"Hidden" living costs? (Sarasota, Nokomis: insurance, condos, new home)

[jean_ji]

Being a full time FL resident in the summer without a pool to use, will have you quickly moving back north again. A pool, even with their expenses as an owner or through an HOA, will seriously make a difference in tolerating the heat and humidity. This past week had feel-like temps above 100 every day. With constant red tide and no beach time, this wasn’t the summer to not have access to a pool. Even pool time has been curtailed with the west wind blowing in the stench of decay from the red tide for too many days this past month.

If rarely going outside and being in AC 24/7 is acceptable, or being here only during season, then a pool won’t be as important.

[beach43ofus]

We polled 100+ people ages ~50+ over the past 2 years asking them do they have a pool now, if so, do they use it, would they buy one again, how much does it cost, ect..

Overwhelmingly, the response we got was "it was great when we had the kids at home, but now that we're empty nesters, we hardly ever use it, and we see it as a waste of money to keep it up"

I'd estimate this is the response we got from 75% of those we asked. ~100 might not be an ample sample size, but we decided to eliminate the cost, at least for now. We can always add a pool later, and our community has 2 we use at times. This Summer, we'll spent all except 3 weeks in Florida. Next Summer, we may stretch it out to 4 weeks.

We both lived in Florida for several years 20+ years ago, and had no pool in our backyards back then, but had access to a pool if we wanted to use one. We seldom did. Not having a pool didn't cause us to leave Florida in the 90's, it was job promotions/transfers. We were working our butts off back then, and were too busy to notice the heat.

Higher food costs would be the largest hidden cost we've encountered, but now that Aldi & Sprouts are here, that has dimished. Property taxes are higher than we thought. Gasoline's higher, even at Costco, but we don't drive much. Eating out is cheaper here, utilities are cheaper too, for us. No State income taxes offsets any hidden costs we've come across.

Overall, the cost of living is slightly less here for us than it was in the Northern 'burbs of Atlanta, and Georgia's considered a low cost of living state.

[mrviking]

Originally Posted by jean_ji

If rarely going outside and being in AC 24/7 is acceptable, or being here only during season, then a pool won’t be as important.

That pretty much sums up 80% of the people here in florida. It goes something like this for the majority. AC Home to AC Car to AC Office, Reverse order in the late afternoon.

[wondermint2]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

We polled 100+ people ages ~50+ over the past 2 years asking them do they have a pool now, if so, do they use it, would they buy one again, how much does it cost, ect..

Overwhelmingly, the response we got was "it was great when we had the kids at home, but now that we're empty nesters, we hardly ever use it, and we see it as a waste of money to keep it up"

I'd estimate this is the response we got from 75% of those we asked. ~100 might not be an ample sample size, but we decided to eliminate the cost, at least for now. We can always add a pool later, and our community has 2 we use at times. This Summer, we'll spent all except 3 weeks in Florida. Next Summer, we may stretch it out to 4 weeks.

We both lived in Florida for several years 20+ years ago, and had no pool in our backyards back then, but had access to a pool if we wanted to use one. We seldom did. Not having a pool didn't cause us to leave Florida in the 90's, it was job promotions/transfers. We were working our butts off back then, and were too busy to notice the heat.

Higher food costs would be the largest hidden cost we've encountered, but now that Aldi & Sprouts are here, that has dimished. Property taxes are higher than we thought. Gasoline's higher, even at Costco, but we don't drive much. Eating out is cheaper here, utilities are cheaper too, for us. No State income taxes offsets any hidden costs we've come across.

Overall, the cost of living is slightly less here for us than it was in the Northern 'burbs of Atlanta, and Georgia's considered a low cost of living state.

Just wondering if this red tide problems keeps up - would your research show different results now? Because if the water in the Gulf isn't a viable option - I'm thinking that swimming pools will become more popular in the Sarasota area. Don't know if it's related to global warming but for the past few years temperatures have been rising. The summers have been particularly hot/humid and a dip in the pool would be nice for a lot of the "water people".

[Gulf coast jon]

I moved to Florida in 1981. We had a pool added to the house before we even moved in.
My next place had a community pool within easy walking distance from my condo.
Now I'm in a villa with a small private pool.

