[jjcorleon]

Originally Posted by UF_john

Jamie, don't feel bad and don't listen to the out-of-date people hating on you. I am getting out because I am going through the exact same thing. There are no decent paying jobs here for graduates. I know of 3 people from UF who graduated and are working for under $10/hr with 4 year degrees. Other UF grads are leaving the state. I'm sure this is true for FSU and UM too. You don't go to school for four years to work at The Wing House or Hooters. The wages have not kept up with the rising cost of living and it's getting worse. If you don't have some kind of small business here, are involved in construction (building homes), or are an employed doctor/lawyer, it's probably best to move on. I am moving in a few weeks and I am so happy I am almost jumping around. Believe me, I am going to miss the sunshine, but other than that, I've had enough. Do yourself a favor and don't let this failing state break your spirit and go live somewhere else. Just because things are wrong here don't get the impression that it's like that everywhere because it's not. I hope the best for you and anyone else in similar positions. Good luck.

i really agree with you !! if you dont have a business or in a good line of work - you live check by check and dont achive anything.

[summergal]

Lindlu - interesting you mention the "affordable" housing for teachers, nurses etc., I just saw our city counsel discussing this during a city planning meeting on tv. They are considering building special condos for them. Can you believe the starting price was $300k!! Did these people fail math class or what??? You are absolutely right about how serious this is. Also many businesses are leaving. They are getting hit really hard with insurance and taxes. The news said they should expect a 600% increase next year. Wow that's steep.

[summergal]

UF_john - Where are you moving to?

[Need_affordable_home]

Originally Posted by summergal

Lindlu - interesting you mention the "affordable" housing for teachers, nurses etc., I just saw our city counsel discussing this during a city planning meeting on tv. They are considering building special condos for them. Can you believe the starting price was $300k!! Did these people fail math class or what??? You are absolutely right about how serious this is. Also many businesses are leaving. They are getting hit really hard with insurance and taxes. The news said they should expect a 600% increase next year. Wow that's steep.

LOL $300k condos? Are they talking about luxury high rises or what? Because you can get a starter house for that much! There are new condo developments and many start below $200k! If almost everyone calls it quits in Florida, prices will seriously go down due to lack of demand. Dont buy in Florida till then.

[MrTudo]

Originally Posted by olddaddy

This is mostly going to be negative, so if that offends you, you may want to stop reading now. I have lived in Florida all my life, so has my wife. Our house is a small, but nicely restored original Florida Cracker house in the center of the state, away from the coasts. Our homeowners insurance has quadrupled since the hurricanes a few years ago. Our mortgage has doubled since the homeowners is included in the payment. We are becoming too poor to own the home we spent 10 years restoring. We've had no claims, and no hurricanes this season, but halfway through the policy term they are increasing our rates again! The Insurance Commisioner is impotent in the face of the Insurance Industry and we are being sqeezed out of our home. Money we were paying on our mortgage to shorten the time to pay it off now goes to insurance. We pay four to five times more than we did for less coverage than we had. Anyone moving to Florida may want to consider this state wide situation. Sadly for us it's time to leave Florida. Our house will be on the market by years end and our dreams will be very different in the future.

Is your house more than 2,200 sq ft? If so, maybe you can offer it to us !

PM me

[Dee2e]

[quote=SunnyDog;150145]

Originally Posted by Need_affordable_home

I cant afford Florida either. Most people cant unless they want a mobile home or tiny condo. You arent happy with a condo, I wouldnt be happy with one either unless it was 3 bedrooms and spacious then im looking at a quarter million for one! I love some of those luxury high rises but they are extremely expensive, same price as a big house!




That's just it. You and others posting here CAN afford to live in Florida, but you're not willing to buy or rent a condo. You can afford it, you're just not willing to do what it takes. No single guy needs a 3 bedroom condo or a house, a studio/efficiency will do just fine. And plenty of kids grow up in condos/townhomes and they come out just fine. There's a 16 year old kid who lives in my hi-rise condo, he's well adjusted, plays on his school's football team, has friends over a lot, it ain't killing him not having a yard to mow for his parents.

It amazes me how someone would move clear out of state just to have a yard to mow. What good is it having the yard when it's cloudy + chilly half the year and you can't go out and use it?

Sunnydog, remember there are some people that just live to complain. They blame society for all that is wrong with their lives.

You are right, about a single guy not needing a 3 bedroom place. However, we live in a country where are wants overtake our needs. Many live with extremely high credit card debt to supply those wants.

Some of us learn long ago there is a difference between our wants and needs and we give up some of the "wants" to get ahead in the long run. Others never learn that. Just look at how much the average American is in debt! It has nothing to do with Florida. It has more to do with $7 designer coffees and owning thousands of DVDs than anything.

