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It seems to me that we ALL recognize the problem, but you are the first to actually address the problem. The point you make about those who bought to LIVE IN vs. those who bought to MAKE MONEY is golden.
That is exactly the root of the problem of deteriorating areas.
Good work!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ComSense
Oh trust me, I cant stand to look at our subdivision filled with empty houses, some people park their cars in the grass now. Yeah, real nice. The good folks who bought their home to LIVE IN are now forced to deal with the ugly reality of increased renters, increased property crime, the ghetto element, and watching our home values plummet. One of my big gripes about FL is what has happened to it, particularly the WHO that has moved into the state and those who have moved out. I could totally see Mr and Mrs Jones coming to look out houses for sale in our neighborhood and be completely turned off by some of the "ghetto element" that is now roaming the streets, walking their pitbulls w/o leashes on, etc... but how can we stop it? So many foreclosures that owners just want someone in that house paying rent. So we get what we get.
I've watched about 10 or so families with NJ plates buy a house or multiple houses and turn around and walk away because they didnt get to flip the homes. Now we who live here are having to clean up the mess. And this gypsychic, is one of the many reasons I like Asheville so much better.
Hey Com: You're in O-town? Lived there from 88-2005. Fabulous Winter Park. Corrine/Bennett area. Got a little too crazy there for me.
Yeah, it's different.
Winter Park is awesome! If I could pick it up and move it to northern FL, I'd probably be there!
In 2005 it was definitely already in it's changing phase, it kind of started when the housing boom started I believe. In the 90's it was definitely different than now.
It seems to me that we ALL recognize the problem, but you are the first to actually address the problem. The point you make about those who bought to LIVE IN vs. those who bought to MAKE MONEY is golden.
That is exactly the root of the problem of deteriorating areas.
Good work!
Thank you. Sad to see a small town like Spring Hill going through the same garbage. I remember when Spring Hill was like, "Spring where?" LOL.
Winter Park was OK, but once they opened Baldwin Park, we were concerned with increased traffic. My back yard faced Blue Jacket Park so
General Rees got busier. I couldn't recognize downtown Orlando anymore after the building boom there. Our first apartment was on Plaza Terrace Drive, behind the Koger Center. That was the closest apartments to downtown back in 88. The city of Orlando just kept growing and growing. I was a little miffed that the 436 strip from 50 to the airport was changing quick and not for the good. In 2005 I was offered a major pay cut, told them to stuff it and put the house up for sale. We knew we wanted the peace and quiet of Spring Hill. Out we came. We love it.
Things will change, they always do. Hopefully for the better here in Spring Hill.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ComSense
Yeah, it's different.
Winter Park is awesome! If I could pick it up and move it to northern FL, I'd probably be there!
In 2005 it was definitely already in it's changing phase, it kind of started when the housing boom started I believe. In the 90's it was definitely different than now.
Yes, Spring Where? It was nicer when we first saw it 15 years ago, however, I had a feeling it was going to see growth, an awakening.
Looking at all these new shopping centers and stores I guess I was right.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ComSense
Thank you. Sad to see a small town like Spring Hill going through the same garbage. I remember when Spring Hill was like, "Spring where?" LOL.
Winter Park was OK, but once they opened Baldwin Park, we were concerned with increased traffic. My back yard faced Blue Jacket Park so
General Rees got busier. I couldn't recognize downtown Orlando anymore after the building boom there. Our first apartment was on Plaza Terrace Drive, behind the Koger Center. That was the closest apartments to downtown back in 88. The city of Orlando just kept growing and growing. I was a little miffed that the 436 strip from 50 to the airport was changing quick and not for the good. In 2005 I was offered a major pay cut, told them to stuff it and put the house up for sale. We knew we wanted the peace and quiet of Spring Hill. Out we came. We love it.
Things will change, they always do. Hopefully for the better here in Spring Hill.
And it's moving further and further east into Waterford Lakes now.
And it's moving further and further east into Waterford Lakes now.
Well, glad we left when we did then. The opportunty presented itself at the right time. Then last year I read that Orlando had the highest rate of homicides in all its recorded time. Nice. Too bad. It was such a beautiful city. "The City Beautiful" wasn't it? The herion problem which was imported there not so long ago results in a massive increase in crime.
Obviously buying during such a boom was a mistake unless you were selling and then buying. Buying 1st time during the boom was suicide.
Right, "real estate always goes up". Except when the prices are inflated and they were.
