Florida and boating property
 

My wife and I have been talking about buying a winter home in Florida. In the future we would like to spend 6 months down there and the other 6 months up here in Western New York. We dont necessarilly need to have a dock and live on the water but would like to be within 15 to 30 minutes of the water for launching. Trying to decide what areas to start seaching. Looking for ideas and pros and cons from areas on the East and West coasts. As of now niether of us has the time available to be down there for more than a month or so and would possibly like to have it rented untill our time is freeded up.

The Florida Keys...nothing else compares. Very relaxed and laid back, best water.
Our family has a place in Tavernier and unfortunately we don't spend as much time as we'd like to but when we do, it is awesome!!
Even if your not on the water your still only a few blocks from it always.

You probably need to post your budget and that will probably determine your east vs. west coast argument. Don't expect your renter to pay for the whole Florida real estate experience. That equation has not worked in years due to the high carrying costs (taxes, insurance).

Cashbar is an east coast waterfront guy.

Thanks JS.

I'd be happy to help, even if only for advice.

I do specialize in SE Fla waterfront. I can certainly put you in the near vicinity. Prices vary greatly(as do amenities) by city and Atlantic proximity.

If you give me a few ideas on your needs I can at least get you some examples.

Send me an email at

gcoffshore at aol.com

or call anytime

Greg Harris
954-732-9020

Full list of member referrals available. :)

Looking to spend around 200k. I realize that 200k isnt the type of number needed to be on the water but I would expect to be able to find something within trailering distance. Im just starting my search trying to find areas to focus on. I am going down there in my motorhome in mid February for the Miami boatshow and I would like to set up some viewings at that time.

Thanks for the reply I will give you a call in a few days, Regards Tom Banzer

Now 200K can get you an older 2/2 condo on the water with a community dock for a 20-25 foot boat. It can easily get you a house within 15 minutes to a ramp.

Greg can find you something in that range.....

What he said :ernaehrung004:

I look forward to speaking with you Tom.

FYI, $200k will get you a 3/2 sailboat access pool home w/boat lift in cape coral.

Thanks for the replies. Any reasons to look at one coast versus the other?

Hey both Coasts are nice, I really think you would be better off taking a couple of long weekend trips to look around. That's what we are doing. The DING specials on Southwest have great last minute fares. We are looking at the Sarasota to Cape Coral Stretch.

PS: You would be surprised at how much the prices have dropped in the past year.

They will drop another 24% this year and 6-8% next year. Wait until the beginning of 2010 and any home you see down there this month will have dropped by a third.

I moved from the East coast to the West.

THe boating on the West coast is nicer. More small islands, better sea conditions, less performance boating however.
People are different, from coast to coast. YOu can buy or rent my house. :). I plan to go to Ft. Myers Beach/Cape Coral area. I'm in the hunt for something also.

Man, if both of you are right, I know where I'll be moving in two years!

We just spent two weeks in Florida. Went down the east coast, all the way to key west, then back up the west. We loved the keys, but man, it's a long way down there and not the easiest place to get in and out of. Figure in the prices for everything we saw, and it isn't possible for us to consider it. We liked the west coast more than the east, and I liked the area south of Tampa better just based on the winter weather. We're just int he earliest stages of thinking about a winter home down there, figure if the numbers worked out, we would buy a place and rent it out for a while first. If it really goes that cheap, I'd be tempted to move down there find enough work to get by till retirement time!:drink:

I respectfully disagree on E. Coast Fl Waterfront.

I show it every day and the nice properties ARE selling. I showed a point lot TEAR DOWN today and there were 3 buyers looking at the same time. :cool:

Deep water/ ocean access is steady, swampy canal/lake water out west maybe will get cheaper....

Prices have seemed to have declined to 2003-04 levels for now....so if you are a buyer you are starting back when things were still reasonable before the total insanity started.

I have a house in Englewood Fla. Sarosota County. Englewood Isles. cannal to intercoastal. 3 bed room, pool,two car garage. . 2 free county boat ramps within 2 miles of house. for sale right in your price range asking
199K. Was going to spend winters there but plans have changed. If you like more info e-mail at
[email protected]. and I will sent you a link for pictures of house.

The boating is a little (lots) easier on the West side. We were staying at the Mariott overlooking Palm Beach inlet, and some pretty large rigs getting tossed about. I love the East coast for the lively action, great wave watching, and better business climate for me. But the West coast has the better beaches, loved that sand at Ft. Myers beach. But getting off that beach and heading North? Took me an hour Tuesday morning. The area between Ft. Myers beach and Bonita Springs made me wishing I had a helicopter just to get away from the long single line of traffic.

One day I'll have to make the decision, and in retirement, south is better. Compared to 2-3 years ago, the prices I saw last week were almost free by comparison.

yes
the west coast is nice for visiting grandparents and going to bed by 8pm

Comparison story between East and West.......

