[JD59]

If you’re in the market for a vacation home — we are not, but you may be — a new report says Key West is one of the best places to buy one.

Vacasa, a vacation rental management platform, just released 2020’s Top 25 Best Places to Buy a Vacation Home report, and Key West comes in at No. 19, dropping from last year’s ranking of No. 8.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-k...130000496.html

[davephan]

Before you invest in real estate in the Florida Keys, you might check what it costs to for insurance. I heard on a podcast based in the Keys, that the cost to insure a $300K home in the Florida Keys is about $1,500 a month! That's about $18,000 a year!

Perhaps someone who lives in the Keys can verify those numbers. I've also heard that people who own their homes outright in the Keys, self insure, because the insurance is so expensive. That basically means if their home in the Keys is destroyed, they lose everything, unless the government steps in and bails them out.

[Corrie22]

Dave, that's BS......our insurance is lower than some of our friends in Miami
...too many things can effect your rates

that rate is more like a year...not a month

real estate all over the Keys has been flying now for a few months.....

[kelsie]

Our friend works in a Title Co. in KW 15 yrs. ago told us that wind/flood Ins. costs on average $30,000 yr.

[logybogy]

The keys is great but I would make sure the property is newer and built like a tank before I would consider a property.

[foodyum]

Originally Posted by Corrie22

Dave, that's BS......our insurance is lower than some of our friends in Miami
...too many things can effect your rates

that rate is more like a year...not a month

real estate all over the Keys has been flying now for a few months.....

Insurance is only 1500 per year. That seems reasonable. Do you have a very high deductible?

[jghorton]

We've been in Florida for over 45-years and beyond a few trips to the keys, have never been big fans of the Keys or Key West. For those who don't know, there really aren't any sand beaches there; tourist traffic on the 'rock' is insane; There's only one road for 140 miles between Miami and Key West .... IMO, Key West itself is somewhat of a 'zoo and not a family-friendly place to buy a vacation home; plus, RE prices are sky-high for very modest housing, .... etc..

I'm curious why KW dropped from #8 to #19 on this list ...(as though any of these 'Best places to (fill in the blank) Lists' were honestly and objectively reliable. If one's criteria is primarily to rent-out one's vacation home at a high price to other tourists (?), Key West has something to offer, but, that's never been our goal in life .. or Florida.

[Corrie22]

Originally Posted by foodyum

Insurance is only 1500 per year. That seems reasonable. Do you have a very high deductible?

You can't really go by that....almost every house and every neighborhood is different

Wind will depend roof, impact windows, type of shutters, tiedowns, type of roof, etc etc

Flood will depend flood zone, elevation, what's on ground level and is it legal or even insured at all, etc etc

..and all of it will depend on what the house costs

a $2million house is less than a $10million house

[logybogy]

The keys isn't about the beach. It's about the water. The boating and diving. It's hard to replicate anywhere in the continental US.

Originally Posted by jghorton

We've been in Florida for over 45-years and beyond a few trips to the keys, have never been big fans of the Keys or Key West. For those who don't know, there really aren't any sand beaches there; tourist traffic on the 'rock' is insane; There's only one road for 140 miles between Miami and Key West .... IMO, Key West itself is somewhat of a 'zoo and not a family-friendly place to buy a vacation home; plus, RE prices are sky-high for very modest housing, .... etc..

I'm curious why KW dropped from #8 to #19 on this list ...(as though any of these 'Best places to (fill in the blank) Lists' were honestly and objectively reliable. If one's criteria is primarily to rent-out one's vacation home at a high price to other tourists (?), Key West has something to offer, but, that's never been our goal in life .. or Florida.

[LKJ1988]

Originally Posted by davephan

Before you invest in real estate in the Florida Keys, you might check what it costs to for insurance. I heard on a podcast based in the Keys, that the cost to insure a $300K home in the Florida Keys is about $1,500 a month! That's about $18,000 a year!

Perhaps someone who lives in the Keys can verify those numbers. I've also heard that people who own their homes outright in the Keys, self insure, because the insurance is so expensive. That basically means if their home in the Keys is destroyed, they lose everything, unless the government steps in and bails them out.

When i lived in west Pasco it was 4k a year to insure old small homes worth under 40k back in 2010 for HOI.

The big homes on the water that were worth 600k before 2009 and down to 200k were around 20k a year to insure. Now flood Ins is insane on parts of the gulf. So 18k a year is easy on some homes. Don't let anyone fool ya on prices slice. You can bet it cost a arm and a leg meg to insure many homes in parts of the state nate.