Our story is a bit different. Moved from Brooklyn (Sheepshead Bay)
in 88. Went to Orlando. Rented for a year. Bought a 3bd 1 bath
1952 house that was as it was in 1952. $62,000.00. Over the years
we did some work on the place, new windows, new roof, new doors, new kitchen, a nice driveway, landscaping, 2 paint jobs, it looked great.
In 2005 we sold it for $245,000.00. We moved to Spring Hill and bought our current home for $125,00.00 cash. We moved debt free. Still are.
The house we have now would have sold for $80k, maybe $85k in the "pre boom" and should sell for about that now.
What does "disgustingly outdated" mean? Built in 1989 and you had to renovate it? Emm. Sounds like desires outstripped resources and needs.
We didn't relocate for the thought of flipping anything. We were out to re-start our lives in a new place because Orlando got too big and busy.
It just lost its appeal for us after 17 years. We were (and are) in Spring Hill to stay. We will make improvements to our home as we go along.
So far its been new windows. Those old aluminum frame 3 part windows stink, so we put in the best. Hurricane resistant high impact windows.
New doors, ripped out carpeting and restored the terrazzo. Changed the old vinyl room into a useable year round space using insulated builidng panels. We painted the inside and out as we went along over the past few years. No rush to do it at once, we do it as we can afford to.
Our A/C is probably 10 years old. Appliances are newer, but our
electric from WREC is never more than $180.00 and that is in august.
We keep the place 79-80 in the summer. Our water heater is on a mechanical timer so its off during the day when we are at work. Its off all night while we sleep. No pool. A hot tub, a pond that runs 24/7.
WREC does not operate at a profit. Its a Rural Electric Cooperative.
We own WREC. Yes, fuel surcharges certainly account for 50 % of our
electric bill. WREC does not produce electricity. It buys it off the grid and provides it to us. They have to pass on the extra costs to us or there would'nt be any electricity coming to us.
It always amazed me that NYC property taxes are so low!. How do they do it. Police, fire, sanitation, all provided for your tax dollars. However, go to Nassau County or Suffolk and the taxes skyrocket. $12-15k a year
for a plain old house out there in taxes!. Jeeze mateeze.
Home maintenance is not expensive. Wash your windows, mow your grass, trim your shrubs. What's the problem with maintenance?
If you HAVE TO have a lawn service, a pool service, a pressure washing service, these things cost you money. Do it yourself and save instead of paying someone else to do the same thing.
Developments: Nobody is going to tell me what color I can paint my house, what I can park in my driveway, and tell me I can't fly my American flag. That's for sure. They also want homeowner association fees for the privledge. To heck with that.
Hurricanes have always been an issue in any coastal area from Maine to Key West. Just not in Florida. Hurricane Andrew was an annomoly.
Things like that don't happen that often. If those houses were built properly in the first place they wouldn't have had so much damage.
That's why Deltona homes are built with reinforced concrete. There is rebar in Deltona home walls. Not wood attached to wood sitting on a slab.
As far as your closing statement about the education system, drop out rate, child abuse, spouse abuse, and animal abuse rate.
Who's fault is that? Florida's or the people who live here?
Of course its the people. Crime ridden cities? Yes, urban jungles.
Don't be so sure about NYC. I lived there for 30 years of my life.
I remember the 1970's. I remember the 1980's. Crime was rampant.
It's no paradise today either. Also, NYC is one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in. The quality of life there is what? The museums that locals don't go to? The theatre that gets $100 a seat?
Before we left NYC in 1988 we had already been planning for over 2 years. Researching we would want to go because we had it with NYC.
The noise, the traffic, the people, the cost of living, the quality of life.
We were thinking Texas, Houston specifically but they lost out due to other factors. Orlando won the decision for us and we both left decent jobs. I had 10 years in with my company. A major international trading company. Great future ahead there. What was our options? Living in a pre war apartment building. Rosey. Or we could have went and bought a house in Westchester for $150k and commuted. Problem was we didn't make enough money to afford $150k for a house. We were trying to survive NYC cost of living. Rent, electric, car insurance, clothing, food,
income taxes.
Quality of life? On the weekend we'd go down to some isolated beach areas along the Belt Parkway but the homeless camps, the residents who brought their huge families and blasted ghetto music and left the place a trash dump ruined that. If we went to the regular beaches we'd have the trash there, the knife fights, the stuff stolen off the beach if you went into the water which was cold in August. Fun. Sure, you could ride the subway then and take your chances on getting robbed there. Burglaries were an everyday ocurrance and we had a steel gate on our fire escape window. We had an alarm system in the apartment We had to take our radio out of the car when we parked it and installed a bar on the steering wheel to the brake to keep it from getting stolen. Those were easily defeated with a hack saw. Not to mention alternate side of the street parking and the driving nightmare itself. The tolls on the bridges and tunnels were like $2.00. each way. Now they are $5.
