Home buying thread

Daidraco

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To be specific, anywhere on the west side of the Florida basically. A friend and I spoke about it recently, and damn if my brother didnt go to some corporate gathering down that way and verify it. Its mostly all white, wealthy people in an area thats well kept and has beautiful weather. Ive always just gone to Key West and never really even thought about staying anywhere else in FL because I only ever knew about the shitty side of it. My parents own a house on Sunset Key, right outside of the main island and its just a ferry ride over. But thats more of a vacation spot, not really a work and live spot.
 
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Khane

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The thing I'd be most concerned about with Florida is hurricanes. I wouldn't be at the property during hurricane season and it's just one more thing I'd rather not contend with.
 
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Unidin

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Vegas is nice that time of year and has a wide range of ages depending on where you live in the city or surrounding area. Bonus is there's no state income tax.
 

ToeMissile

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Vegas is nice that time of year and has a wide range of ages depending on where you live in the city or surrounding area. Bonus is there's no state income tax.
Not quite as hot as AZ, close enough to CA for easy weekend trips for the beach or mountains and going against traffic so you can laugh and point at everyone on your way out and back into town. Henderson is an area to consider from what I remember, or as far west as you can get.
 

Lambourne

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Last time I went to Florida I stayed at this resort. They do long stays for spending the winter but they also sell the houses and then take care of renting it to tourists for you during the summer. Kissimmee area so far enough from the ocean for hurricanes to not be much of a threat and close to all the theme parks so it'll be attractive to tourists.

No idea if this is expensive or not by US standards but something like this might be interesting, gives you relatively hands-off renting. There's a bunch of resorts like this.


One of the houses

 
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Kobayashi

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The power co is building solar farms, because frying birds and collecting green credits makes their ESG hard.

So, they give you the option to pay into the solar farm. The plan my company had was also stupid but like tipple stupid...

1) you paid into the construction - forever - so, I guess construction AND maintenance - for like 10$ a month - 0 promise of a return, so its just a 10$ a month addition
2) you paid a % of a credit - so a credit counts for $100 of electricity you pay $50 you get half of that credit - I think there is some really lame multiplyer like 1.1 or 1.25 - so lets say you buy a complete credit for 100$ you could get back 110 or 125 in your actual bill credit...IF...
3) the power generated by the solar farm only produces the credits you can buy or invest in, AFTER it "covers" the cost of operating the plan and farm
4) Credits generated (after that random number) then are distributed by average... so 100 people bought 100 credits, and 50 credits were produced, so that 50 credits is spread across the 100 people as half credits.

so, if you bought 1 full credit for 100$, you pay monthly 110$... and the MOST you could get is 110 or 125 or whatever the ratio was. The program was completely stupid.

oh, but you get a little new box on your bill that tells you how many green solar credits you get, so I think lefties use that like porn? so I suppose there is some value out there to someone.
My utility has some convoluted nonsense plan like this now. They even charge a marketing cost as part of the hourly rates, because it's always made sense to me that a utility with a monopoly needed to have a massive tv, radio, and sponsorship budget. Now they can break out their "look how great we are, we're so green" ad spend and have it paid as a premium by idiots.

The last plan they had was even more laughable. It literally was: you can pay a premium on your electric bill to help pay for renewables. No promise of credits reducing your bill or fake ownership, just flat out pay us even more money, in exchange you get warm fuzzies.
 

The_Black_Log Foler

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Considering starting to look at buying a property to use during the winter and possibly rent during the summer. Winters in CT are starting to wear on me, I hate the cold, I hate the snow, and working from home starts to give me serious cabin fever since I don't really enjoy or participate in typical outdoor winter sports/activities.

This is very preliminary, and I haven't even really started researching anything yet. I would rent over a couple winters first most likely to test the waters.

My criteria are fairly simple

1) Must be warm from November through April. With Temps being a minimum of around 55 degrees. Preferably 60+
2) Must be in a relatively nice area, in a state that doesn't have outrageous property taxes
3) Must not be a geriatric snow bird haven. I don't need young and trendy but I'd prefer to have some ability to make social connections with people at least close to my own age (40ish)

I like to golf, and wouldn't mind a good golf scene in the surrounding area but it's not a deal breaker.
Uhh, hi Florida? What’s your budget?
 

The_Black_Log Foler

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The thing I'd be most concerned about with Florida is hurricanes. I wouldn't be at the property during hurricane season and it's just one more thing I'd rather not contend with.
Depending on the property I wouldn’t worry too much about that. I have a family member who’s owned a very nice condo on the east coast for 15 years or so. It was new construction back then and it’s probably the nicest condos in the city. Never an issue with hurricanes. They are on the third floor.

It’s not cheap. I think their condo is now worth maybe almost 2 million. The west coast beaches are a bit nicer I will admit - whiter sand. I’d be looking at condos though to avoid any flooding damage. It’s a bit difficult to find newer (last 20 years) condos that aren’t $$$$.
 

The_Black_Log Foler

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Last time I went to Florida I stayed at this resort. They do long stays for spending the winter but they also sell the houses and then take care of renting it to tourists for you during the summer. Kissimmee area so far enough from the ocean for hurricanes to not be much of a threat and close to all the theme parks so it'll be attractive to tourists.

No idea if this is expensive or not by US standards but something like this might be interesting, gives you relatively hands-off renting. There's a bunch of resorts like this.


