Considering a house in Florida

[Evil Sports]

Would like to have a place to go to during the winter for a couple weeks at a time or longer. Should be warm enough to boat in the winter months and would like to be on a canal or intercostal so I could have a lift set up.
Please share your ideas for a place like this..

 

[ToddW850]

I'm in the northwest part of the Florida Panhandle and the winters here get cold. We had snow and freezing rain this year, although that is not common. However it's too cold to boat in the winter. I would have to recommend further south, like Tampa, Fort Myers on the west coast, and West Palm Beach or Daytona areas on the East Coast. You might be good all the way up to Jacksonville and I know they have a bunch of canals and such.

 

[tdonoughue]

Don't write off Texas entirely... Not constantly warm, but the cold patches are usually brief enough with several 70-80 degree boating days thrown in, at least here in south Texas. And the real estate is cheap.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Cape Coral Florida has a ton of canal from lots/houses that have Gulf access. It can be a little trashy in parts of the area but a good deal can be found.

 

[cane.mba]

I would hold off, Flood Insurance has been "redesigned" to rescue the program after Katrina. So people who have had insurance for years at $1200 are selling their homes, and the new owners are getting Flood Insurance bills of $12,000 or more annually. They are trying to fix the law, so just be aware and keep an eye on it.

It looks like the fix has passed in the House and Senate, going to the Whitehouse for final signature.

http://politics.heraldtribune.com/2014/03/13/senate-easily-passes-flood-insurance-fix-bill/

 

[Evil Sports]

Keep it coming... Tell me more about Texas

 

[xoomer]

I just wrote a post yesterday about living in Cape Coral and SWF, you can see it here: Do you like where you are on the west coast of FL?

I moved here from Houston two years ago where I had lived most of my life. I also spent a few years living in Galveston where I had a house right on the bay and kept a boat on a lift. I much prefer Florida over Texas for several reasons. I wanted to get away from the 6,000,000 population and the driving nightmares--looking for something calmer. Also, in the Houston and Galveston area there are very few houses on the water where you can keep a boat on a lift. I lived in Tiki Island (Galveston) when it was first starting up but today the prices are in the upper six figures. Another option in the Galveston area is Bayou Vista, just north of Tiki Island, where the prices are lower but the taxes and insurance are sky-high. Also you are limited to the size of your boat because of the clearance of a railroad bridge. There are a few other places scattered in that area but they are farther off the beaten track.

The weather in the Houston area is not nearly as good as in South West Florida. Houston gets much colder, freezes almost every year--often more than once, and had much longer cold spells than SWF. I've only had my heater on one day this winter in Florida but it would run constantly in Houston. (Galveston is a bit warmer.)

There just aren't that many available canal or waterfront homes in the Houston-Galveston area. In Cape Coral there are over 400 miles of canals, about half fresh water and about half "gulf access". The prices here hit rock bottom a few years ago and are now starting back up but they are still some of the lowest in the states for a waterfront home.

Personally I love it here--I'm writing this post while looking out over my pool and the canal behind my house and waiting for the sun to come up so I can go boating later this morning. However, lots of old people here, me included, and not much to do other than boating and other outdoor activities.

There are a couple of other possibilities in Texas such as Corpus Christi and all the way down to Port Isabel/South Padre Island. I took a glance at those places before I moved here but there were very few waterfront homes available and both were a considerable distance to any other city of importance, especially the South Padre Island area.

 

[xoomer]

I would hold off, Flood Insurance has been "redesigned" to rescue the program after Katrina. So people who have had insurance for years at $1200 are selling their homes, and the new owners are getting Flood Insurance bills of $12,000 or more annually. They are trying to fix the law, so just be aware and keep an eye on it.

It looks like the fix has passed in the House and Senate, going to the Whitehouse for final signature.

http://politics.heraldtribune.com/2014/03/13/senate-easily-passes-flood-insurance-fix-bill/

The new flood insurance legislation that passed last year only affects homes built before 1974 that were subsidized. Newly built homes don't have subsidies because they meet FEMA's flood elevation rules. From what I've seen in Cape Coral, a typical "gulf access" home runs about $2,700 a year for $250k home coverage and $100k personal property coverage--maximum coverage from FEMA without getting additional private coverage--but this cost can vary.

 

[Gym]

Thanks for the brief tour @xoomer I think you melted some of our snow with your description and pics.

 

[tdonoughue]

I think @xoomer gives a fair evaluation of the Houston/Galveston area (I live here now). I was thinking more Corpus Christi, Victoria, SPI (used to live in Harlingen, so it is true that 1 hr from the mall is a bit much for some, but you said you wanted to get away...).

To go inland, you deal less with hurricanes, salt does not eat your boat, but you have to deal with drought. Keep in mind that all lakes in Texas are man made (except one--Caddo Lake up north). That means you are at the mercy of some dam operator somewhere. But if you can live with that, San Antonio and Austin have some very nice nearby lakes and pretty country surrounding. I used to live also in San Antonio. Mind you, I was too young and had no boat at the time...

