Went house hunting in FL this past weekend...questions!

[pklein09]

We're from NJ and DH took a job with Embry Riddle in Daytona Beach (he starts today ), and we did our first house search in Ormond Beach and Port Orange on Sunday. We looked at 9 houses on Sunday because I needed to get back for work.

I have a questions about the kitchen cabinets for those of you in Florida...what is the deal with the drawers??? We were looking at newer construction (built in 2004 and newer), and in all but one of the houses the drawers were made of this cheapish metal with a wood drawer face. The other house had stapled particle board drawers, which is very typical builder's grade material in NJ.

Are the metal drawers typical because of Florida humidity? I have Ikea cabinets in my pantry, the those drawers are metal but the quality is far superior to what I was seeing in these kitchens.

The one home owner (she was hosting her own open house) said she had to plead with the kitchen installer to put full wood doors and fronts on the cabinets when she redid her kitchen. She's originally from PA and insisted on solid wood fronts. That led me to believe it's a Florida thing.

Any insights?

Thanks!!!

 

[tileman]

I live about 20 miles west of Ormond off state rd 40
What you guys probably was looking at is just what they call builder grade cabinets

When we built our house back in 03 we did about 75 percent of the work ourselves and we did install nice wood cabinets

I’m in the flooring trade and any more it’s just a low price is what people want to pay

We do all Commercial work in flooring
And have done a lot at Embry Riddle
Lot of tile and epoxy floors

Ron

 

[havaneselover]

I'm not sure that's specific to Florida. It's likely more market specific at your price point. I remember in 2005 that $500K houses in Tampa had laminate counters in the bathrooms. Cultured marble really isn't that expensive! And there are plenty of houses in FL with cabinets with solid wood fronts.

 

[floridafam]

Probably just the builder trying to save a buck. We live in Sebastian and have solid wood cabinets.

I love wood floors, too. I need my house to feel slightly similar to being up north and can’t stand tile throughout. It feels cold and not welcoming at all.

 

[pklein09]

Ah, builder's grade crap. I wasn't crazy thinking that. Thanks all!

 

[floridafam]

Even with newer houses, make sure the builder uses hurricane rated windows and doors, and all the proper hurricane roofing. It will save you a ton on your homeowner’s insurance.

 

[havaneselover]

Even with newer houses, make sure the builder uses hurricane rated windows and doors, and all the proper hurricane roofing. It will save you a ton on your homeowner’s insurance.

Isn’t it required by code?

 

[a1tinkfans]

Floridafam is right! And get a wind mitigation survey so it ll ultimately further reduce ur costs. And Radon... it is an issue in Fla!!
Good construction is sooo important!
Best of luck and Congrats on the move n job!!!

 

[floridafam]

I’m sure certain things are required by code. We went above and beyond what was required on our house, got a wind mitigation done, and it cut our expected premium by $3500.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I’m sure certain things are required by code. We went above and beyond what was required on our house, got a wind mitigation done, and it cut our expected premium by $3500.

Damn, homeowner's insurance is expensive in Florida! Guess that makes up for the low taxes...

 

[pklein09]

One of the homeowners we spoke with said her homeowners was about $1200/year. Could she be waaaaayyyyy off? That's a big difference if the wind mitigation cut the premium by $3500.

 

[floridafam]

Ours is about $1300 right now. A few years ago, they wanted to raise it to almost $5000. They didn’t know that we had impact windows installed, impact doors, roof straps, new roof, etc.

We also raised our deductible to $2500 since we have no intention of making a claim unless it’s for a catastrophic event.

 

[pklein09]

Ours is about $1300 right now. A few years ago, they wanted to raise it to almost $5000. They didn’t know that we had impact windows installed, impact doors, roof straps, new roof, etc.

We also raised our deductible to $2500 since we have no intention of making a claim unless it’s for a catastrophic event.

Thank you! Helpful to know all this!

 

[Deb & Bill]

It can be hard to even find homeowners insurance in Florida. We've had State Farm Insurance for many, many years and when we moved to Florida, our State Farm didn't offer homeowners, but got us some from another company. We had to have the wind mitigation report before our loan would go through. We're on the Gulf Coast in SWFL and were hit by Hurricane Irma six weeks after we moved here.

 

[pklein09]

It can be hard to even find homeowners insurance in Florida. We've had State Farm Insurance for many, many years and when we moved to Florida, our State Farm didn't offer homeowners, but got us some from another company. We had to have the wind mitigation report before our loan would go through. We're on the Gulf Coast in SWFL and were hit by Hurricane Irma six weeks after we moved here.

This is one of my worries...I hope we don't have an issue getting home owners insurance. We don't want to live on the barrier island, but I don't know if just west of I-95 is inland enough to make it easier to get home owners insurance.

 

[Deb & Bill]

This is one of my worries...I hope we don't have an issue getting home owners insurance. We don't want to live on the barrier island, but I don't know if just west of I-95 is inland enough to make it easier to get home owners insurance.

We are on a barrier island. Our insurance did not go up after the hurricane. Our flood insurance is less than it was in Louisiana, but we were flooded twice in Louisiana.

 

[tileman]

West of 95 is the wind cut off point some use
We use farm bureau for our home insurance it runs about 1,470.00 a year with a 2,500 deductible

 

[floridafam]

We live east of 95. There are a lot of new communities in our area that I wouldn’t live in. The houses are new construction but they are right on top of each other. I also don’t ever want to deal with a HOA.

 

[barkley]

One of the homeowners we spoke with said her homeowners was about $1200/year. Could she be waaaaayyyyy off? That's a big difference if the wind mitigation cut the premium by $3500.

i don't live in florida but my homeowner's is higher coverage at a fraction of the cost of some of my neighbors b/c i go for every discount i can-bundle all products (home/life/auto/atv/umbrella) with the same company, high deductible, pay yearly vs. monthly (that one right there alone saves 5%) and i use my insurance company's no charge visa card to pay the premiums (turn around and pay in full when bill received) b/c they give a 3% cash back on all their products. i also keep up on what other discounts we might be in line for-when they opened a new firehouse in closer proximity to us i called up and there was a discount, when i lived in california and the city did some tweaks to the neighborhood resulting in a fire hydrant in front of my house i called and sure enough-discount. it pays to do your homework.