Moving to North Port, any advice? (Plantation, Lakeside: real estate, foreclosure, property taxes)

[sg928]

Originally Posted by kmtjss

That's funny because here in Upstate NY they say you can't get any good Italian food in Florida. The thing is a lot of Ny's moved there so now they have a lot of places in Fl to eat. Nothing like a good Ma and Pa Italian Deli.
Thanks again

One of the best Italian resturants in Buffalo, NY just opened up a resturant in Sarasota. "Casa De Pizza", nothing fancy, just good food.

[Wutsup]

Originally Posted by SoFLGal

I have 3 kids and we live in North Port. I would look in Charleston Park if you have kids. It is definitely a very kid friendly neighborhood. If you are retired and like to golf, Heron Creek would probably be a better choice. Lakeside Plantation also has a lot of kids but it has a yearly CDD fee of $1432, that Charleston Park doesn't have. The Woodlands seems to be attracting young families as well. Everyone I have talked to that has bought in there seems to be very happy.

If you are looking into a gated community be sure you look at all of the fees and amenities so you are comparing apples to apples

Are these all "Gated Communities" I would like to know more about them. We do not have these where I live. How much do they cost? What is it like? Are there lots of rules? Just wondering. Thanks.

[SoFLGal]

Hi Wutsup,

You can choose to live in a gated community or not. Not everywhere is gated. The cost depends on the community you select. The costs are different in each community as are the amenities.

Most of the communities have deed restrictions, or community rules that people must follow. i.e. you cannot have vans/trucks with advertising in your driveway, your trash can must not stay out over 24 hours, in some there are restrictions on the number of pets and/or size of pets, the color or your house has to fit in with the neighborhood scheme. These are just a few examples. The restrictions are put in place to keep the property values up.

Some communities also have CDD fees and some do not. CDD fees are an extra tax over in above your property taxes. It is to pays for the infrastructure and maintenance of the community, like building the roads, maintaining the shrubs and trees, maintaining the common areas, etc.

[MomInNY]

this has been a great thread to read.. I'm still a bit leery of NP.. does any of the originals of this thread have some new insight? this was started a year ago, I see. As for COL in NY, it depends on where in the state you're talking. Where I am on the rez, taxes are low.. wonderfully low, but go 7 miles to Ellicottville and you're looking at 3500+ and in Cattaraugus, that village is a HOLE and taxes are even higher than E'ville. I'd like to know a bit about the homeschool environment down there. Also are there any retirement communities that allow children? Nobody's contacted me off list, but I really wouldn't mind if anyone did. I'm getting the idea from the boards that we should really start out with a rental.. and go from there. BTW, what on earth is a short sale?

[SoFLGal]

I think it would be a good idea to start out renting, especially if you don't know the area. Even if it's only for a few months so you can investigate the area for yourself and find out which area is a fit for you.

To answer you question about short sales-This is when the bank agrees to take less than what is owed on the mortgage, hence the term short sale or shorting the sale.

Here's the scoop on short sales. The Realtor puts the home on the market, not knowing what the bank will take. The bank won't say what they will take until there is an offer sent in to them. So the Realtor generally puts the home on the market WAY less than what the bank would ever consider taking, so they get an offer to the bank and know what the bank will take. For example, the the mortgage might be $300,000 and the Realtor might put the home on the market for $125,000 to get offers. The bank usually comes back within 10% or so of what owed on the mortgage, generally they are not willing to bargain and takes several months to get an answer. Most people think that they will be willing to take much less because they don't want to foreclosure and end up with the property. This simply is not true.

Then there is foreclosed/bank owned/REO's/corporate owned, that is a totally different thing. Whatever you see for the list price is what it will be sold for (often times much less) unless there are multiple buyers. You usually hear back from the bank in two weeks or less and sometimes within 48 hours.

In my opinion, short sales are a big waste of time for the most part. Obviously if you have someone looking at a home around $125,000 they are not going to be buying a home for nearly $300,000, like my example above. I would stick to the foreclosures. There are plenty of deals if you go that route.

As far as retirement communities in the area that allow kids-if they are a true 55+ community, then no they wouldn't allow children to live there. There are many communities in the area that are considered to have an older crowd. If you take a trip down here and drive through the neighborhoods and look for kids bikes, play equipment, skateboard, mini vans, etc. That would give you an idea of neighborhoods that would have more kids. If you don't see this it would probably be more retirees.

[HH31]

Can anyone tell me about the Venetian golf and river club

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by SoFLGal

Here's the scoop on short sales. The Realtor puts the home on the market, not knowing what the bank will take. The bank won't say what they will take until there is an offer sent in to them. So the Realtor generally puts the home on the market WAY less than what the bank would ever consider taking, so they get an offer to the bank and know what the bank will take. For example, the the mortgage might be $300,000 and the Realtor might put the home on the market for $125,000 to get offers. The bank usually comes back within 10% or so of what owed on the mortgage, generally they are not willing to bargain and takes several months to get an answer. Most people think that they will be willing to take much less because they don't want to foreclosure and end up with the property. This simply is not true.

