Tons of cheap houses in Florida -- what's the catch?
 

Changed over to satellite TV a couple months ago and there's this channel where they auction off property a couple times a week. The properties are mostly on the western coast of Florida, south of St. Petersburg.

They look really nice. A 2000 square foot house with a 1/4 acre lot, only 4 years old. Some condos that have never been lived in because the builder went bankrupt and so did the bank that took them over. Everything looks really nice and is in perfect condition. And they're selling for around $80k.

Sounds too good to be true. What's the catch? Blacks? Mexicans?

No catch, Florida has a 20% state-wide real estate vacancy rate. finance.yahoo.com/news/Nearly-20-of-Florida-homes-cnnm-2507768369.html

No catch... its Florida and Florida sucks to live in... that's why all those houses are for sale

Wow that's really cheap

Umm why that ?

On the surface nothing more than supply far exceeding demand. In fact almost 20% of all homes in Florida are vacant.

Just watch out for chinese drywall, mold from utilities being off, neighborhoods where abandoned homes, foreclosure squatters and below market renters are compounding the problem. Lot of bargains but a lot of turds as well.

.

You neighbors.


Cubans and floridians. Worse than alligators.

This post was helpful. Thank you.

I like alligators .....

Maybe you will meet some of them in your new neighbourhood dude.


http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/4...rrycarlson.jpg

Property Tax and insurance is the catch.

My brother has a 500K house out there and it is all paid off. His insurance and property tax is 25K a year. It way sux ass!!


You are better off renting if you live in Florida.

A lot of foreign investors liked the $150k ocean front condos that used to sell for $750k. That is until they realized they had to pay $1000 a month+ in HOA...
So is life in Florida...

the catches
 

the catches....tax and mechanics (unpaid contractors) liens on the property that you'd have to pay in addition to buying the house... that you may only be able to see the house on the inside, but not the inside... buying "as is"...termites, vermin...you may have to buy a special insurance policy or add a policy endorsement while you make repairs to the place to get the house in livable condition , this may also be required by your insurance co because the house isn't being "lived in", once you move in, I think you can drop the endorsement...you'll probably need to secure a certificate of occupancy from the municipality/city before you move in, so your house will have to pass inspection. all that aside there are bargains there, in Phoenix, in Vegas. prices may not have even bottomed out yet, I wouldn't even offer full price, make an offer... you could end up with a creampuff and a great deal, but caveat emptor.

yeah they were coming in droves with their foreign investor visas and buying condos for pennies on the dollar. then they couldn't even find renters to put in to cover their HOA expenses. plus glut of rentals on the market...

http://www.condovultures.com/ is a good website for newsy updates

other than Miami Beach...FLORIDA IS A FUCKING SHITHOLE! period

HURRICANES!!!!!! No way will I live in Hurricane alley

I love living in florida! The only prob with houses around me are sinkholes :(

If it's a condo watch out for all the association fee's and taxes. You'll end up paying more for those than you would have a note.

I visited a condo 10 days ago .. Ocean front ( directly on the beach ), penthouse , private elevator , etc .... was 875K , to be auctioned mid-april or buy now for 250K .

I can pay it cash , but the taxes in Broward county are roughly 2% of the value , so they were 18K . Condo fees were 895.00/month ... Now, you need your property insurance still and between the intra-coastal and ocean, it is very expensive to get as well wind insurrance, about 6K/year...

Total fee if paid cash : $ 34 740 ....

Tol;d the guy I would not even take it for free ... :1orglaugh

Hurricane Insurance
Flood Insurance
Homeowners Insurance
Property Tax
Home Owners Association Fees

You get the privilege of paying all of these with or without a mortgage.
The closer to the water, the more your insurance costs too.

My house is on the water and only 8 feet above sea level.

Damn! Thats like doing your 1st Anal every month.:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

LOL no shit.
I have seen this over and over.
Even some in Cali I was looking at.
Killer places 400k on the water (marina) .. $1500 a month HOA
haha
fuck that noise

Not everyplace in Florida has a large HOA fee. If you on waterfront, with a pool, gym and 24 hour security. You are gonna pay.

Florida has been very over developed. Everyone thought they were a real estate guru and gonna become a millionaire by putting there credit on the line. And it backfired. Now everything is in forclosure.

Ya'll come on down here. We've been offering deals in real estate since for almost a hundred years. We've got exactly what you are looking for. It's cheap, it's available and it's in a fantastic neighborhood. PM your credit card number, exp date and that secret code on the back and I'll make sure you get your 80 acres and a mule right on the water! Guaranteed! You find a better deal, I don't think so. You're gonna love Miami because it's right next to the United States of America.

Florida does have good deals for purchase and investing. I have several properties I own outright down there and will be buying more.

