Is anyone tempted to sell and use $ to BUY home in Fla NOW due to real estae prices?

[Mai Ku Tiki]

I know I'm NUTZ, but with house prices rising so fast...DVC could provide the down payment on retirement/2nd/relocation/vacation home.

Is anyone else panicy that their 'DREAM' home in FLA will soon be out of reach and NOW is the time to buy?

Yes, I LOVE my DVC/BCV and it IS my 'HOME AWAY FROM HOME' for the present, but for those of us who want a real place in FLA. maybe now is the time to take the money and run??? What if I can never live under the palm trees???

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks ~Rose~

 

[Muushka]

Interesting concept, but I get nauseus when I look at real estate prices in S.FL (Jupiter) where I am from. In 1993 we sold our house for 148K. Today the house is worth 600K. I just wish the house we bought here in NC had appreciated as much. Sadly, we could not afford to buy back our old house.

I think about what you are saying and I cannot help but think that the prices cannot continue to rise and I would be afraid that the may fall after I bought!


PS the palm trees aren't as great as you think!
Made us choose VWL as our home because of them!

 

[Figment2]

No, unless the house is on property.

Cyn

 

[rinkwide]

No, unless the house is on property.

Sure, and why not add a monorail stop while you're at it?

 

[SheriB]

My husband and I talk about buying a home in FL in about 10 years when our current mortgage is paid off, but it is not affordable for us now, so our DVC is our FL home until then. Our dreams may be crushed in 10 years, but that's our plan. The market has to fall out sometime. I just can't imagine it continuing to rise endlessly. Home prices are rediculously high, especially in NJ. If you can afford it, though, go for it.

Sheri

 

[magicmouse2]

In about 8 years we are hoping to purchase a home in FLA and if we have to sel DVC to do it then so be it. In the future I am hoping to spend longer vacations in Orlando and having our own home will allow that.

 

[CarolA]

Well after you sell DVC for the downpayment... you still have the mortgage (unless you have LOTS of DVC points) taxes, insurance, maintenace etc... If you are renting to cover that you have the risk of not renting and the hassle of that (and renting a home is not as easy as renting DVC points)

So.. No I am not tempted.

Plus I think a lot depends on where you want to live. If you want waterfront property... Good Luck. Inland is less expensive. I know the average prices in my Dad's town... they are not any worse then here.

 

[Aneille]

Nope, I'd never want to live in Florida.

However we just bought in a few months ago and we have considered buying a second vacation home on Cape Cod and already decided if we had to sell to purchase the second home we would or even to upgrade out of our current home.

To us its a much more solid investment to buy into a first or second home that you will own. Plus I figure we could always buy back into DVC if we wanted. Obviously if buying the second home was a real priority to us we would never have bought into DVC at this time.

But the plan is to try to keep DVC while also someday/somehow owning that second home. I don't know when that will be though if ever!

Purchasing in Florida would not work for us because I wouldn't want to pay a maintence company to take care of my property and rent it out etc. Plus as stated above I would never want to live there.

But if I was close to retirement and I wanted to live in Florida, and if I could swing it by selling DVC I certaintly would.

 

[lllovell]

I know this won't apply to everyone, but I have bosses that ALL have 2nd homes. A couple are 2 hours away (in the mountains versus living IN Atlanta) and one has a beach house in SC. The two with the 2 hour away houses love them. They go often. Its a nice change of scenery and typically cooler in the summer months, etc. They are in a golf course community which is very much to their liking AND they bought them long ago so their mortgage was either paid in cash, or very reasonable.

Boss #3 is a 6 hour drive from his beach house (which isn't on the beach) and he doesn't get there very much. (maybe 3 weeks a year) He constantly laments that between the mortgage and living expenses (needing phone, utilities, a yard service company, etc) that he wishes very much that he had just kept his money, vacationed when he choose and picked his destinations (which could vary that way).

There are a few places in the world I would LOVE to have a 2nd house, but they are VERY expensive and would require me to rent my house to pay the mortgage and I am not sure I could do that. Also, I do enjoy multiple vacation destinations (which is why we might not EVER add-on to our 250 points even though I LOVE Disney! I don't want it to become our ONLY vacation destination).

I think before you look into buying a 2nd home, I would seriously consider your future plans (moving there upon retirement? visiting there for a change of scenery, etc), how far the drive is (if its too far, you won't go often enough to truly get your $$$$'s worth) and would you be better off renting a house at that location a couple of times a year and going other places in between (i.e. - keeping the majority of your money and doing other things with it.)

The boss that has the beach house isn't unhappy, just realizes that he could have made a much better choice. I would say that house costs him in the neighborhood of $3500 a month. That would make for some VERY nice vacations MANY times a year if he had choosen differently.

my $0.02

Laura

 

[bobbiwoz]

DH is due to retire in 2-4 years, and we have been looking at Florida real estate, in the Orlando area and away from the city for about 2 years, and there are still homes that we can afford, even though we're coming from Ohio and our more or less stable home prices, but we're going further and further away from the mouse!

However, we wouldn't buy now. We don't know how healthy or determined to live in Florida we'll be then. We are 1/2 way to our retirement dream because we do have our NJ retirement house. It's not ours alone, but it's a foot in the Cape May market. My DSis does live in NJ and I agree that if we didn't have someone more "local" to keep an eye on the property and use it more often, it would just be sitting here subject to vandalism and who knows what else.

DSis wants to retire to the Azores and California, so she'll be in NJ more or less during the late fall and winter, and we'll be here in spring and summer, so even in retirement, we'll make this NJ house "work" for us. We have a property agreement drawn up with a lawyer and it's been a wonderful investment and we've already enjoyed it for 7 years. That's where I am right now.

