whats the deal with house prices??

[ummabdullah]

so whats the deal with house prices everyone..

Do you guys think its the right time to invest in a house in florida yet.. or are prices set to crash even more?

[hawkster]

I just got back from Florida, Clearwater / New Port Richey area to be exact. My inlaws rented a house for the month down there since he is semi retired. Prices were all over the place. The house they rented was about 1600 sg ft, on the water (a canal that leads to the ocean), pool, nice little place and it was at $455,000. But literally 1 street over, same house plan, on the water, with a pool and this one was updated more so than the one they stayed in and this one was $245,000.

I think soooo many people bought houses down there as an investment or to flip them that now people are wanting to dump them. I think price is based on how bad they want to get rid of the house.

Just my 2 cents

[Caoineag]

I know in Denver, Colorado the prices I see on property searches keep dropping and the quality of the homes for sale keep climbing. I don't think housing prices are going to recover anytime soon here.

[Jaun22]

I would go for it. I think there might be a rebound next spring but nothing drastic. It will take a couple years to build back up.

[DebbieL]

I think you can expect things to keep going down. I'd wait unless you find a real bargain basement price. Good luck.

[sweeps]

My $.02... prices could easily keep going down, BUT if I found a great house at a great price, I would snatch it up. Trying to time the bottom of a market can come back to bite you -- you may lose out on the opportunity to buy the house, or prices may start going up again, or both.

[DebbieL]

I don't think that will be happening anytime too soon. It will get uglier there first, then probably stay bottomed out for some time. Just my $0.02.

PS - I agree with you that if they find a great house at a great price that they can easily afford go for it (but only if you are not the type to be upset if you have to see your house value go down further after you've bought it at a "great" price). If you can handle that emotionally, then go for it and be happy.

[ummabdullah]

I was thinking of the purchase to be purely for investment reasons.

It would be nice to have a house near disneyworld. And at least I'd have a house in the states..

although I would probably prefer a house in california.. but prices are way higher there then florida..

so I'm thinking florida is the best place and easiest to access from the uk

[JanH]

One thing I'm wondering is that you might want to check out insurance availability and costs in Florida. Just for information purposes when you choose your home there. Here on the Texas coast, insurances are in flux. Availability is also a concern. I've been told by my agent that it is getting harder to get some kinds of insurance on homes that are not brand new and built to a different hurricane code. People are having to go to the state windstorm coverage. It might be a factor in where you choose your home and how much you can afford to insure. Coastal communities might be different than inland. Happy Hunting!

[disneysteve]

I was thinking of the purchase to be purely for investment reasons.

It would be nice to have a house near disneyworld.

If you are thinking of buying a home near Disney to rent out on a weekly basis, you had better do your homework. There are thousands of rental properties within 5 miles of Disney and still more being built. I'm actually in Disney World right now, staying in a 2-bedroom, 2-bath condo that we are renting for $40/night. The local market is totally saturated with rental properties. It is extremely difficult to break even on a vacation rental in this area because of the volume of competition.

I've dreamt of owning a rental property here for years, as we come down regularly and thought it would be great to own our own place. But I've spoken to local realtors, property management companies and numerous property owners and they all say the same thing. It is a very, very tough business. The only owners making money are ones who spend 3-4 hours PER DAY working at it - advertising, fielding e-mails and phone calls from potential customers, scheduling bookings, communicating with their management team, etc. If you think you can just buy and watch the money roll in, forget it. Even with the recent pull back in prices, it is highly unlikely that you will earn enough in rent to cover your expenses. Remember, houses around here that are $250-300K today were just $150K 5 or so years ago, but rental prices are pretty much the same. So the home price has doubled but the rent you can charge has not. Makes it really tough to come out ahead.

[hawkster]

I'm actually in Disney World right now, staying in a 2-bedroom, 2-bath condo that we are renting for $40/night. .

Good greif, $40 a night...do tell, I'm headed back there in December.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Disneysteve if you've gone so much why didn't you buy years ago when your daughter was young? Did you consider it?

[Ima saver]

Sorry, I don't see why anyone would want a house in Florida. almost everyone I have talked to wants to move out of that state.

[hawkster]

Sorry, I don't see why anyone would want a house in Florida. almost everyone I have talked to wants to move out of that state.

I'm pretty fortunate in my job; basically I work 2 weeks and then get 2 weeks off. This provides for a lot of fun time to travel and do other things with myself and my family. Typically we will go to Orlando 3-5 times a year. It's an easy 12 hour drive for me and I'm there. I've thought about getting a place to stay there not so much as an investment but for a place to stay. I backed down from it because I didn't want it to sit vacant.

That said, now that my inlaws are semi retired they are looking at places in Florida to settle into. Our (my thought, my spouce, and my in-laws) are to buy a place together and split the costs. They will live there full time and we will come when ever we want. It wll work out for all of us we think.

As far as why Florida; I used to live in New York. I hated it because of the snow, it was always too depressing. Florida for me has a lot of great memories as a kid going there with my family and it's something that I want to do with my family now.

Besides...it's the greatest place on earth; even for an old man like myself

[disneysteve]

Good greif, $40 a night...do tell, I'm headed back there in December.

Skyauction.com - Look at the Ready, Set, Go auctions or the Home Away From Home auctions. December, if it is Christmas week, is peak season though, so you won't find those rates. Also, check vrbo.com.

Disneysteve if you've gone so much why didn't you buy years ago when your daughter was young? Did you consider it?

Yep. We considered it numerous times. As I said above, I researched it pretty thoroughly and always came to the same conclusion. It isn't worth it. In hindsight, we migh have made money on the property appreciation had we bought 10 or 15 years ago, but there was no way to know that at the time.

We currently rent a very nice condo for $40/night (this was our 3rd time staying there). That's $280 for our each visit with no responsibilities or strings attached. No renters to deal with. No management company or landscaper or pool service or cleaning crew or tax issues or any other headaches. I'll stick with that.