Lanx
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Home buying thread
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Kiroy
Marine Biologist
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there were a lot of buildings. main house, pool house, pool, rental house, barn, irrigation, septic and a couple others I can't remember.
Screamfeeder
The Dirtbag
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$3,000 in inspections is pretty nuts but with the size of your property and out buildings I can totally understand it.
Looking at my paperwork I spent about $800.00 for 2 general inspections (wanted a second opinion from someone not getting a realtor referral), foundation, roof, sewer and a general plumbing one (lots of automated irrigation and a hot tub) and ended up getting about $8k in closing credit. Not getting at least a single general inspection is just baffling to me.
25k off is insane though. Course, that just means there was 25k worth of "issues" found.
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Lanx
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for more data points i spent 400/400, radon and general inspection, didn't get any credits, (to go over the threshold, of 1.5%, that is)which i guess is a good thing, means the house is in tip top shape, unless you count a new furnace, still don't know how that factored in, but it was 4g, and it's grand spanking new. (i did somehow blow a fuse, but its cool, i didn't know that always on light also flashes error codes lolz, cheap 1$ lesson).
i really didn't think the radon was worthwhile, but the wife really wanted it, so whatever, also all the new construction we saw, had a radon pipe in the basement, so that sent her spidey sense going.
i really didn't think the radon was worthwhile, but the wife really wanted it, so whatever, also all the new construction we saw, had a radon pipe in the basement, so that sent her spidey sense going.
It looks like Palatka is fairly close to St. Augustine. I'd just live there as I'm sure it's a much nicer city than Orlando or Jacksonville. Any of the beaches close to St. Augustine look to be 40 minutes away from Palatka, so I'd imagine there are subdivisions within your 30 minute requirement.
Keystone
Lord Nagafen Raider
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I'm in a very similar boat, seriously considering trying to transfer to Florida in around a year myself. We have offices in Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, Miami and looking around it seems like the best bang for you buck as far as being able to get a decent house in a good school district at a reasonable (I'm from the midwest so used to cheap properties) rate is Jacksonville. I'm specifically focusing on the area around St. Johns down through like world golf village area, because the schools are all rated very highly, but I haven't physically been there yet.
Would be very interested in hearing how it all turns out for you.
Siliconemelons
Avatar of War Slayer
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you do not want to drive through or around Tampa or Orlando daily - I do not know how Jacksonville is - I have not been there in years and only drove through going up to NC and the place was a LOT bigger than I remember.
The problem with Florida urbans are they all are almost only "3 sided" as there is water generally on one side and the spread can only go so far and then it just gets to be a cluster.
Palatka - I assume, if that is your jobs location - is a growth center if its building businesses - its not really a "metro" and is surrounded by some very, VERY hick redneck areas - such as Waldo...
Palatka used to be a "big name" in Florida but has died down sence the 80s - living on an ocean is much more the growth areas than living on a big lake. So it is interesting to see that it is trying to grow - and yes, because it is not a "prime" area, Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, Tampa - you can actually get decent house prices - but still nowhere near the square states..
The problem with Florida urbans are they all are almost only "3 sided" as there is water generally on one side and the spread can only go so far and then it just gets to be a cluster.
Palatka - I assume, if that is your jobs location - is a growth center if its building businesses - its not really a "metro" and is surrounded by some very, VERY hick redneck areas - such as Waldo...
Palatka used to be a "big name" in Florida but has died down sence the 80s - living on an ocean is much more the growth areas than living on a big lake. So it is interesting to see that it is trying to grow - and yes, because it is not a "prime" area, Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, Tampa - you can actually get decent house prices - but still nowhere near the square states..
Fogel
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Schools aren't something I need to look into, so that's something I won't be researching or give a nod to. Also, being from Jersey, practically anything has to be lower from a tax standpoint, so also probably a non issue for me.
I'll try to avoid the big cities as much as possible. I'm a big fan of living in small towns and only visiting large cities. I can't say if Palatka area is picking up, the building we're looking to buy was built back around 2007 and was never sold/used. We could have picked almost anywhere in Florida, we're only moving there for closer access to the farms since we process vegetables and a single tractor trailer from Florida to Jersey is now 4-5k a pop at current freight rates and rising.