I don't know that it will win in the evaluation. Depends on what you want, of course. Just saying you should check it out.

 

[Evil Sports]

Not really looking for Texas, FL is only a 2.5 hour flight for me and if necessary a "reasonable" 2 day drive

 

[tdonoughue]

Ah, gotcha. I thought you were looking for the permanent move (probably I didn't read something carefully enough).

In that case, I would recommend moving to Chicago so that Texas is closer.

 

[Evil Sports]

Cape Coral looks interesting. Xoom can you point me in the direction of a canal house or the right neighborhoods

 

[DawgDaze]

I grew up in the Tampa Bay Area for 35 years of my life. The winters are cold and the last time we had snow that far south was I believe 1976. You have to like rain and the humidity but when it's sunny, it IS pretty awesome. Most of my family still lives there. I would own a vacation spot there for sure but just do your research for the area as far as what insurance you will need and if it's even offered . Personally I want to move to Texas so I can have the real estate to keep my boat in a garage on my property.

 

[Evil Sports]

Im really kinda clueless in this stuff so any help from locals would be great. I bought 1 house and paid for it in my life. Not a big fan of dealing with realtors but know its necessary at some point in this equation.

 

[xoomer]

I think @xoomer gives a fair evaluation of the Houston/Galveston area (I live here now). I was thinking more Corpus Christi, Victoria, SPI (used to live in Harlingen, so it is true that 1 hr from the mall is a bit much for some, but you said you wanted to get away...).

@tdonoughue I really liked South Padre Island and Port Isabel, especially when it wasn't so dangerous to go across to Mexico--only about 45 minutes away--but I don't know anything about the boating there. Overall, I think that area was a close "second choice", after Florida, for us.

 

[xoomer]

@Evil Sports Basically, the homes on Cape Coral are (1) off the water, (2) on a fresh water canal or lake, (3) gulf access canals--most are "direct access" with no locks, some are "sail boat access" that have no bridges to go under--and the most expensive category are (4) those facing the river. As an example, if you buy a house off the water for $150k, figure to be on a fresh water canal about $250K, to be on a gulf access canal $400K, and to be on the river $700K for the equivalent home. When I was looking for a place to buy I decided to buy on a fresh water canal instead of a gulf access and save a couple of hundred thousand dollars. I just keep my main boat at the indoor marina for a couple of hundred dollars a month and drive about 12-15 minutes when I want to get to the marina. However, a lot of people want to be able to go out their back door, get in their boat, and take off.

When looking at gulf access canals one thing you have to be careful of here is the distance to travel from your home to open water. The entire canal system here is a "no wake" zone so if you have to travel 2-3 miles in a canal to get to open water, and then back again, you will be spending a lot of time in your boat. There are many homes that are much closer to open water but they will cost a bit more. (That was another reason I liked the indoor marina since it is only about 10 minutes to open water.)

I first came here looking at houses in 2011 and met a real estate agent who helped me over the next year before I made a final purchase. She was very good, exceptionally patient, and if she didn't know something she told me so instead of acting like she knew everything. I will give you the link to her website where you can search through the properties to see what is available. The zip codes I would recommend to search would be 33904, 33914, and 33990--not sure if you can zero-in on those codes or not on her site. There are other cities close to Cape Coral you may want to research but they have a completely different lifestyle and atmosphere. For example, Cape Coral has a lot of restrictions for homeowners--no trailers, RVs, commercial vehicles, or boats are allowed to be parked in the driveways. You can park your boat on a trailer on the side of your house in the back, but not in the front. If you go to any of the adjacent cities you will see everything parked in the driveways--some people don't mind that but I wanted a less junky area to live in.

I took a few videos today in the boat but I'm having problems getting them to look decent on YouTube--if I can resolve this problem I will post them later so you can see a few of the canal homes we passed by today. In the meantime, if you want to take a look at my real estate agent's website to search some properties, this is the link: DreamHomeQuest

 

[Evil Sports]

Dumb question, fresh water canals.... where do they go? do they connect with the river or gulf?

 

[xoomer]

Dumb question, fresh water canals.... where do they go? do they connect with the river or gulf?

Fresh water canals don't connect to anything other than maybe a fresh water lake or other fresh water canals--you can't get to the gulf from these canals. When it rains the water from the fresh water canals goes over a weir into the gulf access canals (salt water canals) when the level gets high enough. However, some of the fresh water systems connect to several small lakes in the system and miles of other canals, and some are fairly limited. These canals are just for people who want to be on the water and maybe have a small boat--not uncommon to see pontoon boats in this type of canal.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Easiest thing to do is Google map the address then pan out and follow the maze of canals to see where you can go!