are going to pay about 1500 a month to rent a similar house and then have to buy furniture. The houses we are looking for are for sale with furniture.

We look at it as an investment, plan to live there for a yeare and then rent it out and use it as vacation house for a couple of weeks a year.

The realtor told os, the cheapes house sold in the sanctuary was sold for 199- it had to be sold right away because the home owner could not pay the mortage. The houses for sale now are not owned by people who cannot pay, but people moving out of state or moving to a larger house. They don't need money so I don't think they are willing to drop the price that much.

We planned to offer 220.000 for the house ( for sale for 249 ) - i'm afraid that if we get any lower we don't get a house at all.

Now we have stayed at the hotel for a week and we have look and looked around for houses for rent but with no luck, only in bad areas or apartmens on 3. floor- we want to live in a house.

[gamel]

the house we are looking at is 1742 sq, its pretty big I think, the price is 249.000 and has lake view, very nice view.....

What would be the ideal bet on this house ?

[HockeyMom72]

Originally Posted by gamel

Hello,

175 ?? How is it possible to get that low ? We looked at at new built home for 235- the seller loses money, its sold cheaper than the cost of builting.

We are going to pay about 1500 a month to rent a similar house and then have to buy furniture. The houses we are looking for are for sale with furniture.

We look at it as an investment, plan to live there for a yeare and then rent it out and use it as vacation house for a couple of weeks a year.

The realtor told os, the cheapes house sold in the sanctuary was sold for 199- it had to be sold right away because the home owner could not pay the mortage. The houses for sale now are not owned by people who cannot pay, but people moving out of state or moving to a larger house. They don't need money so I don't think they are willing to drop the price that much.

We planned to offer 220.000 for the house ( for sale for 249 ) - i'm afraid that if we get any lower we don't get a house at all.

Now we have stayed at the hotel for a week and we have look and looked around for houses for rent but with no luck, only in bad areas or apartmens on 3. floor- we want to live in a house.

Ours was an estate sale (sibling) which was on the market for 2 years. She did not need the money, but just wanted to get rid of it at this point. She originally listed it at $475,000 and turned down an offer of $400,000 last year. I guess she got burned with that, since she listed it last August at $375,000 and we bought it for $285,000. It was built in 2001 for $250,000.

Try looking around for estate sales. They will always exist, especially here in Florida. Maybe a lot of it is just plain luck of being in the right place at the right time?

We are in that 34104 zip, but this is a golf community and not very many families here: a lot of retirees and snowbirds.

I agree Berkshire Lakes is nice and much more family oriented. I would think in the next 2 months there would be a lot more rentals coming on the market when the season is over.

[RMD3819]

Originally Posted by gamel

Hello,

175 ?? How is it possible to get that low ? We looked at at new built home for 235- the seller loses money, its sold cheaper than the cost of builting.

We are going to pay about 1500 a month to rent a similar house and then have to buy furniture. The houses we are looking for are for sale with furniture.

We look at it as an investment, plan to live there for a yeare and then rent it out and use it as vacation house for a couple of weeks a year.

The realtor told os, the cheapes house sold in the sanctuary was sold for 199- it had to be sold right away because the home owner could not pay the mortage. The houses for sale now are not owned by people who cannot pay, but people moving out of state or moving to a larger house. They don't need money so I don't think they are willing to drop the price that much.

We planned to offer 220.000 for the house ( for sale for 249 ) - i'm afraid that if we get any lower we don't get a house at all.

Now we have stayed at the hotel for a week and we have look and looked around for houses for rent but with no luck, only in bad areas or apartmens on 3. floor- we want to live in a house.

First-forget about how much the seller makes or loses. That is not your problem.

Second-You need to recognize up front what you are getting into. I get the feeling you are getting desperate and have fallen in love with a single house or a single development. Buying a house ties you to it for a longer period of time than just renting. It may solve your current problem but remember you have to be able to afford the payments if it doesn't rent out. If you have the ability to handle this expense and only use it a few weeks a year then you will be OK.

There is nothing wrong with buying a house as an investment and for rental but realize you will have to have someone perform the upkeep while you are gone. Plus you will have to manage it from Denmark.

My other thought is the time frame to close on a house. Unless you have cash it can take several weeks-at least. Will the seller let you move in before closing?

[gamel]

Hello
We bought the house today- as an investment. After having red your messages, we placed a bid on 210 ( its on the marked for 249), we ended up with 225 and we get the house 1.march. I have found out it has been on the marked for 309 last year. It's a very nice house, lake view and from 2004. We hope the prices will get up again, we plan to keep the house for at least 5 years. We will live in it for the year we are here, my husband is going to stay here for 5 month more than me, then he has a place to stay and might rent some of the rooms out for other students as him selves.

Thanks for your advise, it made us make a low offer and we think its a ok deal we made. When we look at what other houses in the same street are sold at, our price is ok.

[gamel]

Originally Posted by RMD3819

The Berkshire are is very nice and safe. In your situation I would rent first as CJ suggested. It is not a good idea to be buying when you are not only new to the area but new to the country as well.

A condo can be a good idea but you have to know about all the costs associated with condo ownership. All have maintenance fees that pay for the common areas such as the pool, parking lot etc., and these fees can be quite high. Some single family homes have these fees depending on where you live so you need to check that out also.

We know all about these fees and are okay with that, don't think it's that expensive. We like that we can pay for the outside maintainence.

[RMD3819]

Originally Posted by gamel

We know all about these fees and are okay with that, don't think it's that expensive. We like that we can pay for the outside maintainence.

Good luck in your new home!