Moving to Boca Raton from NYC (short sales, apartments, foreclosures)

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by kanonka

I live in a house. HOA doesn't cover anything about my house. It is used mostly for clubhouse that I never even been in (and not going to), plus highly overpriced landscaping (and I bet million bucks that landscaping company pays lavish bribery to board members).

My house is valued at 480K. Yeah, 50k homestead makes big difference, aha, right. My taxes on the house are about $630/mo, which I find outrageous, since I am not using any city amenities. Zero. No schools, no libraries, no nothing.

So yeah, it's simply a dumb "sunshine tax", nothing more. Just stealing my money, and I can do literally zero about that.

In condos, it covers the building and you mentioned condos.

No city amenties?

Hospital, police, fire, water management, city/county debt, schools...........all funded with property taxes.

[PamelaIamela]

Originally Posted by kanonka

I live in a house. HOA doesn't cover anything about my house. It is used mostly for clubhouse that I never even been in (and not going to), plus highly overpriced landscaping (and I bet million bucks that landscaping company pays lavish bribery to board members).

My house is valued at 480K. Yeah, 50k homestead makes big difference, aha, right. My taxes on the house are about $630/mo, which I find outrageous, since I am not using any city amenities. Zero. No schools, no libraries, no nothing.

So yeah, it's simply a dumb "sunshine tax", nothing more. Just stealing my money, and I can do literally zero about that.

Re bold 1: Compared to Kansas its expensive. Compared to Long Island IT'S KANSAS!
Re bold 2: You sound very angry but you are not in Kansas anymore. Move.

[DaniellaG]

Originally Posted by kanonka

I don't know any place in US where you could be fine with 60K/year.
120K/y is more like it, but still is a borderline poverty.

HOA fees here are outrageous; forget about living anywhere near the beach (lowest I ever saw was $550/mo for 1bdrm condo). For the non-beach good areas ~$300/mo if you are lucky to find that. In Kansas I was paying $40/mo, and was thinking that was too high price to pay to some stupid organization whose only purpose of existence is to dictate me what I can and cannot do with my property. Imagine my shock here. They call it "sunshine tax", and that's exactly what it is - nothing more.

2 brdm condo for 175K is thing of the past for the good area (unless it's a 100yo trashbox). These days it's more like 250-350K.
Hopefully, we will have another housing crisis soon, then prices might go down; but remember that taxes here on real estate are also sky high - 1.75%; keep that in mind when budgeting.

I would recommend to look at Zillow - it's easy to search by the area there.
In Boca basically any area is good or at least decent.

In other places look to the west of Jog Rd - that's the safest bet to get a condo in a good area.

Also take a look at the so called "Rehabilitation" facilities. You don't want to come close to those locations, and, unfortunately, they are all close to the beach areas.

And yes, if you are 55+, things are much brighter, and you can find a good condo for that price in the good area with low HOA.

I just looked up the average individual income in Boca is 48,000 and the household average income is 73,000
Unless you live in a few select areas like San Francisco or New York there is no way 120,000 a year would be considered borderline poverty.
OP 175,000 for a condo with low HOA is going to be hard even in nearby areas

[blueherons]

Originally Posted by kanonka

I live in a house. HOA doesn't cover anything about my house. It is used mostly for clubhouse that I never even been in (and not going to), plus highly overpriced landscaping (and I bet million bucks that landscaping company pays lavish bribery to board members).

My house is valued at 480K. Yeah, 50k homestead makes big difference, aha, right. My taxes on the house are about $630/mo, which I find outrageous, since I am not using any city amenities. Zero. No schools, no libraries, no nothing.

So yeah, it's simply a dumb "sunshine tax", nothing more. Just stealing my money, and I can do literally zero about that.

Since you homestead your house, I'm assuming you are claiming Florida residency and don't pay state income taxes.

To the OP, to get in a property with a low HOA, you'll have to find an older, smaller building.

The downside is outside of a pool, there really are no amenities.

The upside is the older units are usually a lot larger than newer units. Some of the older buildings in Galt Ocean Mile are 1100 sf one bedroom two baths.

[NewYork33323]

Thank you for all your replies.

Many of you have said that it will be hard to find a condo around $175k in Boca. I have looked at a few condos and have found many of them to be affordable,

Here are a few I've found

https://www.trulia.com/p/fl/boca-rat...34--2292795214

https://www.trulia.com/p/fl/boca-rat...28--2094475317

https://www.trulia.com/p/fl/boca-rat...28--2094475651


These seem to be in my price range and have low HOA fees. Am I not looking at the right areas or something?
I don't care about being close to the beach. Just want it to be a quiet neighborhood. Any input will be appreciated.

I wont be buying right away just want to research and better understand the situation.

Thanks

[cfbs2691]

One of your links is Century Village (55+ community)
The other 2 are Sandalfoot area-not a great neighborhood.

[doghead]

What part of boca is your job located at?

[john-staten island]

Of course you can live in Boca on 60k and it makes great sense to be as close to work as possible. Living East of 95 puts you in walking / biking distance to the beach, shopping, Library, future Brightline station, restaurants, etc,etc. HOA ‘s as mentioned cover exterior insurance which has gone thru the ‘roof’ in recent years in Florida. Most HOA’s include water/ sewer / garbage/ parking / lawn maintenance / building security etc so it’s not just paying for a pool. I’ve owned a property in E.Boca for only 16 years so I don’t proclaim to know it all, still learning in fact. The only thing I’m sure about is Boca is the best spot in SE Florida when comparing clean, safe, well run small cities with all the amenities...Good luck..

[rodrigo1974]

don't do it unless you rent something. i would even recommend renting permanently and putting the rest of your money into investments like i do. i have a nice rent stablized place in bayonne, nj across from the park. you can't afford to buy a decent place. look for governmentally subsdized housing if you must, over 55 communities. the cubans are hard working folk. or, look for some foreclosed condo or house, but then you're going to have to pay big money to renovate it in all probability. go to property auctions even.i'm inclined to tell you to stay up north where there's a sense of camaraderie even amongst strangers, as if we're all a big family. also, there is an enthusiasm here that goes away when and if there is no climate or geographical diversion. in other words, i would be on the bottle there. if you can get into your own niche of new yorker in boynton beach via meetup.com or something, that's an option, but stay close to downtown delray, boynton, miami beach, lauderdale, or hollywood and not in some gaited retirement community. my aunt always hated florida. my uncle bought a nice, oceanfront condo up in jupiter, and then she just refused to go down there anymore. he's 95 and doesn't even walk with a cane, and lives in new jersey in his original home that he bought in the 1960's. i'm convinced that if he hadn't been hanging out with people 20 or 30 years younger than him, he would be dead right now. really, i believe those retirement places kill. either the people become reclusive loners or they sit around and grip about anything under the sun!

[Florida fa Shore]

Please more New Yorkers!