Relocation to Warmer Climate

Thanks to you both (Panzade and Farmerman) as that help is precisely what I need. I feel a bit more well prepared with more info about the pitfalls of short-sale or foreclosure.

FWIW, the tax burden on a $60k condo in Sarasota or Manatee County (Bradenton area) varies from $80 -$120/month. Likewise, HOA (abbrev of condo association) costs vary between $80 or as high as $160/month). This is a consideration as it is certainly a not-so-hidden cost. The suddeeness of a potential increase can be a 'gotchya', depending on the management style of the condo association.

Thanks for the insight.

Ragman- Go to www.realtor.com. There you can type in the area that you want. There is also place to type in your price range, number of bedrooms, etc., and whether you want a rental or a purchase. That site will list all the properties in the area, many with pictures.

I found that site when I was looking to sell the little place where my mother had lived. I keep the website on my desktop, because I like to keep an eye at how the real estate market in the area is doing.

In Hillsborough County, where I live, you can go to the property appraiser's page, and see what people have paid for their places. I see that Sarasota County has a similar webpage, but I am not familiar with the workings of that page.

If you are interested in some property, you can probably find out what similar places in the area have sold for.

You also can look on www.zillow.com, but I have found that site to be a bit less exacting than the property appraiser's page.

If you have any questions about the west coast of central Florida, please just ask, and I will help you any way that I can.

Thanks, you're fine..I didn't misinterpret that.

For those RE property ads on those $60k condos (around Sarasota or Bradenton), they're talking about 900-1000 Sq ft.

I see that Charlotte County (and Northport) is just to the south of Sarasota/Sarasota County. As I read from Wikipedia, Punta Gorda, is the county seat, and Port Charlotte is/are in that county. That's where one of the Category IV hurricanes, Hurr. Charlie, smacked down. Maybe there's a lot of rebuilt property?

You're a sharp fellow. No one's gonna pull the wool over your eyes.

Phoenix: bless you.

I'll poke around there and see what things look like. I think Zillow was where I got some of my info from my earlier research on Bradenton and other cheaper areas.

On Realtor.com I can see 50 listing for $60k condo in Bradenton

Yes, there are lots of alligators in Florida, but unless you live on a lake, and have a toy poodle that likes to go swimming, there is not much to worry about. Before they built up my area, Mr. P and I used to go to visit "Wallygator", our resident reptile.

Seriously though, alligators that have not been fed by humans (which is illegal in Florida) are not only not dangerous, but even shy. There is a place in Florida near Sarasota called Myakka River state Park. There is a gorgeous lake, and it it full of alligators. I used to go canoeing there, and often "stalked" the alligators.

There are crocs, which ARE dangerous and aggressive, but their population is small. They are found in the Everglades, far enough away from Sarasota as to not be a problem.

Sorry, RJB. I thanked Farmerman when I meant to thank you. Pardon my confusion.

Panzade tossed out a warning regarding HOA fees and how you perhaps should be wary about buying into a condo community where there are a lot of distressed properties.
Andy, who works for me, and his lady own a condo in a complex of some 200 units. He brought me a 1/4" thick report from the CPA re the HOA. This is in Charlottesville, VA, not FL. Things are reasonably okay here.
BUT...buried in a footnote was this: The HOA is owed more than $100K in HOA fees that the CPA deems as probably will never be collected. And that number is growing. The streets need to be plowed, the exteriors need to be maintained and money needs to be set aside for roof replacement.
Cash is running short.
The HOA may not increase the fee more than 5% a year under the rules, so the quality of care might decline, creating, for the want of a better word, a slum.

I don't know about Sarasota, but where I live, the realtors are obliged to show a prospective owner of a condo, the condo documents. I would never consider buying a condo (or even a private home that is run by an association) if I were not apprised of the regulations first. (BTW, I was not that sophisticated about this issue when we bought our present house, but we have had no problems.)

For instance, where my mother lived, you were not allowed to have wind chimes. This did not prove to be a problem for her, but might be for a lover of wind chimes.

I live in a private home that is regulated by an association. Any changes (including the color of the house) that are made to the outside of the home has to be passed on by the "architecture committee". In the vast majority of cases, the approval is perfunctory, but I have known people who wanted to make major changes that were disapproved.

For people who have lived all their lives in the northeast, where almost anything goes, the regulations might seem to be overly restrictive, but in practice, it is rarely a problem. The important thing is that a prospective buyer needs to be aware of any restrictions BEFORE he buys.

the unknown is what will happen over time, as condos are foreclosed upon and sit empty no HOA dues are coming in, keeping the place up will not happen and so the owners take another hit to values. as cheap as a Sarasota county condo is now it is highly likely to be worth less a year or two from now. The county currently has a horrible foreclosure rate and unemployment is high so things will not get better anytime soon.

