Need some advise with purchasing home around Tampa. (Sarasota, Plant City: rent, condo)

[makos]

Hi all!

I am planning to purchase a home (townhouse) within a 100-150K. I am from out of the country and this purchase would be more of an investment, since prices are still relatively low. I have couple quoestions that maybe some could help me out.

I am looking for a townhouse, may be a condo, but would prefer a townhouse, with min 2 bedrooms. A good neighborhood is a must, suburbs would be preferable.

So far I have been looking into these regions/rowns:

-Lithia, Parrish, Plant City and Norht Port.

I have found some properties in LWR but it turned out that they have some major problems/defects with those.

Any other suggestions where should I look? I do not really have any geografical preferences so I am open to all suggestions in Hillsborough, Manatee, Sarasota and Pasco counties.

Prices are unpredictable for the future so I am mainly looking for a stable community that wont go down in the toilet in 15 years or so.

[gulfer]

I wish that there was an easy answer for you as many people have been doing the same for the past year or so.

There are some townhomes in the CrossCreek area of New Tampa. The zip code to search is 33647. There are also townhomes in Wesley Chapel and Lennar home builders (Lennar.com) is building in your price range over in Trinity.

[makos]

Thank you for the info. How about those town that I have listed in my first post?

[gulfer]

I don't have a good feel for them Makos regarding investment opportunities. They are quite a distance for a Tampa commuter and that could effect your Return on Investment.

[makos]

I did a search for what you have suggested, property taxes are quite high in those areas compare to those I have looked at so far. Almost double the taxes even without CDD and HOAS are almost double also. While looking at statistics the average rent is just only $100-200 more.

Any more input?

[lavender]

The other thing you need to think about is who is going to look after the property for you? If you are out of the country, what happens when there is a problem/repair/tenant doesn't pay rent? If you have a property manager, expect to pay 10% of monthly commission for them to handle all the problems. If your place is not in great shape, expect to have more repairs to deal with. Newer is probably a better idea if you can afford it, with homebuilder warranties. Tenants dont often look after the house. I had one that suddenly realized that an self clean oven 'really does work' once he had moved out and purchased his own! Prices are going to creep up, but the lower priced homes on the periphary are always going to be slower to increase in value, less demand out there. Unless you are planning to move here eventually and live in it, think long and hard, I'd love to sell you a house, but do think about that too. Eventually the far out communities will become part of Tampa sprawl and more services will move out there and they will become proper suburbs, but it could be a way off yet.