Moving south

BJL

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We've put our house up for sale and are planning on moving to Florida. Although we haven't been to Stuart, it seems to be the type of place we would like………..laid back, boating communities, etc. We're looking for a 55+ community preferably with boat dockage for a small boat. I'd like to keep the cost under $300K but don't know if that's reasonable or not. Any suggestions are welcome. We hope to take a trip down soon to explore so it would be nice to have some direction before if possible.
 
Try Palm Coast. Half way between St. Augustine and Daytona Beach. This is the only place in Florida where you can get on a deep water canal system for under $300 k.
 
We recently bought a place in Pompano Beach.

Just remember that the asking prices are just that and the real estate brokers are full of s__t.
 
You may remember that the asking price is total B.S ....
Many years ago I learned that a fraction of the asking price was more then acceptable in dealing with R.E.... Especially in this present day market ...
Check Other Areas Before you feel happy..Look for other similar family's with persons of your age, taste and socially economic state,which are most important for feeling comfortable with your setting ...As I have found!
Good Luck and enjoy the South Y'all!
 
BJL,

We have a condo in Boca Raton (about an hour south of Stuart). On the water with dockage available in the community (cheap -- around $150/month) and 10-15 minutes to the Boca inlet. We've never rented it, it's only been used for our family since it was remodeled about 3 years ago. Feel free to PM or email me for details if you'd like. My email address is eric dot shepherd at mac dot com. 2 BR/2 BA...about 1,100 square feet. We're actually moving from St. Simons Island, GA to Jacksonville, FL and won't be using the condo as much now, so it's not yet on the market, but will likely be in the next 6-12 months unless we decide to finally rent it out.
 
Thanx Shep.........I'll keep it in mind but I think we're leaning towards going further north. Gotta tell you though........if I had a choice between St. Simons or Florida it would be St. Simons!
 
I saw something on the travel channel not long ago showing some areas close to Fort Myers, with canals in the back yards. The housing cost are down 35%. One house that cost 325K in 2005 was worth something like 250K this year.
But I cannot remember the names of the towns, I just remember Fort Myers cause it is a big city. Cannot remember the smaller towns around it. It had both fresh and salt water canals...
 
Try Punta Gorda, Specifically Punta Gorda Isles. All the lots are on the water, saltwater access to the harbor, a nice buffe to any storm surge as we're 16 miles from Boca Grande Pass.

Great values but no immediate nearby beach.

25 min from Ft Myers.
RWS
 
Rduhon,

The city you are thinking of is Cape Coral. 410 miles of canals off of the Caloosahatchee River directly across from Fort Myers. And there are plenty of houses and condos available for $300,000 that are on saltwater canals.
 
Anyone with any figures for asking price vs. selling price??
 
BJL -
Find your self a good buyer's broker / agent down there. They will represent your interests, and their service is ggenerally free. (Generally, the lisitng side pays all the commisions). They have access to not only the asking prices for a certain community, but also the actual SOLD prices for the homes.
For example, say you're interested in a neighbirhood called "Salty Dog", and you want a 3 BR 2 BA home around 2000 square feet. The agent can find the asking price of the homes in Salty Dog that meet that description. They can also look up the SOLD prices (and original asking prices) for the homes that fit that description. They can search these SOLD prices for as far back as you'd like; past 30 days, pas 90 days, etc. You can then compare the average asking prices to the average SOLD prices for a given type / size of home in a given area. In addition to the original asking price of a sold home, they can give you the history of any price changes as it dropped (or went up.). Use a professional agent, and they will work for you.
 
Thanks Glenn. We do intend on using a broker. In the meantime, we've been carefully looking on line at places and are also dealing with some brokers over the internet that have been sending us some listings. We'll be more serious once we know the house up here has sold and then it will be time to look in person.
 
Y2K996, that is it. My brain cell is not what it used to be...
 
Thanks Flutterby..........we've been on that site for days!!! Gives some great info and narrows down some places we'd like to look. Another great site is zillow dot com. It gives values now and also previous sales, etc.
 
I wasn't aware of zillow.....I'll check that out. I'm not house hunting, but I do like to see what's going on in my neighborhood. Best of luck to you and yours as you enter this next phase of your life!!!!
 
BJL...if you like St. Simons, our house is still on the market! You can search for it on zillow...id #2146108679.
 
Would love your house Shep but out of our range for retirement!
 
hi bjl...

many good points made here for you, and while I am a bit late in my add in... it bears mention nonetheless. The point is to identify where you will find what it is you are looking for... as in a lazy, laid back town or a city with the shared element of water... many of the places mentioned, and what you wanted aswell, did not addrress this all important fact. The price ceiling is less an issue than once was, for the moment, and provided that your sale in the North does not effect your looking price down heer in FLA; you can truely find what you have specified in the N, S, Central, Easter or west coasts. The factors that will matter most are pertaining to what you'd like to have at your door, or rather, from your dock. Example is here in Ft. Lauderdale.. what was once near 700K, less than a year ago, up from 300K a few years ago, is now way down, and just now, the home, a 2/2, on deep water, in the city of Ft. Lauderdale... sold for 305K... so, becareful, beinformed, and most of all besure you;ll be happy.
steve
 
Hey Barb, we love Vero enough to be moving there when ours sells up here also.

And my tack will be looking at the peak $$ in 2004-06 and then starting about 1/2 of that figure. It such a buyer's mkt, it's scary-maybe bottomless as a sink hole.
 
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