Thanks for the info guys.
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Siliconemelons
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Florida is right to work so beware if that bothers you.
Good if you want to hire illegal migrant workers for your field as you won't have pesky union pickers/workers.
But heck good idea moving close to source to process- if the processed goods distro shipping will be less increase than the increase raw goods shipping would be at current location.
Call Rick Scott he always is saying he wants businesses to move to FL he may give ya some random subsidy or somesuch lol
Good if you want to hire illegal migrant workers for your field as you won't have pesky union pickers/workers.
But heck good idea moving close to source to process- if the processed goods distro shipping will be less increase than the increase raw goods shipping would be at current location.
Call Rick Scott he always is saying he wants businesses to move to FL he may give ya some random subsidy or somesuch lol
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Whether you care about schools or not, other buyers do. Which means if you are concerned about resale value, you should care about schools, too.
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Lanx
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i'll admit the crazy ass 2.2% nj property tax scared the beejeeus outta me. i figure we'll be moving back to nj in under 10years, preferably pa(which would be 1.6%, the county we'd likely move to)
look at this
34 Petersburg Rd, Hackettstown, NJ 07840 | MLS #3490839 | Zillow
i was checking out nj, and i was like, this house looks nice... oh their floors are GONE, lulz. the other surrounding houses same issue, a flood destroyed that neighborhood, jesus christ.
Fogel
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Yep, NJ can be very hit and miss like that. I live 40 minutes south of Camden in SJ and pay about 3.5k a year on a 3br. If I wanted to move closer to Camden like Vorhees or Collingswood, that shoots up to 7k a year. Fuck that noise. As far as PA, check out NE PA, my best friend lives up there and it has some nice areas. Also lots of Chinese live there, she's chinese as well, so lots of markets etc.
Good point. That's one of the reasons I bought a 3br even though I'm single, for any future selling. I'll keep it in mind, thanks.
Siliconemelons
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how are you figuring the general prop tax %? just assessed value vs the bill? I guess i am in the 1.8%-1.7%? Assessed value is 130k with 25k homestead/other deductions so 105k? tax bill was 1800$
And yes, nice schools always make for a better area (in general)
And yes, nice schools always make for a better area (in general)
Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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i just goto smartasset
Property Taxes | SmartAsset.com
they take into account counties
it's cool, they'll give you state and national avg, nj is the most w/ 2.2 and hawaii is the least w/ 0.3
Siliconemelons
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Site says 1.01% but it's estimate was 1300 and my actual was 1800 so I know there are other factors that get tossed in there
Vinen
God is dead
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Its a good estimate. I don't think they have 100% of data for all towns.
Mine is accurate-enough for current valuation of house.
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Siliconemelons
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Daezuel
Potato del Grande
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Offer accepted on a home. So Radon testing while the home owner is still living in the home seems like a waste of money? It's a one floor house and from my understanding if they use canisters to test opening the door and/or windows would invalidate the test.
Also sewer scope, this seems more worthwhile to me but still not sure I should fork out the extra $150 for it.
Maybe it's me being cheap but I have enough expenses without forking over another $300 in questionable tests. (oh they also want to do a $100 oil tank sweep but just looking at the property and checking for permits online seems extremely fucking unlikely to be a problem.)
So sure $400 for some piece of mind I guess but you can't even be sure these tests will reveal accurate information.
Also sewer scope, this seems more worthwhile to me but still not sure I should fork out the extra $150 for it.
Maybe it's me being cheap but I have enough expenses without forking over another $300 in questionable tests. (oh they also want to do a $100 oil tank sweep but just looking at the property and checking for permits online seems extremely fucking unlikely to be a problem.)
So sure $400 for some piece of mind I guess but you can't even be sure these tests will reveal accurate information.
Lanx
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it was 400 for just the radon test, radon wasn't even a thing we knew about until i saw a new constructed home and said "whats that pipe coming out of the floor?" and the realtor said, it's for radon.
i'm like wtf is radon? wife went google crazy, so it was worth it for piece of mind.