Forum Replies Created
- British Buyer wrote:
Why is it that you're concentrating on the west coast of Florida?
Whilst living in the US we did go to Clearwater for a vacation once and thought it was a nice place.
(What I say now though is based purely upon speculation and an image of Miami gained from tv/movies.) I think Miami is more a "cool people" destination. What I mean by that is it is somewhere people go to hang out on the beach and look good, go out to night clubs, drive along the beach in there fancy cars, etc. My days of doing that are long gone (mid 30's with 2 kids < 3).
As the property we are after will mostly be used by my wife and kids whilst I am away, we want a destination which is a bit more relaxed. Also, it is less then 2 hours to drive to Disney from there which gives a good option of something to do with the kids where as it is 4 hrs from Miami.
Whilst I haven't researched the Miami area, I have a feeling the value for money I can get on the west is slightly better (canal water front, close to beach, 3+ bed, acceptable condition) for ~$300k because it doesn't have the "cool" premium you get in Miami.
British Buyer wrote:Hi SNAPPYTOMI'm interested to hear what interest rate you've been offered.
And what will the property taxes be like on the west coast of Florida?
Steve,
I got 3.625% with 15 year fixed loan. I am wondering if the new "stimulus" offering by the government is going to change rates and this may go down by the time I come to purchase.
Tax ranges from 1.8 – 2.1% depending upon which section of the coast you are on.
Will be over for a few days in 2 weeks. Have my agent booked out for 3 days so we can see as many properties as possible.
Hope fully we find something otherwise it will be just to confirm areas we'd be happy with and make sure the agent is legit.
snappytom
Hi all,
Been reading this topic with interest over the last few weeks. I am looking at getting a single family home somewhere along the Clearwater beach down to St Pete beach area (west coast of Florida, ~4 hrs from Miami). The main purpose is a vacation place or somewhere for my family to go while I am traveling for work. Not really an investment property but if we can get some holiday rental or capital appreciation it would certainly be welcome.
From the agent I have been dealing with it seems she thinks you can normally get 10-20% under asking price for properties in that area currently. I will be taking a trip over there for a few days later in November to look at some places and try to decide upon an area.
I have pre-approval for a loan (albeit with 30% deposit required due to not living in the US). I have lived in the US previoulsy and as such have a SSN and credit history. While I lived in the US I had a mortgage, I approached the bank I had the loan with whilst there and they said due to new rules they couldn't do it because I was not a citizen/resident. I went with another bank I have accounts with and got it sorted no problems.
Good luck with the purchase Steve. Will be interested to see how your experience with REO properties goes.
Cheers