I would be very, very careful about buying into a building right now. Renting for a year or two would seem to be the smarter play. rent into a condo that you think you may want to buy into, and see if you like it and also wait for a little clarity on when the crash in values might be near an end.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111494514

Hawkeye:

Thank you so much for that very valuable info. Helps me set my expectations and set my head straight about future R.E. possibilities.

I was getting some indication of a bottoming out from some RE blogs of the western FL coast. Of course, if I were a realtor down there, I'd be all over those blogs pumping sunshine out. That assumes again we would be talking about nearly an entry-level condo...historically the part of the market that could take longer to bottom out...right?

Are you dead set against a house? I took a quick look at realtor.com and found this one I'd look at -

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1369-20Th-St_Sarasota_FL_34234_1115427094?source=hp

Yes. A house would be out due to outside maintenance issues. I'm disabled and my limitations and physical condition prevent me from doing outside maintenance. I can shovel a 10-ft-walkway if the snow was light..or sweep leaves. Also, if the roof needed work I wouldn't want or could afford that expense.

My experience with Florida realtor-speak is that this house, built in oh say 1949 has major problems with roof leak , an ailing air conditioner, leaky plumbing, inadequate electric panel etc.

Not to speak of the crackheads living in the guest house who have a 3 year lease.

Good point, Hawk.
Another employee of mine says this is a pretty good time to be a flexible renter. He is able to lay down a security deposit and pay 3 months rent in advance on a place that is languishing on the "for sale" market. Cheap, cheap rent providing he is willing to move out relatively quickly if the place does sell. No year long lease. He can move on in a heartbeat. $1000 for 3 months.

yeah, I think hawk has the best solution. Take advantage of some low rent and scope out the area and prices. It's hard to make the best decision unless you're living there.

That house I linked is tempting for me..

anyway, good luck on this, Ragman. The rental thing while you extensively scope stuff out seems like a good idea.
I did inexpensively rent a house for sale when I first moved to humboldt county, CA, back in late 1998. They rented it inexpensively because they wanted it to be lived in re heating over the winter and not to look desolate. I got there, my worldly goods were deposited in the garage by a moving company, and I put a few things actually in the house: kitchen utensils, my cookbooks, my slim leather sofa, cd player, my bed (upstairs), and.. about six biggish paintings.

Dayum - I was only there a couple of weeks when some people were shown the house, which hadn't been sold in three years. They loved it and the new owners told me later the paintings helped them like the place. That and the bread I was baking.. I had to be out in a month - oy - but I ended up then renting the new owner's former house.

So, the transition can be rocky, but I wouldn't have missed those experiences. The first place had three deer in the meadow next door when I first drove up, and a sequoia grove in the backyard. The second turned out to be a collector's paradise, with a shaving cream collection in the bathrooms, baseball cards in one bedroom, beer bottles of yore and bubble gum in the dining room, and much other stuff I won't explain lest I identify the person. Not much room left for me, even in a 4 bedroom house - pretty much just the kitchen and 1 bedroom for space - but a lot of fun until I found what would be my own place. Again, the rent was quite low, just to have the place lived in and watched over.

The real estate agent in all that mess turned out to be great; she helped my find the house I bought, and, years later, helped me sell it.

I guess the tolerance for warmer climes grows as you age. Im as old as you rags but I cannot stand humid weather. The Fla weather is as abad as New Orleans but without the "social amenities" . When I did a lot of work in Fla, I used to get away for bass fishing and had many alligator interactions along the sinkhole lakes and ponds.
August and Sept are the worst down there cause its hot, humid, and theres no wind.
We have some friends that live in St Pete who visit us each year and they need jackets when its june here.

One thing I would caution about with your purchase is to be sure you buy something that was built well before Florida's housing bubble began to burst. An awful lot of shoddy work and shortcuts have been done in newer buildings for cost cutting measures.

Be sure you get an excellent home inspection done by a reliable and seasoned company. The home inspection is not a place to cut back on your purchase costs.

There was an article in the ABQ Journal today about home inspection companies overlooking major defects and then offering a refund of their inspection fee as the only compensation to the new owner. I'll see if I can find it online and post it.

Having purchased real estate before elsewhere, I'm aware of the value of using an expert home inspector with a good reputation. Also, with 2 sisters who've made recent or fairly recent purchases, I'm aware of the changes in FL home construction and their reputations. In fact, just for energy-conservation reasons alone I'll be cautious.