My uncle (53, from north shore Mass.) went to visit friends in Naples and Punta Gorda. Both guys have been lifelong buddies and retired wealthy. Naples guy spent 2mm on a house, bought a 55 Searay lives a country club lifestyle. Punta Gorda guy bought a house in an older community on the water (older as in neighbors are all 80 and houses are 25 years old). He bought a Grady White, has a 40 minute ride to get to good water. Both guys lived good up north, fast cars, new Harleys every year yet both got to FL and became "old men."

My uncle lived in Lauderdale in the 80's and loved it but it almost killed him in the process. Likes the east coast, came into town and we went to a couple strip clubs, did a poker run and had a blast.

He couldn't believe the difference between the two coasts and what it had done to his buddies in a matter of a couple years! He joked that one of them will have the Ted Knight yachting uniform (from Caddyshack) and will be driving a white walled Caddy by the next time he comes down!

I think desireable waterfront will be the first to rebound. I also think we are within 10% of the bottom. Off the water homes will lag a ways behind and will drop more before turning around. Just my personal opinion. Here is a good site to get basic listing info.
http://www.waterfrontwonderland.com/

I will able to retire from my job in 4 years. I will be 51 years old then. Hopefully, I will still have a bit of life left in me. I will have a pretty good New York pension. My house is payed for and worth a good amount of money. The plan is to get out of N.Y. and head either south or west to where the cost of living and housing is less expensive than here. Not to mention, the weather here sucks in the winter.
My wife and I just visited the Florida Keys. We loved it. I have been told ( By New Yorkers ) , that Jupiter Fla, is a good choice for Florida living. Boating and weather is great. Is that true? I didnt get a chance to visit Jupiter this time around. ( How about that Jupiter Sunsation ? )
For what my house here is worth, I can easily get something there and have plenty of $$ left for gas. My concern with Fla is the hurricanes. What about home owners and boat insurance, especially if you own water front property? How are the property taxes for water front homes?

Well,
Here's my sales pitch,
We have a 3 bedroom/2 full bath, 2 car garage, 1700 sq ft under air, pool home, screened/covered patio, 85' of waterfront, with a dock and 8,000 lbs 30-30' boat lift, on a Protected deep water canal, on east coast, Merritt island, for $335,000 and we are having the new tile floors installed as we speak.
Here a pic.

Funny analogy Jupiter. BTW, Jupiter was my first pick for a town not on the water in Florida. Great town, infrastructure, loved it. North Palm Beach as well as Juno Beach.

GF is from the Melbourne/Vierra area, so we stop down there now that my dad's moved. Different, but nice areas as well can be found. I like Cocoa Beach, golf there quite a bit now. I'll be out of Vermont probably in 4-5 years, and hopefully will be in a position to get a home down there before the prices go too wild.

The East Coast rarely makes me think of boating, strange for a lifelong boater. But the West Coast access and waters definitely gave me the bug. It takes awhile to find the right place that makes you comfortable. It's all a tradeoff no matter where you go. When I was in my twenties, I hated it down there, times change. I'm bored silly in Naples, and north of there was a bit infrastructure challenged. Palm Beach County can spoil you a bit. Taxes are higher, but having miles and miles of waterfront to walk or cycle on has it's benefits.

Jupiter is on the water, here is the Jupiter Inlet: ( http://www.evsjupiter.com/main.htm ). Maybe you meant for you it was a good town on the water but you were going to buy inland. Palm Beach County has its +/- as in 107 people got murdered here in 08 compared to NH where 22 people got murdered in the WHOLE STATE! Palm Beach County is the biggest county in the state, has Palm Beach/Boca Raton/Jupiter as expensive areas as well as pricey small beach towns like Juno/Manalapan etc. WPB can be a very rough area and it is 15 minutes from almost anywhere in the county.
I have lived in Boca/Jupiter for the past 25 years which are nice areas but it has numbed me a bit to the actual crime in the surrounding areas. Orlando/Palm Beach county had over 225 murders last year yet a whole state like New Hampshire only had 22?

I only wonder having 2 small kids if it would be better to raise them in a Vermont type setting rather than here........

Taxes are roughly 2% of value so if you buy a 500K house expect a 10K a year tax bill. Insurance with a 5% deduct. is going to be 3K a year east of 95 but west of ocean atleast 1/2 mile (US 1). Boca Raton was a NY/NJ haven for retirees, Jupiter is more New Englanders (Mazzholes)! No where in Palm Beach county is going to be "cheaper" living. Jupiter has Jupiter Island which ironically is in the next county where Tiger is building his new lair (12 acres- ocean to ICW- 38mm and he tore down all the existing homes (5 total). Greg Norman has his house for sale for 45mm down from 65mm last year.

