Vero Beach - Old Sugar Mill Estates (Rio: homes, price)

[vigo]

We saw a home for sale on Date Palm Rd. for $420K (about 3 blocks north of Beachland Blvd). Not sure if that's the canopy tree area or not. It was an older home, in need of updating, but on a 100' x 135' lot in a lovely neighborhood. So there are deals to be had if you're willing to do a little remodeling.

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by justNancy

Sometimes it's not about where we want to be, but what we can realistically afford.

Sorry, I came back to edit so I don't sound argumentative. I agree 100% that the area of of A1A is beautiful. I also love Ponte Vedra. From what I understand, Vero is safer. I checked out houses near the beach in Vero and they were priced in the millions. I drove up and down the streets and stopped to write down the addresses of the homes with signs on the lawn. The least expensive home on one of those streets with the canopy trees was $875,000. Maybe we're not talking about the same area??

Yes I said :

"Floridaorbust was a good example of knowing what she wanted and I'm a good example of not finding the "right" place for me in my price range yet."

I'm satisfied where I am in Grove Isle, it's on the Intracoastal. However our Nature Park prevents you from seeing the water from your window. Other than that it'd have been perfect. So it's not my final destination but I'm not in any rush.

Well I don't know where you were but there's a single home listed on Wyn Cove Dr for under 300,000 on Trulia. It's on the barrier island south of the 17 st causeway. I don't think I claimed the barrier island was inexpensive.

Bougainvillea Ln, central beach, has a single concrete block listed for 325,000 in the "canopy street" area actually with an open house today. It's two blocks or so from the beach.

So maybe you were in the wrong area.

Go to Trulia and you can see what the homes are actually selling for versus the listing price and also mapped out. (It's not completely totally inclusive but no site is).

This is why people shouldn't go rushing off to buy something in a new area. It takes TIME to learn the town, streets, vibe, demographics, values etc.

Keep looking there's no rush IMO, I dont think we've hit bottom. The other thing is, realtors are referring clients to new listings before actually listing on MLS. I got my condo that way, it never made it to the MLS my agent called me the day she got the place. She remembered me from three months before.

A good realtor is priceless. A mediocre one is a liability.

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by vigo

We saw a home for sale on Date Palm Rd. for $420K (about 3 blocks north of Beachland Blvd). Not sure if that's the canopy tree area or not. It was an older home, in need of updating, but on a 100' x 135' lot in a lovely neighborhood. So there are deals to be had if you're willing to do a little remodeling.

Every single block (more or less) on the island has mature landscaping and alot of shaded front and back yards. The specific few blocks I was talking about are just some that to me, were shocking in that the curb trees actually met in the center of the street. They were betw Beachland down past 17th st close to the beach. By Riomar country club. But there are probably tons more over there all over the place including Date Palm I just don't have a visual of that particular street.

Anything on the island is nice. Listing prices are kinda irrelevant you need to check the comps for the actual selling prices. I use Trulia for that. But a good agent will have a complete printout to show you. There's alot of wealth in Vero Beach (in a quiet way) and there is no comparison between looking there especially on the barrier island and say, PSL inland ,flooded with foreclosures and housing developments with big families. It's apples and oranges. But for a single on the island, around 300,000 is a great price imo. And there could be several for less, I'm not houshunting now I just looked quickly on Trulia and found two right away.

[justNancy]

I've been in Vero Beach before, but not for many years. Still, the streets near the beach haven't changed. Most of the houses were built in the 1960s! Anyway, I'm not arguing, as I already wrote. I only know I drove around when I got here in June and wrote down the addresses & telephone numbers on the signs in front of several houses and called to see what they were listed for. There are a lot of beautiful areas in Florida where you can get a heck of a lot more for $400,000. Depends what a "deal" is to the buyer I guess. I got an email a couple of weeks ago because a home was reduced to $4 million. Compared to 2006 it is an incredible deal, less than half of its original price.

[verobeach]

You can get a lot more for your money inland if you're willing to drive 15 minutes to the beach. And H.O. insurance!!! Where I live, the insurance companies come looking for me! I live in a subdivision of estate homes where half of our residents are people who fled the island after the 2004 hurricanes to move inland.

