Amazed at home prices near Kissimmee........

[wendy46001]

Also you have to consider how many foreclosures are in that neighborhood and how long those homes have been empty. You might end up living next door to a crumbling home or half built house/empty lots as a lot of developers pulled out when the market tanked. Florida heat and houses without temperature control is a recipe for mold and decay

 

[Heidict]

I noticed one of the 3 houses listed in the links, had 2010 taxes of just over $2K.

Those are some awesome prices....and I would think would make nice vacation homes.

That is not bad at all.

Also you have to consider how many foreclosures are in that neighborhood and how long those homes have been empty. You might end up living next door to a crumbling home or half built house/empty lots as a lot of developers pulled out when the market tanked. Florida heat and houses without temperature control is a recipe for mold and decay

Not if we all get in on this together. We all buy houses around each other, or even on the same street.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

That is not bad at all.


Not if we all get in on this together. We all buy houses around each other, or even on the same street.

Sign me up! We could form the DIS Homeowners' City Improvement Coalition!

 

[mikki'smom]

About a year ago I had a discussion with my sister who is a realtor about the good deals in Central Florida....she told me that often the hidden pricetag in this area comes in house insurance...with all the hurricanes that have hit that area it can be very high...still beats the winter cold

 

[loveysbydesign]

I just randomly chose those 3 to post...and that was only from a small sample of the area. I'm sure there are tons more! We're kind of stuck here for 2 years until we pay the loan off on my dh's 401k loan through his work. Although with those prices we could sell our house, buy one in Florida and pay off the rest of the loan in cash!
Obviously you need to do research on the area/neighborhood/schools that you plan to buy a home in!

 

[loveysbydesign]

That is not bad at all.


Not if we all get in on this together. We all buy houses around each other, or even on the same street.

Sounds like a plan to me! Us diser's sure are productive!

 

[PigletsPal2]

We live in the Kissimmee zip code, but actually about 15 miles west of the actual city, eight miles west of Celebration. Nicely kept-up neighborhood, but quite a few for sale. We have 3BR, 2BA, FR, DR, TS Kitchen, 2 car garage, screened heated pool, corner lot. Bought in 2003 fully furnished for $145,000, probably lists for about $100,000 now. Property taxes are about $1400 a year, insurance, including hurricane, is about $1700 a year. Does this help?

 

[undertheradar]

We have family there and to quote: "There are no jobs here!" Like everywhere else in our country, jobs are scarce. Insurance, utilities are high. Remember, while Florida has no state income tax, the economy and local services are dependent upon tourism dollars flowing in.

 

[snowywhite89]

Many homes in FL have the Chinese drywall problem. The house has to be gutted to fix the problem.

 

[loveysbydesign]

We live in the Kissimmee zip code, but actually about 15 miles west of the actual city, eight miles west of Celebration. Nicely kept-up neighborhood, but quite a few for sale. We have 3BR, 2BA, FR, DR, TS Kitchen, 2 car garage, screened heated pool, corner lot. Bought in 2003 fully furnished for $145,000, probably lists for about $100,000 now. Property taxes are about $1400 a year, insurance, including hurricane, is about $1700 a year. Does this help?

Wow....that sounds great to me! I just pulled up our statement with our taxes and insurance on it! We live in the Lehigh Valley, between Allentown and Kutztown, PA.
We pay $5300 in taxes(county, city, & school) plus we pay state and local personal taxes and $1900 for home insurance here and our home is only worth about $125-135k right now!

What's your zip code?

 

[daughtersrus]

Are the homes really selling for these prices? Here, it's not uncommon for short-sales or foreclosures to be listed at low prices to try and get a bidding war.

I don't know the legalities of it but a friend of my DD's placed a bid at the list price on a short-sale. After several weeks, they got an answer from the lender saying that it wasn't accepted. This was over a year ago and that house still sits empty and is listed for the same price.

 

[Cindy B]

Crime as in North Philadelphia "locked gates on your front door/bars on your windows/children killed in the crossfire of drug deals gone wrong" crime or "mostly misdemeanors with a felony here and there" crime?

