crazyforlatin
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Posts posted by crazyforlatin
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6 minutes ago, cintinative said:
Just chiming in to agree with this. My brother's family lives 50 minutes from a beach and their insurance is well over $7K per year.
I mentioned to my friend about insurance. He doesn't use the internet. He really thinks hurricane insurance is optional. I'll let the agent know to tell him about expenses of owning a home in FL. My friend is the type to just not get insurance. For a cheap home, that might be fine. But he's already thinking that he can't get anything great at $100k so he'll sell his current home and buy a better house.
Is hurricane a problem for the entire state? So without insurance are there areas that are safer from hurricanes?
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19 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:
How’s he going to take care of land? It’s a lot. I only have a fifth of an acre plus a 20x25 community garden plot and I’m already making plans for easier landscaping because these gardens are a whole job and I’m not getting it done and I’m 50.
Can your husband really fly out to help him? That seems unrealistic.
Only for emergencies. Dd will be in college soon so there's not going to be a lot of spare money. He does have family (no kids, just nieces and nephews) but none of them can be relied upon. My friend will probably make friends at church and hire someone to help him with yard work.
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13 hours ago, Halftime Hope said:
Shoot. If that is the case and he were "mine", I'd set him up with What'sApp or Facetime, or something else you can record, and let it become the family adventure...so he has someone to share it with. I'd also set him up with bonafide campground stops --this is his way point each night --- along the way, so he doesn't become an easy target for someone wanting to take advantage of an old guy.
I'll DM you tomorrow.
That's a great idea - stopping at campgrounds every evening.
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3 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:
FL feels more like PR than the Bay. Nostalgia hits harder when you are older. Add politics to that and I understand why it’s such an uphill battle for him to change his dreams. We had family make an ill-advised move to FL a few years ago. At 80 you kind of know it is all downhill in the near future, iykwim. I would be trying to use what leverage I could to push for a rental. But, realistically, I would keep in my mind that this could just be part of the spend down process for a Medicaid qualified nursing home. Sometimes dreams are highly impractical.
Hugs!
He's 80 in body but 35 in mind and spirit. He's going to buy a van and drive across the country after he buys his home. He'll take his 9 cats and a dog with him. It sounds crazy but he's not crazy at all. He used to be a driving instructor so driving is not the problem - it's the amount of driving with the animals. Politics has a lot to do with the move. I don't think anyone would rent to him with all these cats plus he really wants to own land.
Did your family member move back after living in FL?
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1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:
1031 exchanges are tax deferred, not tax free. He needs professional tax/budgeting advice if he isn’t sure how that will work out.
Is this the same guy that wanted a house and a few acres to farm a couple of years ago? I was wondering what had happened with that story.
Great memory! He let go of the farm idea. His balance these days is not as stable as before. But he can't let go of moving to Florida despite deep roots here. Plus dh and I are here to help him. And he has church friends here. In Florida if he needs help I would need to send dh. He has no children.
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If he does an exchange, it'll mean the home he buys will be worth about $800k which means it'll probably have more living space. So it'll mean the homeowners insurance will be really high? Could it be more than $10k? Would property tax be about $8k?
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4 hours ago, Brittany1116 said:
Our homeowner's insurance doubled last year. Several companies have left the state, and many are no longer writing new policies.
It sounds like hurricane coverage is not optional like in California with earthquake insurance.
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4 hours ago, popmom said:
More and more it sounds like buying an older mobile home on land and paying cash would be the way to go. Then just forgo the insurance and put that money aside. He could essentially provide his own insurance at those rates. From what OP said, he’ll have the cash from the sale of his current property. Properly invested—hopefully. The value is in the land anyway—for older mobile homes.
He's going to to do an exchange and I don't know if exchanges allow some cash to be released to him. I'm worried that he won't have money for property tax plus insurance. His current home has very low property tax and it's capped due to a state proposition so it's basically at a 1970s value with small increase each year. I don't know if an exchange across state lines would allow him to keep his current CA property value in Florida.
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Is the entire state of Florida facing a homeowners policy problem or only in certain parts?
In CA, earthquake insurance is optional and basically no one buys it. Is hurricane insurance part of homeowners insurance in FL? Can an owner buy insurance without the hurricane part if that is too expensive?
ETA: added a word and question
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For manufactured homes that are not part of a park but on an individual land, are these comfortable? I found some for $100k or less. Are there any issues with these homes that I need to know?
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1 minute ago, Grace Hopper said:
I may be assuming too much, but it sounds like culturally and politically he should be looking for South Central Florida. One important question that hasn’t been mentioned yet is how he feels about wildlife. Once you go south of Tallahassee, you have not only gators but snakes and iguanas to factor in. That sounds nuts but it’s a reality.
Thanks for the suggestion! Ok so he did mention about being in the middle of Florida.
It’s like here in California. He would be happier living in Fresno where it’s more conservative.
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3 hours ago, purpleowl said:
If you need any other recommendations for real estate agents in Tallahassee, send me a message. 🙂 That said - I don't know where you'd find homes at that price that are in decent condition.