Making 9% returns every year and only going to increase as rents are now going up!
You couldn't build the houses for the price I am paying for them.

Insurance is $600/year and thats for the value the insurance company states would cost to rebuild the house at, they wont insure it for the price I paid because it is too low!
Property Taxes are really low (if yours are high, have the state re-assess based on todays value == instantly lower)

Just a few years ago the real estate market was sky high here in FL and everyone was selling their houses for huge profits. Flipping was another way to make some quick money.

About the same time the banks were giving mortgages to just about anyone that could scribble their name with a pen.

Then the bottom fell out.

People were left with property they couldn't afford to keep and only wanted to flip but now can't. People that got houses they couldn't really afford defaulted on their mortgages especially those ballon ones.

Builders were left with inventory they can't sell.

All that left the housing market in shambles and those that didn't lose their property completely are willing to sell for just a fraction of what it was worth just a few years ago.
It's a buyers market for sure and you can buy a very nice house in a great location for about half of what it would have cost you around 2007.

An important thing to remember is even though one might be able to afford the initial price of a property now that they wouldn't in a normal market you have to keep in mind the added cost like taxes and maintenance that will come later and might actually cause you to go over your budget.

there are great deals available; what you describe is regular single homes or small multi-units building, but inland, not on the prime real estate strip ( Jupiter to South Beach , on the strip of land between the Intra-Coastal and the Ocean ).

I am thinking of buying a single home ( 3 Bdr, 2 Bt, Florida room ) in a gated community located in Glades ( west of Boca ) for 110K ( first sale in 2007 was 295 K ) ...
Taxes there are lower, insurance as well and maintenance ( commom fees ) pretty low as they are single homes ...

i wonder how much is insurance there on a 300k$ condo?

That sounds very low for the insurance.

I'm curious what type of property is that 600/yr insurance on, sounds insanely low to me.

Hey man, what's your contact info? I need to ask you a question. :thumbsup

Some neighborhood on the west coast are in the toilet and there are no jobs for people who want to live there.

My house in Boca Raton has reasonable taxes and insurance costs and my association fees are low too. Though my house is worth less than 50% of peak, I am still way up from when I bought it.

I find that to be bullshit. Where did the fucking people move to MARS? yeah I read where Sarasota the rate is what 23%? Ok I lived there for 6 1/2 years. I can't imagine walking down the roads going 1,2,3 EMPTY 1,2,3 EMPTY. Sorry can't believe that. Let's see 326,000 in 2000 now 380,000 in 2010. A 16% INCREASE in population yet fewer houses occupied?

Disneyland :Oh crap ...

daily rain makes the afternoons humid in Fla, maybe move to the swamp and go river logging instead?

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Lol, for some reason this thread makes me think about the movie "Glengarry Glen Ross"
Have to see it again soon.

The "catch" is you get to live with all the other white trash who inhabit that state. lol

Well, a condo you only have to get interior insurance, you pay an HOA fee that covers the exterior for the entire building/complex. You only need to purchase insurance if you have your own house / land.

This is not bullshit. No one ever lived there. These places were built for speculators to purchase. Except the speculators purchased it with mortgages they could not afford. They thought they would be able to sell it with a quick turn around, except there was to many properties, and not enough buyers. This lead to massive foreclosures. It is not that hard to believe. If you built 100 houses where 10 people live. This is what happens. They just built to much. They thought because the economy was good in Florida at one point, all these people would be moving there and taking this housing. Except the economy was false. It was all based on the construction of houses no one was ever going to buy. I think the foreclosure rate in Florida is understated. I bet it is worse then they even say it is. And they say its terrible.

Also be aware if this a "spec" neighborhood that is years old and mostly empty, most people won't move in and instead want a brand new home built in a real community. That seriously drives down property values.

As for the white trash comment, you have no idea how high end some spots in Florida are. Granted most of central and northern Florida are well...hick land.

So you think no houses were built during those 10 years? Okay.

4 bedroom, 2 bath, 1400~ sqft, single family homes
big front and back yards

they are 6 minutes up the road from the ocean in one direction
5 minutes from i-95 in the other direction

great location, up and coming area.

rents were $1400/month a couple years ago, they are now $900/month (which is what im making 9% on) but they are going up and all of mine are coming up for contract renewals and expected to be able to increase to about $950.
So imagine once rents go even hire year over year from here on out.

Good opportunities for those who saved cash.

what channel is it?

A condo is never a good investment.

:2 cents:

:2 cents:

:error DisneyWORLD

Probably the most religious state in the union. You can't walk down the beach in a bikini without some guy on a horn telling you that you're going to burn in hell for your indecency.

They are the really bad redneck homophobic types as well. I actually live in the Midwest and I thought nothing could be worse than here but I was wrong.