Then there is foreclosed/bank owned/REO's/corporate owned, that is a totally different thing. Whatever you see for the list price is what it will be sold for (often times much less) unless there are multiple buyers. You usually hear back from the bank in two weeks or less and sometimes within 48 hours.

In my opinion, short sales are a big waste of time for the most part. Obviously if you have someone looking at a home around $125,000 they are not going to be buying a home for nearly $300,000, like my example above. I would stick to the foreclosures. There are plenty of deals if you go that route.

Thanks for the explanation! I just saw a villa on the MLS in Lakeside Plantation for under $125,000. The taxes are $4,800 (at least that's what it says) Isn't this very high? I get so confused! I once called up the appraiser's office or whatever number I got to ask about the millage rate, and I was more confused when I got off the phone. When someone is interested in a home, why can't she know ahead of time what the total tax will be? I don't see how anyone can purchase a home without having all this information. I once looked at a new villa, and between the CDD, the property tax and the monthly HOA, it was too high, but that new villa was around $175,000 and prices have dropped a lot since then. Are county appraisers adjusting the taxes too? What I've been noticing is that when a home sells for considerably less money (i.e., a foreclosure, builder's closeout) the tax base is on the original price, not the discounted selling price.

[mikey2]

I did an MLS search and I couldn't find any villas in Lakeside Plantation for anything less than $150,000. If you could buy one for $125k, I would jump on it.
That's a very nice area to live.

Now the tax figure you quoted seems way too high. If you do a search on this board of North Port, you'll find a thread that gives a tax breakdown.

Hope that helps.

Mikey

[SoFLGal]

The least expensive one in Lakeside right now is $129,500. The least expensive pending is $132,900. The least expensive recently closed listing, closed for $110,000 cash.

The higher taxes you see are due to the CDD fees. That's why some people shy away from Lakeside. It's a very nice community but right now it's an added expensive that some people can't/don want to afford. Not all communities have CDD fees.

[jay2007]

Papers do not post negatives, if papers posted all the negatives and the truth about all the negatives people would throw up thier breakfast reading the newspapers.
Condos that sold for 39,000 15 years ago are asking 150,000 and 200 to 500 assessements plus taxes. Houses that cost 69,000 material, land and labor cost to build are asking 259,000 to 359,000 plus HUGE taxes, insurance, and assessments in many HOA communities.
Do people really think there is a sucker left out there with money? Sure there may be some shyster mortgage brokers willing to rope you into 200,000 to 300,000 debt to overpay 10 times for a home, most banks are done with inflated real estate lending.
In 15 years all that happened to a home or condo is deterioration, drywall gets so soggy you can put your fingers thru it, dangerous to humans health mites infest electrical wiring lines, plumbing becomes corroded, roofs leak, toxic mold and mildew develope behind walls and under pipe lines. That is called DEPRECIATION not appreciation.

As far as mark twains comment about thier not making anymore land, we can build UP now, 100 story high rises and condo's, most of the high rises sit 60% vacant in many areas, as do the developers overpriced homes and the over priced over taxed over assessed homes and condos and rental units.
Demographics state 78 million retirees, 1/3 live on 1000 a month SSA alone, they will NOT be buying overpriced anything, the other 2/3rds have huge medical and health costs and can not sell thier homes, so many are staying put taking out reverse mortgages, the other buyers 55%, are lower income and seek affordable housing, that leaves gen x as buyers and they are all computer savy and very financially savy, as they saw thier parents and others robbed in enron type inflation scams and they all know how to do comps on computers and check county records for last sale price of a home.
Everyone is banking on a dummys john hancock to bail them out of a home they overpaid for.
Sorry folks, ain't happening, the last sucker went bk yesterday and can't get a loan.
Enron housing prices will not be going up again.
by the by - take a plane ride across usa, look down, 90% of the land is UNDEVELOPED. We have more land then we can build on for the next few hundred years. And waterfront is eroding, thats why insurers charge a fortune to insure eroding waterfront.
I have no agenda. I am just tired of liars and robbers and inflaters in the housing markets. The devil will be like princes in the land as hungry lions devowering widows and orphans homes.
I say step on the devils head and pay cost, brick, labor, material and land, usually 70,000 for a 3-4 bedroom home on 1/2 acre, fundamental prices for real estate. Lower taxes and assessesment will bring corrections to the market. Walmart has wanted to do affordable housing mortgage lending for 10 years now, crooked bank lobbiests fight every year to keep walmart out of home lending, as walmart would have leveled and adjusted the market, denying inflated loans and approving affordable loans. Your local loan shark banker and mortgage lender did not look out for buyers best interest in the lat 10 years, sharp lossess and 3-4 million homes now in foreclosure cost 200,000 bank employees thier jobs across USA.
In florida there are no jobs to support the housing costs, so units and homes sit vacant, every week old folks move into heaven so there is more of a glut of housing.