Buying a house/condo in FL

[Pilot1]

I'll take the summer in south Florida any day over the winter up north, the trade off is absolutely worth it and it's part of the reason housing is so damn expensive down here. I'm actually over in Naples, FL now and the housing prices aren't any cheaper over here. Work opportunities are better for me here though, otherwise I'd be in Palm Beach county, perfect place to live and many of my friends and family are there.

No question, winter in FL is great, however, where I live, (S.E. PA) our winters to be realistic aren't very long, nor that bad. Now Buffalo....... A bunch of my relatives bought homes in FL during the housing crash, and got great deals. I know the situation has drastically changed for home prices. I kind of like off beat, out of the way places to settle eventually, and am considering moving back to Colorado, and getting a place in the mountains, but who knows.

[Pi3]

If you want something affordable and don't want to have to deal with NYers come on down to the Panhandle aka LA (Lower Alabama). Houses are affordable, cost of living isn't horrible, if you have a skill the job market isn't bad. My daughter lives in Tampa, couldn't get me to live in that shit hole for free.

AKA The Red Neck Riviera.

[Eurodriver]

No question, winter in FL is great, however, where I live, (S.E. PA) our winters to be realistic aren't very long, nor that bad. Now Buffalo....... A bunch of my relatives bought homes in FL during the housing crash, and got great deals. I know the situation has drastically changed for home prices. I kind of like off beat, out of the way places to settle eventually, and am considering moving back to Colorado, and getting a place in the mountains, but who knows.

As a FloGrown dude who was fortunate to be stationed in such cool locations as South Carolina, Hawaii, and Iraq I was absolutely blown away when I was in Wilkes-Barre, PA in July 2011 and it was cloudless with temps in the low 70s.

Absolutely - blown away. My AO does not see temps below ~82 once from late June-September unless a thunderstorm immediately finished rolling through. It will be 78* after a strong storm at 8pm and then by morning back up to 84. How does that work?

[Pi3]

Summers in south Fl are so humid that mosquito don't have to fly around looking for lunch. They just hang in the air waiting for people to walk into them.

[Mr. Goodtimes]

Yep. Sounds about right.

My buddy had a house he bought in '89 for 60k. It was appraised at 250k when he refinanced in 2006 (a critical date - and don't ask me why. I'm just the messenger) spending all of his extra cash on cars and vacations and gambling.

Hes been underwater forever, but just sold it for $320k. List price was $279,999. His new home he bought for $374k. List price was $339,999. Insanity.

My previous work was in residential real estate. I have no shit, hand on heart, seen deals fall through because a buyer of a $250k home could not afford an $800 repair to qualify for (FHA) financing when the seller was selling as-is.

I've also seen people walk away from their dream home because they were stretched so thin that the unexpected $100/mo flood insurance put it out of reach.

I've got tones of anecdotes about people buying shit they can't afford since late 2014. It's crazy. It was like a light switched on and the floodgates opened.

I know of a lot of people who make 45-50k a year living in 350k homes, which to me seems.... absolutely ****ing retarded.


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[Eurodriver]

I know of a lot of people who make 45-50k a year living in 350k homes, which to me seems.... absolutely ****ing retarded.

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Guy in the post you quoted makes $51k/yr. ~$300k mortgage. ~$2000/mo - 2 kids and a wife too precious to work more than a few days a week as a medical technician. His take home is only like $3,500/mo, her's can't be more than $1k. Drive around in a brand new Kia Hybrid for her and an Audi for him.

No idea how he sleeps at night. I freak out just knowing that about him, haha.

[Kain]

No question, winter in FL is great, however, where I live, (S.E. PA) our winters to be realistic aren't very long, nor that bad. Now Buffalo....... A bunch of my relatives bought homes in FL during the housing crash, and got great deals. I know the situation has drastically changed for home prices. I kind of like off beat, out of the way places to settle eventually, and am considering moving back to Colorado, and getting a place in the mountains, but who knows.

Point for PA, in my AO we got less than 6 inches of snow, last week was in the 60's. Very good shooting weather. Oh, and I have like 6 gun clubs in 20 minutes from the house. Highest dues per year, $75. That said, yes, it can snow, 32 inches last year in the one snow storm we got. Shut everything down for a day or two. But, roads got plowed and life went on. All in all I am quite happy in my AO currently. But, to each his own, my uncle just moved down to Florida from NJ, last I talked to him he is buying pistols.

Guy in the post you quoted makes $51k/yr. ~$300k mortgage. ~$2000/mo - 2 kids and a wife too precious to work more than a few days a week as a medical technician. His take home is only like $3,500/mo, her's can't be more than $1k. Drive around in a brand new Kia Hybrid for her and an Audi for him.

No idea how he sleeps at night. I freak out just knowing that about him, haha.

Serious question, why do people get into debt and live beyond their means? My goal is to be able to pay all bills with a single paycheck, preferably a single weeks paycheck. I am down to a single two week paycheck. So half what I have coming in monthly is bills, well a little more once you factor in gas and food. The rest in bank, investments, shooting money, beer money, ect. If I want something I can buy it, but I also am someone who doesn't buy stupid shit, usually. Did no one teach people how to balance a checkbook and figure out finances in school? I learned in 6th grade god damnit.