I need your advice relocating my animal rescue to Miami (Miami Beach: sales, real estate)

[Boer]

I have about 100k in real estate equity and an employment offer starting at 30k with great advancement potential to 45k in a few years.

I am single with no kids, 33, 6ft 250lbs athletic and functionally Spanish speaking although i am Anglo in race.

I was raised in Africa, Brazil, Hawaii and the middle east. I was seriously considering Costa Rica for a bit and i have visited Miami many times and feel the culture is something i can handle.

My main consideration is my penchant for collecting tropical plants and animals.

I would be happy in a tiny run down trailer as long as i had good weather and at least a 1/2 acre for my plant and animal collection.

Can i buy land and put a camper/ trailer on it?

Or am i smarter picking up a distressed foreclosure?

I understand there is no income tax in florida?

i am looking mostly at the areas west of metro zoo and as a true farm boy i have very little desire for amenities.

any advice would be great, i will be in Miami for a few days in late february.

thanks everyone

[KFCCON123]

Originally Posted by Boer

I have about 100k in real estate equity and an employment offer starting at 30k with great advancement potential to 45k in a few years.

I am single with no kids, 33, 6ft 250lbs athletic and functionally Spanish speaking although i am Anglo in race.

I was raised in Africa, Brazil, Hawaii and the middle east. I was seriously considering Costa Rica for a bit and i have visited Miami many times and feel the culture is something i can handle.

My main consideration is my penchant for collecting tropical plants and animals.

I would be happy in a tiny run down trailer as long as i had good weather and at least a 1/2 acre for my plant and animal collection.

Can i buy land and put a camper/ trailer on it?

Or am i smarter picking up a distressed foreclosure?

I understand there is no income tax in florida?

i am looking mostly at the areas west of metro zoo and as a true farm boy i have very little desire for amenities.

any advice would be great, i will be in Miami for a few days in late february.

thanks everyone

Being involved in a number of different areas including the legal field and animal rescue as well, it would take me forever to answer your question.

You need to go South and West. You have the general idea as I see in your post. Slapping a trailer on a piece of property will surely be a no go due to zoning regulations. Furthermore, you need to make sure you comply with the laws regarding having exotic animals and the like on your property.

As I keep on repeating like a babbling idiot in this forum, my family has lived in Kendall for the better part of 60 years. I am more than a bit familiar with this area down here.

As far as real estate goes, you are about to enter into the best buyer's market this area has seen in a long while and maybe ever. Sellers are still trying to hold out, but in the area you are looking at, which I also have some interests in as well, you will soon be able to cherry pick what you want. It is going to take another six months or so before the sellers realize that there is nobody who can afford their homes, and if they can, they are sure not going to pay anything near what their asking price is.

I hope this helps.

[Boer]

miami dade is out of the question due to zoning restrictions [land of the free] LOL

i have been looking at homestead and redlands primary, i think i would be most happy returning to my roots and literally settling unzoned land.

perhaps i can put a steel building up on some agricultural land and move in with a heavyset Cuban girl on south beach....lol

[Boer]

i have some credit problems due to some medical bills, but i own a home free and clear, have had a few offers but i want no less than 100k for it.

, i got sidetracked in central fl doing some spring diving so i did not make my trip to miami.

honestly i want the worst back woods no water no electricity dirt road bug infested plot i can find.

[tallrick]

So far there have been no deals on property in this area. Other than the East Everglades, you can't even find one acre for 100K, yet. The sellers are clinging to the hope of foreign investors, but hopefully later this year comes the crash.

[BrokerMaggie]

Boer, lots without water and electric are yours for the picking. There's plenty of them around. As far as dirt roads and bugs, you don't have to go all the way into the everglades to find those. LOL

Tallrick, deals are in the eye of the beholder. Anytime a property can be purchased for less than what others are paying for a similar property, you've got yourself a deal, whether it's in the $60,000 range or $600,000 range does not take away from it's being a deal. And coincidentally, depending on where one is looking, there are many parcels of an acre and a quarter that have sold for around $60K, so if a deal is simply finding something under $100K, there are deals west of Krome. I agree that there are many sellers fixated on their "price" without regard for what the market says the property is really worth. You can always tell which ones those are...the ones that have been on the market for a year without selling. And why are you hoping for a crash? Did you miss the one that has happened already?

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by Boer

i have some credit problems due to some medical bills, but i own a home free and clear, have had a few offers but i want no less than 100k for it.

, i got sidetracked in central fl doing some spring diving so i did not make my trip to miami.

honestly i want the worst back woods no water no electricity dirt road bug infested plot i can find.

You didn't say how many or what kind of animals. You say it's a "rescue" is it a 501c3?

You can't keep animals without a secure safe uncontaminated source of water and electricity. Even food kept for the animals will quickly get rancid, bacteria ridden, unstable and unusable without some form of temperature control. Also you're talking about hurricane territory so you living in a trailer isn't the best idea and you would need provisions for housing for safety for the animals in a weather event and a way to evacuate them safely too. Just a tropical storm can flood any animal's home and kill them, they can't just be sitting there in the middle of it. Last weeks storm caused a tornado that lifted the building of an equine center right over a standing horse, and other buildings ended up trapping other horses in rubble.

In addition to any building, you'd need an outside area too, for their physical and psychological health, right? So that's actually more expense to build enclosures that get fresh air and infiltered sunlight.

The zoning you mention along with "land of the free lol" is in place for everyone's safety and benefit, even animals. I don't think bug infested is something any animal would thrive in, although you might have been just stating hyperbole. Even in my air conditioned 2600 sq ft CBS house built in 2005 I fight a constant battle with bugs. You can't even put food on the granite counters without hundreds of ants attacking it. Same in my two small birds cages, bugs manage to get in there when they eat food in there and the cages need to be cleaned all the time. With soap and water LOL. And of course you can't use insecticides effectively since they will kill animals and/or cause serious neurological problems.

Without safe housing, evacuation procedures (driving FAR and many hours), convenient sanitary provisions in the humid tropics here, the animals will be at constant exposure to bacterial and fungal infections, mites, mange, other diseases, discomfort and a substandard quality of life IMO. I'd suggest some state further North where the weather is a bit more moderate and offers you more options.

[Boer]

thanks for the response, I have lots of agricultural skills and figure I can convert almost anything into a functional situation.

I always meet the standards set by zoological governing bodies.

[Cougar Beach]

Originally Posted by Boer

miami dade is out of the question due to zoning restrictions [land of the free] LOL

Miami-Dade is the county. Homestead and Redlands are in it, as are, Miami Springs, Miami Beach, and part of the Everglades.

@BrokerMaggie: I've already been through a big real estate downturn, and the pattern I've seen is that sales slow for a while before prices really drop. Sellers have a (false) idea of the value of their property value that they have trouble letting go of, until push comes to shove (e.g., they have to relocate for a job, or they can't afford two mortgage payments). When that happens to enough sellers, and the remaining sellers come to terms with the new reality, prices really start to drop.

Perhaps that's already happened in Miaimi-Dade. Perhaps not. Perhaps it's academic for Boer (the bwana? ), since he wants to by property right now.

If I were him, I'd rent a place (without a lease) near work, and spend a lot of time looking around.

[Boer]

I have an amazing offer from a friend to relocate my animals and plants to his facility and pay a nominal rent for a house on site while I properly investigate the purchace opportunities