There is no way I'd live in Florida if I didn't have easy access to a pool. My current situation is my favorite. Very small pool (12x20) caged, very easy to care for myself.

Never had children so I can't comment on the people you polled.

I'm pretty frugal, but at this point in my life, I'd never live in Florida if I didn't have a pool right off of my patio.

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

We polled 100+ people ages ~50+ over the past 2 years asking them do they have a pool now, if so, do they use it, would they buy one again, how much does it cost, ect..

Overwhelmingly, the response we got was "it was great when we had the kids at home, but now that we're empty nesters, we hardly ever use it, and we see it as a waste of money to keep it up"

I'd estimate this is the response we got from 75% of those we asked. ~100 might not be an ample sample size, but we decided to eliminate the cost, at least for now. We can always add a pool later, and our community has 2 we use at times. This Summer, we'll spent all except 3 weeks in Florida. Next Summer, we may stretch it out to 4 weeks.

We both lived in Florida for several years 20+ years ago, and had no pool in our backyards back then, but had access to a pool if we wanted to use one. We seldom did. Not having a pool didn't cause us to leave Florida in the 90's, it was job promotions/transfers. We were working our butts off back then, and were too busy to notice the heat.

Higher food costs would be the largest hidden cost we've encountered, but now that Aldi & Sprouts are here, that has dimished. Property taxes are higher than we thought. Gasoline's higher, even at Costco, but we don't drive much. Eating out is cheaper here, utilities are cheaper too, for us. No State income taxes offsets any hidden costs we've come across.

Overall, the cost of living is slightly less here for us than it was in the Northern 'burbs of Atlanta, and Georgia's considered a low cost of living state.

[beach43ofus]

Pools' return on investment is horrendous. It's not a hidden cost, its a well known black hole for cash. The best thing to do is buy a 2-3 year old home that aldready has a pool, then resell before it needs new deck, lining, pump, cage, ect.. That way you cut your losses. They depreciate like cars do, and they require as much attention as a dog. Our community pool is looking better all the time.

[mrviking]

Its rare to see any adult using a swimming pool for anything but a quick dunk. Most pools now do have built in Jacuzzi's but sitting on concrete is not comfortable over time. Best thing we ever did was expand our outside wooden deck to a 25 x35 area with a covered outdoor kitchen with a bar and tv covered. We installed a 7 person hot tub that we can control the water temp, so we can use it 24/7/365. With various seating styles with padded head rest comfort is a premium. Being able to enjoy ourselves outside year round is priceless. Maintenance is minimal while entertainment is maximized.

[Nancy in Nokomis]

I could not live in Florida without a pool -we have teenagers but they hardly use it - but I use it constantly - almost every day - after a work out or cutting the lawn, after dinner to relax, and right before bedtime at night - so calm and relaxing.

I would hate to use a community pool - I like my privacy and complete serenity - nothing like it

I do notice that many other people in my neighborhood never use their pools - what a waste. Almost every home has a pool and they even have their heaters running yet no one goes in - I guess some of them might be too old to even swim.

I notice homes without pools take a very long time to sell - even if people never use a pool they want one when they move to Florida.

[sixstring09]

We love our pool. Might use it 7 days in a row and not use it for 2 weeks but having it in our secluded backyard is something we really enjoy.

The pool adds value to the house. A house with a well maintained pool get a premium on sale and resale. If set up properly they are cheap to operate and mine only requires about a half hour of maintenance per week.

My variable speed pump uses about $1 a day in electricity (3kwh)or $7 per week, chemicals maybe $1 a week for saltwater, chlorine generator about $1 week over its life and pump about $1.20 per week over its life. That's less than $600 per year to be able to swim in crystal clear water.

I would never swim in a community pee pool. It is as bad as swimming in the gulf. With all the kids and teens peeing, babies and seniors with leaking diapers and seniors who can't wipe their butt all swimming around in the water. That's pretty disgusting.

You can go have fun and splash around in that but I'll pass.

[beach43ofus]

I think the ability to add a pool is even more attractive to potential buyers than buying a home with an older pool they may not like and requires maintenance. It gives buyers an oportunity to put their own personal touch on their new home.

Pools are a horrible investment. You might get 40% of your original investment back IF its in pristine condition, which few are.

Buying a new pool might be worse than buying a new Cadillac.