The biggest shock for most is in retirement you will need about 75% of what you lived on while working. If you made 100K a year, to live the same you will need 75K a year now in retirement. Yes in FL you won't have a monster heating bill, snow plow bill etc but will have year round pool/lawn service/pest control. A lot of people complain about the high cost of car/boat/property insurance compared to "up north" since they can compare the same vehicle/boat/house in both
places. Also they mention the cost of food as being higher for the same items, again can compare identical things in two locations.

Remember when you are working it takes 50 hours a week out of your schedule (10 hours travel/prep time- 40 hours work) so you CAN'T SPEND MONEY BUT RATHER MAKE MONEY! When retired you will spend money during that extra 50 hours of free time with no income generated. Guys with no hobbies can sometimes be better off in FL than guys with hobbies. Remember you can fish/golf/whatever 365 days a year- no layup time.

Good luck, save your money...........

The offset to high property taxes is no state income tax.

Just a word of caution for any Floridians to be.
I lived in the Chicago subs for 23+ years. In Florida for 14+ years. While boating is infact great in FLa. don't be fooled by the cost of living.
If you put all the data together, (car, boat, house ins. misc. governmental or municipal BS costs. etc.) it IS NOT CHEAPER.
Better for boating. Great place to visit or retire, not the best place to live and make a living.

FYI. Property taxes are based on which COUNTY you live in, and some are much higher than others.
Collier County for example (Naples & Marco Island), are roughly 1.1%

Hmm. Wondered when you'd chime in Hans.

Always good to hear from the OLD Coast. :evilb:

Ha! You mock what you fear!:evilb:
Hope all is well...
H.

I was down in FT Lauderdale this past November. I could see how you need to be real carefull in your searches. One of the areas goes from a ghetto to million dollar homes in 5 minutes by car.

No doubt more crime, but remember, there's only 630,000 total population here in Vermont. NH is different, but also concentrated in a couple of counties. You have to pick your locations carefully. I've been in Vt about 25 years now, and have had my fill. I grew up on Lake Winni in NH as a kid, and still love it there, but only for boating, not living.

Yes, I understand Jupiter has some coastal living as well. We ate at the Jettis last week, good as usual. Love to be on the island, but $$$ will probably not get that far. I'll take the pitfalls of Florida compared to here. But you are correct, you need to know what they are. Vermont is way overhyped, like many areas.

There is a house in Sarasota 1600 sqft huge dock (docking for 3 boats plus the slip with a 10K boat lift)on canal, pool for $325 the house has ben totally redone and is nice, back in the day the lady paid $675 and lost it call and ask for Mike Holderness with Sara bay his number is 941-725-0338 and tell him chris told you to call on the house on Megellan Crt you wont be disappointed and your in Sarasota, when the boat races are in town, you go right out the canal and your in the perfect spot close to everything. Good Luck :ernaehrung004:

Florida and boating property
 

Hey there, just FYI, I handle much of the waterfront real estate in the Tampa Bay and surrounding areas. I have sold many waterfront homes outlining their boating requirements. I can also give you many referrals to prove it. The Tampa Bay area is a very good area for boating with numerous restaurants on the water and many places to go. I've read some of your criteria of your search, and would like to get a little more detail from you. Please send me an email so i can get the search started for you. It's no cost to you, and my technology background will supply you loads of information that will help you in your home buying decision!

By the way, I ran the areas poker runs for the past 5 years, you can rest assured I know the waterways around here. Contact me by email and I will at the very least send you some preliminary info. Talk to you soon!

Michael Erturk - Realtor
[email protected]
www.HomesByMike.net

Perhaps the experts are wrong and you are correct, but I doubt it.

This is just one of many examples. I know it's Miami, but many economists say all of South Florida will feel this much pain and more. Wait until 2010 before you buy in SFL.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/...fortune/4.html

http://www.forbes.com/realestate/200...ealestate.html

Properties may go down farther, no doubt. If you need something, now's a better time than two years ago. If you're ready to go with cash or good qualifications, you're in better shape than most, and could very well get a great deal. One thing that's great about an economic climate like this is that you can pick and choose exactly what you want, and there's certainly no need to rush in.

There's too many variables associated with trying to call a bottom on real estate, especially since the properties are in diverse regions, and every seller is in a different situation. I know I'm not smart enough to guess what's in store for 2010, or even this summer.

and a 'T' craft

200k will get you waterfront on a canal in New Port Richey area, there is an auto-notification on our MLS that sends the listing to you as they come up, directly to your email. Email [email protected] and I'll set it up for the Tampa area.

Best deals are bank owned, if someone says the word short sale run as fast as you can, you will likely never close.

Reason is, the lender is covered most times by the mortgage insurance and will net more by foreclosing and then filing a claim.

good luck

In all of the articles I read on short sales I have never heard that explanation but it makes total sense. However if the bank takes a hit (even in a short sale) couldn't a claim still be made on the mortgage insurance?