I see many students at the University with $50K plus credit card debt at graduation that has nothing to do with tuition or books (student loans pay for those). They tell me over and over that it's beer, gas, cigarettes, coffees, lunches out, exotic vacations, DVDs, etc. None of which should be charged if you can't pay your credit cards off each month. They they blame society or the State or the President or anyone but themselves because they are so badly in debt that they can't graduation and move out on their own.

As a mortgage broker, I people making good money who are paying what a mortgage would cost in credit card debt. It's pathetic.

Many people could benefit by working a little overtime or a part time job to get out of debt instead of surfing the Internet or watching so much TV. But it is just so much easier to blame everyone else because they are in debt than to admit they did it to themselves and to work to get out of it.

When you live on cash excluding a mortgage and car payment, you have more money to spend but most just don't get it and keep on charging. When things get tough, those high interest credit cards are going to get you.

There are doers and there are complainers. You are obviously a doer! Hats off to you!

[Mrs.Bewitched]

I don't have any debts besides my student loan...and I don't plan on getting any. I have one credit card that I had to use for a move-and I don't use it for anything else. As people are talking second jobs-I didn't go through college and owe money towards that degree to have to have a second job. I did all of my second jobs during college. Now I am done, have my career, and am simply stating that Florida does not cater towards people like me and no, I will NOT get a second job so I can have a home. Why should I break my back when I can just get it elsewhere? How is that complaining...or just stating a simple fact: to buy a house in Fl (unless it is in a not so great part of a busy city) at THIS time without getting all kinds of second and third jobs and be financially secure is not realistic. Now if I worked at say...Mc Donalds, then sure, I understand I need other jobs to make ends meet. I worked hard earlier in life so that I wouldn't have to work other jobs, so that I can give my children everything (and by that I just meen schooling, college, braces...) but if I did that here...I would be overworking to afford.

[tylerdurden]

mrshvo I agree,

Unfortunatley there will always be people that think everyone is complaining and should just shut up and work harder and that will solve everything. They think that it is all our fault and that we have run up all these bills and screwed ourselves. They may already have their house and not have to worry about starting out in this state as a first time home buyer.

For most people I hear on this forum that is not the case. I am like you I have little to no debt. I worked hard through college and scrounged to get by. I am married and my wife and I now make pretty decent money(what used to be decent in FL anyway). Like I said before if we make this much and aren't willing to spend most of our income on housing here to live in some dump, I feel sorry for the average middle class family of 4 who has no choice. And that Dee2e is what some here are discussing, why stay here and struggle to get by with good paying jobs, when there are other places that you won't have to? That is why I am looking to leave. Something is seriously wrong in FL.

[SunnyDog]

Originally Posted by mrshvo

I don't have any debts besides my student loan...and I don't plan on getting any. I have one credit card that I had to use for a move-and I don't use it for anything else. As people are talking second jobs-I didn't go through college and owe money towards that degree to have to have a second job. I did all of my second jobs during college. Now I am done, have my career, and am simply stating that Florida does not cater towards people like me and no, I will NOT get a second job so I can have a home. Why should I break my back when I can just get it elsewhere? How is that complaining...or just stating a simple fact: to buy a house in Fl (unless it is in a not so great part of a busy city) at THIS time without getting all kinds of second and third jobs and be financially secure is not realistic. Now if I worked at say...Mc Donalds, then sure, I understand I need other jobs to make ends meet. I worked hard earlier in life so that I wouldn't have to work other jobs, so that I can give my children everything (and by that I just meen schooling, college, braces...) but if I did that here...I would be overworking to afford.

You're a teacher, and your husband's a mailman, correct? If you have no car loans and good credit, your 2 incomes could probably roughly swing you a $200K house. So aiming for a $200K house here, you can probably get one in Brevard or Volusia County and still make similar money to what you do in Collier given your jobs. Far from a mansion, who's 1st home ever is?, but it'll get you into a house in Florida. Frankly any part of the country with big houses under $200K either has a crap local economy or is undesirable. It's gotten pricey anywhere that's halfway desirable. You can't get a liveable under-$200K home in Reno, Nevada let alone Las Vegas. This ain't just a Florida thing.

[SunnyDog]

why stay here and struggle to get by with good paying jobs, when there are other places that you won't have to? That is why I am looking to leave. Something is seriously wrong in FL.[/quote]




Buying real estate in unique areas like Florida will always take a bigger chunk out of your paycheck. I gladly fork it over because I love beaches, having fun on the water, and year round summer weather. Some folks are content with being anywhere as long as there are shopping malls, chain restaurants, and cheap houses. I have a good paying (definitely not great) job here and I don't struggle. I'm not missing any meals. I can show you how it's done, but it'd be using the dreaded Condo word.