I'm sorry that comment made me giggle. I work in Camden-- and it is interesting to say the least. I would only wish for mostly misdemeanors around here.

I'm glad you clarified. -- though-- because there is a huge difference between those two extremes.

 

[loveysbydesign]

I'm sorry that comment made me giggle. I work in Camden-- and it is interesting to say the least. I would only wish for mostly misdemeanors around here.

I'm glad you clarified. -- though-- because there is a huge difference between those two extremes.

Camden...you are a brave woman! I took my dd to see the Camp Rock 2 tour there in August and we made a wrong turn...we were scared!

 

[PigletsPal2]

LOVEYSBYDESIGN - zip code is 34747, neighborhood is Lindfields.

Queen Colleen

 

[chyam]

About a year ago I had a discussion with my sister who is a realtor about the good deals in Central Florida....she told me that often the hidden pricetag in this area comes in house insurance...with all the hurricanes that have hit that area it can be very high...still beats the winter cold

Exactly homeowners insurance is through the roof, and finding an insurance company that will write you a policy is another story...The house I am in now has been insured by Liberty Mutual for years...they are dumping me! Same old story they are all using the hurricane probability excuse. Also add in that 95% of the time you are not going to find a job doing what you are up north for the same pay. Florida is a low paying state.
Also FL sounds great when you are up to your forehead in snow, but come summer you will wonder what is worse freezing cold and snow or heat and humidity!
There are very few places that are perfect. Honestly I am now missing the change of seasons.
But I guess if you are nearing retirement age the lure of beautiful homes at cheap prices is a good draw. But other posters are correct, there are many homes under foreclosure and sitting empty simply because the original owners could no longer afford them because of insurance rates, property taxes and low paying jobs.

 

[loveysbydesign]

Exactly homeowners insurance is through the roof, and finding an insurance company that will write you a policy is another story...The house I am in now has been insured by Liberty Mutual for years...they are dumping me! Same old story they are all using the hurricane probability excuse. Also add in that 95% of the time you are not going to find a job doing what you are up north for the same pay. Florida is a low paying state.
Also FL sounds great when you are up to your forehead in snow, but come summer you will wonder what is worse freezing cold and snow or heat and humidity!
There are very few places that are perfect. Honestly I am now missing the change of seasons.
But I guess if you are nearing retirement age the lure of beautiful homes at cheap prices is a good draw. But other posters are correct, there are many homes under foreclosure and sitting empty simply because the original owners could no longer afford them because of insurance rates, property taxes and low paying jobs.

I can understand where you're coming from and that must really suck about the homeowner's insurance, I wonder how they get away with things like that??.....but I gotta tell you that the summer's here in the Lehigh Valley are very, very similar to those down there with the exception that your summer lasts longer. Many times we sit around and joke in July or August about how the heat index, humidity and temp.s' are higher up here then they are down there


I was hoping that if we bought a house outright and had no mortgage, that we could afford the taxes, fees, insurance even if we had a job that pays less?

 

[Cindy B]

Camden...you are a brave woman! I took my dd to see the Camp Rock 2 tour there in August and we made a wrong turn...we were scared!

I teach middle school in Camden.. Right around the waterfront isn't that bad... now where my school is.. totally different story

 

[loveysbydesign]

We really love the beach so I'm thinking we may look for a community somewhere half way between WDW and the beaches. We love the west coast for the white sand and serenity and also love the east coast because my kids love to boogie board. We probably can't move til June 2012 so I guess we have plenty of time to do some research. Decisions, decisions!

 

[cheerful chickadee]

It's amazing what $70,000 will buy in other states, many of these houses are beautiful! In NY, a single family 3bdrm house for 70k would be a dump, quite literally. I wish there was a way to know what areas were nice and what areas were not. A neighborhood with houses priced this low in NY would probably be drug ridden, prostitution, homeless people, etc. These locations all look pretty suburban.

 

[Planogirl]

Those homes are really inexpensive!

We still have to have jobs and from what I hear good ones are hard to find in central Florida. Doesn't anyone else on this thread still have to work? And if so, what about finding jobs?