In life you can't have everything you want on demand. You have to work up to better things. You can't have that $250,000 home and the BMW in the driveway when you work as a bank teller making $8.00 an hour.
That is the root of the problem. GIVE IT TO ME NOW. I WANT IT NOW. And lenders were out there saying "sure, you're entitled".
If people would learn to live within their means and work up to the bigger and better things in life they would have an easier time at it, wouldn't be in foreclosure, wouldn't be stuck in the financial mess that they put themselves in.
Sounds to me like you went in over your head at the beginning and will never see the light at the end of the tunnel because you will always be in the tunnell trying to dig out.
Me, I will live in my home probably until I die. Maybe a reverse mortage for better income in the later years. My 10 year old truck will go another 5 years. I will mow my grass, trim my shrubs, keep my house clean and
happy. Maybe it won't have a 16 x 18 swimming pool that I would never use, won't have the stainless steel fridge and dishwasher, won't have the highest end fixtures in the tub and the bathroom will retain that 1970s appeal. However, we will be happy and content because we know one thing.
IT IS ALL A HECK OF A LOT BETTER THAN WE HAD IT IN THAT PRE WAR 1 BEDROOM APARTMENT that had insufficient heat in the winter, an electrical system that could not support a window air conditioner, the neighbors upstairs with their kids, the neighbors downstairs, and next to us on each side. We won't have to hear the fire engine and police car sirens blasting down the street all night, we won't have to shovel snow, slip and fall on ice on our way to work, won't have to hump the groceries 5 blocks in the rain, won't be moving the car from one side of the street to the other twice a week, won't have to ride the subways to and from work, at over $2 a pop, won't have go to stores that stink to high heaven from the garbage rotting in the back, the ability to live where the sun shines most of the time and "a freeze" is a bad bad thing.
Basic point: Never bite off more than you can chew.
Guys I am entitled to my opinion. Sorry if noone agrees with my thoughts, but I think one should hold the insults, but to clarify my position, not that I have to, I am not some welfare recipient who has been popping out babies and milking the system. My spouse and I both are professional educated people.
I have two Bachelor degrees and a Masters' degree, and my spouse has a Bachelor’s degree, and yes, I drive a BMW and my spouse drives a Mercedes.
We both worked and paid our own way through college and nothing was ever handed to us by either of our parents.
What I mean about my house being disgustingly outdated when I bought it means the carpet and the appliances, water heater and roof were original, and there was no pool or window treatments, and my kitchen and bathrooms were HOT pink with water damaged cabinets and cracked tiles.
The landscape was horribly overgrown with a dead lawn and busted sprinkler system, so we had to replace almost the whole lawn and landscape, and to answer your question, we maintain our own home, lawn, shrubs and pool, and like I said before, the price of our home was slightly inflated, but still appraises for well over $225,000, but we are not willing to give our home away after all the work we put into it.
The Florida education system K-12 was ranked 35 in the country out of 50 when I attended school here. In 2007 it ranked 14th and in 2009 it ranked 10 with New York being #3 and New Jersey being #5, but the sad part is they never took into account the drop out rate in Florida when calculating it, whereas, the other states in the survey did, and since the 01/2009 statistics, Florida unfortunately is creeping back up the ladder.
Like I said, I am not some disgruntled New Yorker. I have lived in Florida and in Spring Hill since 1983 when I was 12 years old with some brief intermissions, so I am pretty well versed on Hernando County and the Florida lifestyle.
I love New York, but I am not willing to trade in my superior lifestyle for the cold weather and much higher cost of living, but I am also tired of living in a county that is negatively ruled by a generation of elderly people that are very out of touch with today’s reality.
That's just my opinion right, wrong or indifferent
I am also tired of living in a county that is negatively ruled by a generation of elderly people that are very out of touch with today’s reality.
You just hit the nail on the head about the problems in Spring Hill!
I also think we both have the same experience, my parents moved us down in 1981 when I was 11. We moved from Nashua, NH but it was still a HUGE difference. Spring Hill has changed a lot since then, but in some ways it's still the same. I don't have a problem with anyone who likes the place, most of my family lives there and it beats several other places I've lived in the state. Just be realistic about the job market, schools, etc.
Princess, you make $120k and your husband makes $80K? What do you all do, if you dont mind me asking? I need to go back to school or change professions (when I start working again).
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