One of the houses

There’s lots of these kinds of places. If your budget isn’t quite up there for being on the beach then I’d think these would be nice options. Being in central Florida you’re about an hour drive from the beach (east and west) with tons of golf all around. I’d maybe lean more towards west central to be closer to Tampa and surrounding beaches as there are nice beaches there.
 
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TJT

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Opposite of Khane Khane I am looking for a property up in the mountains in Oregon. So I can have a nice winter option when I feel like it and enjoy Oregon's great outdoors. Which really are incredible.

I'll be in a position to buy in like a year from now.
 

Burns

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Considering starting to look at buying a property to use during the winter and possibly rent during the summer. Winters in CT are starting to wear on me, I hate the cold, I hate the snow, and working from home starts to give me serious cabin fever since I don't really enjoy or participate in typical outdoor winter sports/activities.

This is very preliminary, and I haven't even really started researching anything yet. I would rent over a couple winters first most likely to test the waters.

My criteria are fairly simple

1) Must be warm from November through April. With Temps being a minimum of around 55 degrees. Preferably 60+
2) Must be in a relatively nice area, in a state that doesn't have outrageous property taxes
3) Must not be a geriatric snow bird haven. I don't need young and trendy but I'd prefer to have some ability to make social connections with people at least close to my own age (40ish)

I like to golf, and wouldn't mind a good golf scene in the surrounding area but it's not a deal breaker.
Depends on how close to the amenities you want to be. More amenities (golf courses) will be more population dense.

One of my favorite areas in Texas is Horseshoe Bay and Marble Falls area of hill country (here). It's close enough to the Lake Travis (nice/conservative) side of Austin, where you could get to good golf courses within 30 to 45 min (there is a private golf club in Horseshoe Bay too, but know nothing about it), yet far enough away that you don't have to deal with big city bullshit on the regular. If the wife likes the Theater, plays are within an hour drive too. Not to mention the Austin music scene, if that's your thing, but I didn't much care for 6th street when I lived there.

If you wanted to tour the hill country, you can take a day trips from Austin to the surrounding areas. Fredericksburg also seems to be a popular day trip area, but never been there. There is also a big waterpark and getting drunk while floating the river scene, just south of Austin, in New Braunfels.
 
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TJT

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I love Marble Falls. I go there like at least 5 times each summer. The riverside park is really quite nice.
 
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Gravel

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Depending on the property I wouldn’t worry too much about that. I have a family member who’s owned a very nice condo on the east coast for 15 years or so. It was new construction back then and it’s probably the nicest condos in the city. Never an issue with hurricanes. They are on the third floor.

It’s not cheap. I think their condo is now worth maybe almost 2 million. The west coast beaches are a bit nicer I will admit - whiter sand. I’d be looking at condos though to avoid any flooding damage. It’s a bit difficult to find newer (last 20 years) condos that aren’t $$$$.
Nicer sand, and warmer water. Less waves though.

I highly recommend the Redneck Riviera (or Emerald Coast if you want to be more tourist friendly).
 

Lanx

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what is insanely stupid is that, they bought a home right next to their sons (not the retard son, the real son) home. at anytime during or right before they sign final walkthrough papers, he coulda said, yo ma, theres this asshole living here.
 

Pasteton

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Minimum 55 nov thru April?? Even Miami dips into the 50s in January sometimes, LA definitely does. Maybe San Diego? If you hate cold so much consider Puerto Rico, cheap cost of living and pay no taxes, and lack of infrastructure is only an issue for the poor there
 

Khane

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Minimum 55 nov thru April?? Even Miami dips into the 50s in January sometimes, LA definitely does. Maybe San Diego? If you hate cold so much consider Puerto Rico, cheap cost of living and pay no taxes, and lack of infrastructure is only an issue for the poor there

I guess I should have said 55 or higher on average in the winter months.
 

OU Ariakas

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I guess I should have said 55 or higher on average in the winter months.

Brother, I am in Houston less than 50 miles from the Gulf and even we get winter here from late December - early March. I am talking lows in the 30s and highs in the 40s; though not for too long. Needless to say, if 55 or higher is your average in the winter then you are in the Florida dong or near the Mexico border in Texas, the valley in NM or AZ, or southern Cal (fucking LOL at Cali anything).
 

Lambourne

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I spent two winters in Florida, I had to scrape ice from my windscreen maybe three times in Orlando and never in Fort Lauderdale. One advantage of being so far south is that even in the winter the sun still has a lot of power so days that start out cold still tend to see highs in the 60s or 70s.

Being used to western European winters where it's not actually all that cold but it's just endless rain and permanently overcast, I found Florida winters about perfect because you're basically never stuck indoors because of the weather. It's on my list of places I'm considering spending the winters once I can retire (2030-ish) although Spain/Portugal is probably more likely as it's a lot more convenient as an EU citizen.

I'm also eyeballing Curacao where the yearly temperature graph is basically a horizontal line and it has never recorded a temperature below 69 degrees. Ever.

1710513856982.png
 
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fred sanford

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I spent two winters in Florida, I had to scrape ice from my windscreen maybe three times in Orlando
Those must have been record breaking years. I have an ice scraper because I used to live further north. In the last 23 years in central Florida, I think I've used it 3 maybe 4 times. :)
 

Fogel

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I get thin sheets a couple times a year in NE Florida, but its so thin the defroster is faster than busting out the ice scraper
 
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