I know it's been said before, but I just can't see the housing prices continuing to rise the way they have been, but then again, I'm one of the early baby-boomers and if we're all heading to Florida, then I guess the prices WILL keep rising there.

Bobbi

 

[CarolMN]

Anyone who is looking to buy in Florida right now needs to be careful - you might be buying at the peak of the market.

Greenspan has been warning of a housing "bubble" and there have been several articles speculating that we may be due for a "crash". This also applies to other areas of the country. Seems as though there are/have been quite a few real estate "speculators" lately - people buying homes as investments rather than as a place to live. Prices have been rising as a result. These types of buyers tend to "get out" quickly if things don't go well. If enough do so, prices will come down fast.

Here's an article (from CNN/MONEY) that is typical of those I've been seeing -

http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/23/real_estate/buying_selling/hot_cold_markets/index.htm

Anyway, just a thought -

Best wishes -

 

[goldilocks_63]

My retirement plans is to spend the winter at various DVC studios.... and in between visit all my friends who hopefully will buy houses in FLA!

I'm halfway to my goal.... 20 more years to go!

Goldi

 

[goldilocks_63]

My retirement plans is to spend the winter at various DVC studios.... and in between visit all my friends who hopefully will buy houses in FLA!

I'm halfway to my goal.... 20 more years to go!

Goldi

 

[goldilocks_63]

Got laid off on 9/11.... and was out of work.

Richayams gave me some advice, so started my own consulting business. Going 2 years now...

Thanks, Rich's family if you see this....

Goldi

 

[JimMIA]

I agree that there is a lot of froth in some segments of the real estate market, but you have to look carefully at the location before jumping to any conclusions.

In some locations, prices are rising dramatically without much apparent reason. However, in Florida, Arizona, and a lot of other western states, prices are rising rapidly because of long-term, sustained population growth.

One of the things I would do before buying a home somewhere would be to look at the census projections for that area for the next 20 years or so.

In South Florida, our population is projected to double in the next 20-25 years. While that seems like a lot, it's really only 4-5% growth per year, and that is somewhat less than what we've had for the past 20-25 years...and there is still a lot of available land.

If you were looking at a location in the Northeast where the economy is in long-term decline, businesses are closing, etc., that's a different story.

The thing I'd be most leery of would be a vacation home. If there is a housing bubble, the vacation home bubble will be the first to pop when the overall economy turns down...which it will at some point. I'm still kicking myself for not buying a condo in Breckenridge, CO when the last bubble burst!

 

[Verandah Man]

My DW and I just bought a vacation/winter residence home in Florida this past March. My mom is living in the home on a fulltime basis, and we stay there when we are in Florida and will be spending the winters there after I retire in 2010. Luckily, we didn't need to sell our DVC to purchase this home as we still plan to use our points for on property stays even after retirement.

 

[krdisneybound]

If it were not for my children living in FL, I would sell my home and buy a home in S.C. near my sisters and brother. The money I could make off of my home would carry me through death - to say the least.

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

Aloha!

This is a really informative discussion and we do have a lot to consider...but I've been dreaming of those palm trees -I CAN'T HELP IT!- (and working at WDW) since my first visit to the POLY with parents in 1972...it is just one of those goals I can't shake...I thought DVC would help but it just fuels the fire...

Hopefully, this mad boomer housing rush will ease up and I'll still be able to do it...Only 6 years til retirement!

If housing doubles again, though, I may be out of luck! If I DO decide to sell my DVC, you will be the first to know!

Any other thoughts???

Thanks again ~Rose~

 

[AOPI57]

Interesting this topic should come up. We were all set to buy pre-construction condo in St. Augustine. My son starting his junior year at college there and my sister just bought a condo(3rd home). The great pre-construction price we thought we were getting jumped by $30,000-$40,000 when it came time to sign a contract July 16. Needless to say we didn't sign. We were going to look at resales when we come down in Aug. but everything has gone up it and has basically priced us out of the 2nd home market. My Dh also feels prices might come down in Fla.Our plan was to have my son live in it for his last 2 years of college and maybe get some roomates to offset the cost but we still can't swing it. And my DH doesn't really want to stay in St. Augustine anyway. He wants to go further down- Melboune, Vero Beach (where my parents are). So in about 4 years when all my kids are out of HS we'll loolk to go down permanently and really get what we want.


So - I'm thinking maybe we should add on points at SSR- with the deal they have going - after all we're not buying a condo now. We'll enjoy more vacations, not strap ourselves financially and don't have the work involved with a 2nd home. I just have to present my DH with this idea. I hope he goes for it.

 

[Paula H]

Great thread. Last year, DH was offered at job in Orlando - his dream job, too. We learned as much as we could about the surrounding areas and settled on an area just northwest of Orlando - Beautiful, beautiful, hilly area that reminded us of home (New England) with palm trees. We were about to enter into a contract for a new construction - gorgeous home in a gated, golf course community. LOVED IT!! Given the market in the northeast, we felt like we were really going to make out well, not only on the sale of your home here, but because of the purchase price in FL as well. Because of an illness in our family, we decided to stay in CT. That same house now is $100,000 more than it was last summer! And, although the market in the northeast is still pretty hot, our current home certainly hasn't appreciated THAT much more in the last year. To make a long story short - what seemed like a great plan a year ago, would not work as well now. Also, I think there's a misconception that it's cheaper to live in FL. It may have been in teh past, but I don't think so anymore. I got insurance estimates, utility estimates, etc. It was exactly what it is here - and pay is considerably lower, and offset by benefits that again, are exactly what they are here. Still our dream, and hopefully someday it'll make financial sense.

Oh, and we intended to keep our DVC - to enjoy at VB, HH and even an occasional few nights down the road at WDW.