[firemed]

Originally Posted by ponytail

Maybe they've worked all their lives and their investments are kicking in. Maybe they have decent employment or good pension plans. I've lived in Massachusetts, Illinois, and DC and I've never lived so cheap as I live in Florida.

If you're one of the ones whining on this board, stop thinking your dream house is going to fall out of the sky and hit you on the noggin. They just won't tumble down to your level.

And what inflated taxes? We have the homestead cap. My taxes are unbelievably reasonable.

My save our homes cap is great 3%. 25,000 homestead. but keep your eyes open its in the house now to change it. it seems some people want to change it and feel its not fair to own a home and property the same size and have to pay more in taxes then thier neighbor that locked in at a lower rate. Talk about whining

[Nancy Lynne]

Hi - which area of florida did this paper come out???was it speaking to a specific area or all of florida in general?

[bamboosmom]

Originally Posted by Need_affordable_home

Of course not, but it serves as a barometer to determine how expensive a house is. The smaller house for the same price may be the better buy, but it is also the more expensive buy. Thats what I use cost per square foot for. It lets people like me and others determine how much house they get for the buck. I dont want to pay a high price per square foot, I dont need waterfront, I dont need granite counters, marble bathrooms or all those "extras" that cost so much.





Because prices are dropping. Alot of people are renting and waiting. Even if I had the money, why would I buy a south Florida house at the inflated price it is at? If I wanted a house now I would get one where prices are reasonable like Texas, OH or WV. Florida is not reasonable! I am not going to overpay!

Just pick a state, is that how it is? Not every state is like Florida. WV is nice but I wouldn't want to live there. NO WAY! If you want to live someplace nice, you need to work to make it happen. I am not going to settle living in a dinky town somewhere in Hicksville just to have a bigger house. No!

[Need_affordable_home]

Originally Posted by bamboosmom

Just pick a state, is that how it is? Not every state is like Florida. WV is nice but I wouldn't want to live there. NO WAY! If you want to live someplace nice, you need to work to make it happen. I am not going to settle living in a dinky town somewhere in Hicksville just to have a bigger house. No!

I already know Florida is better than some states, in fact most states. California is the best state. Hawaii isnt bad but the fact its isolated from the rest of America means youll need to fly to go somewhere. NYC isnt bad if you dont mind the winter cold, lots to do there. NJ is pretty good and its close proximity to NYC makes that state expensive. Texas ranks pretty high and prices are very reasonable there. Nothing dinky about Dallas nor Houston, yet they cost less than half of south Florida!

[bamboosmom]

But West Virginia???? Dinky little towns, believe me. I have been in Elkins quite a few times and it's nice but Dinky!

West Virginia is a beautiful state to drive through, but that's about it.

[Need_affordable_home]

WV isnt my only choice. Little towns can get boring but the good thing is crime tends to be low. Real estate is very affordable there and theres alot of nice vintage houses with basements! Theres enough shopping around and with the wonderful internet you can shop online anywhere! Texas has alot to do but the crime is much higher, the traffic is crazy, houses cost more, taxes may be higher and other problems of a metro city. Me deciding to live in Texas will depend how affordable a house I can find there. Seems that all the big nice houses are just out of reach being $130k to $200k and at $50k to $100k all you get is a smaller, older house, some which need a little TLC

[observer]

NAH, have you actually visited any of the areas that you are mentioning.
I agree that you will and can get more for your money looking outside of Florida, but there is nothing like visiting the actual locations that you are considering. I would strongly recommend for you to visit some of the places once you have narrowed down your choices because if not, you may be in for a BIG disappointment.

There are many factors to consider, and the internet can only help you up to a certain point. In the end, there is nothing like visiting the actual areas of interest and getting a first hand experience of an area.

[Need_affordable_home]

You are right, I will need to check out the areas of interest then whichever area interests me the most, ill move to. Of course its cheaper just to choose one area and stick to it and move there and save the plane ticket + motel costs of visiting the other areas and instead, put that into the downpayment. Its a hard decision but Texas, Ohio and West Virginia are the three states of consideration. I have many cities to choose in each of those 3 states.

[Need_affordable_home]

You are right, I will need to check out the areas of interest then whichever area interests me the most, ill move to. Of course its cheaper just to choose one area and stick to it and move there and save the plane ticket + motel costs of visiting the other areas and instead, put that into the downpayment. Its a hard decision but Texas, Ohio and West Virginia are the three states of consideration. I have many cities to choose in each of those 3 states.

[josephhawkinson]

Originally Posted by observer

NAH, have you actually visited any of the areas that you are mentioning.
I agree that you will and can get more for your money looking outside of Florida, but there is nothing like visiting the actual locations that you are considering. I would strongly recommend for you to visit some of the places once you have narrowed down your choices because if not, you may be in for a BIG disappointment.

There are many factors to consider, and the internet can only help you up to a certain point. In the end, there is nothing like visiting the actual areas of interest and getting a first hand experience of an area.

I agree with you anyone who is looking to settle needs to be more familiar with the location, culture etc before purchasing the home but I dont doubt need_affordable_home will actually visit those mentioned states/cities after he narrowed it down to a manegable number. Today most things can be better learned from the internet than a aimless visit of two days to the area. Housing prices, weather, employment market, business, traffic, schools etc all can be known to some degree from the internet (i.e. city-data.com), especially from forums like this.
This is not really much more different than going to Amazon.com and reading the reviews about a product/book before buying it. We all know there are some useless comments or even misleading stuff everywhere however it still give a pretty good idea if enough people shared their genuine opinions.