Either way you look at it, you're gonna spend 15 minutes in your car whether it's to drive to the beach from the mainland or to drive from the mainland for all your needs, i.e., mall, Home Depot, Publix, etc.

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by justNancy

I've been in Vero Beach before, but not for many years. Still, the streets near the beach haven't changed. Most of the houses were built in the 1960s!

I got an email a couple of weeks ago because a home was reduced to $4 million. Compared to 2006 it is an incredible deal, less than half of its original price.

Well people like me consider it a good thing that the town and streets havent "changed" (which is not really all that true but if you mean the streets with older homes then yeah. So YAY for us. No mess here.

OK so what town in Florida right at the beach is actually DIFFERENT than a couple decades ago? (where one existed) I dont understand your point. Even so, That's just not true about everything built in the 60's. I dont' think you've really seen everything. ALL ALONG THE BEACH are newer developments gated that you can't even drive through unless you have access. From Vero to Sebastian/Hutchinson Island. There are several NEW developments too .

Not to mention there's some actual recent CONSTRUCTION going on up and down the beach proper. So, huh?

And if you walk up the beach via boardwalk or further south to north ALL the homes are newer than 60's even though there aren't that many of them right on the sand and the block behind.

And if I'm not mistaken the OP ASKED for an older home with charm, no?

And if you're looking at 4 million dollar homes then this whole discussion is moot, no?

I dont understand the comment about so many better values in other parts of Florida. Fine, but we are discussing Vero. And Vero is NOT ever going to be known as a 'BUDGET" town. Not a price shoppers haven. Never said it was.

Good luck finding a condo for 25,000 like you're renting now in another part of the state that's as NICE as Vero, though.

You'd probably love PSL. Cheap bargains and miles of "new" houses. Not my cup of tea at all.

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by verobeach

Either way you look at it, you're gonna spend 15 minutes in your car whether it's to drive to the beach from the mainland or to drive from the mainland for all your needs, i.e., mall, Home Depot, Publix, etc.

Exactly.

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by runswithscissors

Good luck finding a condo for 25,000 like you're renting now in another part of the state that's as NICE as Vero, though.

Huh??? Not even close.

[verobeach]

Originally Posted by justNancy

I've been in Vero Beach before, but not for many years. Still, the streets near the beach haven't changed. Most of the houses were built in the 1960s! Anyway, I'm not arguing, as I already wrote. I only know I drove around when I got here in June and wrote down the addresses & telephone numbers on the signs in front of several houses and called to see what they were listed for. There are a lot of beautiful areas in Florida where you can get a heck of a lot more for $400,000. Depends what a "deal" is to the buyer I guess. I got an email a couple of weeks ago because a home was reduced to $4 million. Compared to 2006 it is an incredible deal, less than half of its original price.

1960's?? My house was built in 2004. Where do these errant blanket statements come from?

[justNancy]

This has gone way off topic. First of all, I said "most." We were talking about the homes on canopied streets near Riomar. The listings I've seen in Riomar are all over $700K and many are in the millions. I honestly don't want to keep debating, since the OP was about Old Sugarmill Estates, right? It's like the comment that I'm renting a condo that costs $25,000 when it was just on the market for $80K+. I'm not the only one making blanket statements. For some reason, I seem to be under attack here, but I can only tell you that, from what I saw, $400K did not buy much on the barrier island, and most of the houses in that price range were built in the 1960s and 1970s. I looked at some condos that were under $200K, but there wasn't much of a selection.

By the way, I also never said anything negative about Vero Beach in any of my posts.

Originally Posted by verobeach

I live in a subdivision of estate homes where half of our residents are people who fled the island after the 2004 hurricanes to move inland.

You don't live on the barrier island? Then I don't understand your last post. I don't want to get kicked off of this forum, so I guess I'll just stop, but I'd be an idiot to say that every house in Vero Beach was built in the 1960s since I'm living here now and have looked at many newer homes. We were talking about the streets off of A1A and Ocean Drive.