I can also tell you that Tallahassee's airport is small and often more expensive to fly in and out of. Not sure how important that will be. And when people talk about owning a home in Florida, it's generally not Tallahassee they're thinking of. 😄 People come here for reasons related to state government or Florida State University, pretty much. I'd make sure to find out what "owning a home in Florida" means to him.
Just sent a pm for agent info. He’s flying into Jacksonville and renting a car.
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2 hours ago, Harriet Vane said:
I was amazed at how different the Gulf side is from the east side. When people think of glorious Florida beaches, they are thinking of the east coast or the south. Personally, I really love the St. Augustine area, which is about an hour south of Jacksonville.
Would your loved one consider simply renting for a while?
It’s his dream to own a home in Florida. Sometimes I wonder if politics has something to do with it.
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1 hour ago, ktgrok said:
I sold my 1450 sq foot home (did have a pool, but the pool needed to be resurfaced) for over 300K a year ago, in a less than ideal suburb of Orlando. I can't imagine under 100K.
And truly, "florida" is a big place with a huge range of cultures. You have areas that are very influenced by Cuban culture, areas taht are fishing/beach towns, areas that are tourist beaches, areas that are rural farm culture, areas that are ranching, areas known for polo ponies, areas with lots of New Yorkers, small Jewish enclaves, the "redneck riviera" up in the panhandle, Tallahassee and the like that are more like Georgia or Alabama any other part of Florida, etc etc etc.
WHY does he want to move to Florida? What matters to him? I mean, for starters, does he want blue liberal Florida or red conservative Florida? Beach access? Fishing? Just the lack of an income tax?
He’s Christian conservative, originally from Puerto Rico. I think he just wants a place to get away. And he complains all the time about our area which leans liberal. Exchanging his home from the Bay Area could yield close to $850k but most of his income comes from his tenants. Or he’ll sell it, buy a moderate home, use up the money to pay for expenses. He might regret this choice because it’s starting over in a place without friends or family without the option of returning to the Bay Area.
He’s going to rent a car and go to Tallahassee first and then drive south to see what other parts of Florida are like. He thinks he wants to be in the middle of Florida rather than near the tip or near the top. But I think he should focus more on what he can afford.
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2 hours ago, popmom said:
DeFuniak Springs is nice, too, if a small town is preferred. I like Jacksonville, too, but it might be more expensive than Tallahassee. Both should have good health care options.
My sister in law lived in Chiefland for many years. I would think he would be able to find something in his price range in that general area as it's not very touristy at all. I know my SIl's house would have been in his price range. And it's not far from Gainesville for good health care. Quick drive to Tampa beaches.
Thank you! This is really helpful. Some of the $100k homes are run down, fixer uppers, so I’m hoping that maybe small towns will have better options for him.
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2 minutes ago, Grace Hopper said:
Be sure he factors the cost of homeowners insurance into his housing budget. Depending on where he chooses to live, it can be quite high.
He’s from the Bay Area so really anything seems reasonable. I’m hoping the agent can explain things to him.
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9 minutes ago, maize said:
Marvin is a realtor in Tallahassee, my parents have known him for years and recommended him to me when we were considering buying in the area:
Thanks so much! I’m going to email him tomorrow morning.
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I know an 80 year old (good health) who is insisting on flying this weekend into Florida to look for a house preferably under $120k. It doesn’t really matter which city (he wants me to choose, I’ve never been in Florida), but I think somewhere within reasonable driving distance of an airport would be easier for him. I’ve briefly looked into homes within that price range. It seems like upper part of Florida near Tallahassee have these homes. Are there other places I should look at? Or places to avoid?
And if you guys know of any real estate agents, please let me know via pm if better. I might choose the city or nearby cities where the agent works as the place to start for him to look for a home.
It’s a life long dream of his to own a home in Florida so I’m not able to dissuade him.
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10 minutes ago, Arcadia said:
He is also a slacker like me 🤣
DS18 did not decorate his mortar board last year so we are reusing the gown, tassel and mortar board.
Please, you’re no slacker, you’re the one I turn to when I need help finding something lol.
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7 minutes ago, Arcadia said:
DS17 is being awarded his associate degree in computer science. He has completed all the requirements by last quarter. He is applying for transfer in fall but technically class of 2023 for high school graduates.
That is so amazing! Congratulations to him. He can probably just get a job without transferring lol.
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1 hour ago, cintinative said:
I will look for this.
So his acne came back after being on Accutane? The doctor told us he would never have acne again after taking Accutane for six months.
My friend’s son started on accutane in college. He had to change the brands due to lack of absorption on the first round. It worked on the second round though he still gets pimples but not to the extent when he was a teen.
Looking back in my text messages this is what he used:
Claravis was first 4 months. Didnt work. Got prescribed Absorica-
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30 minutes ago, Corraleno said:
We were told up front that a certain percentage of people have a relapse and "need a second round" of Accutane, but most are fine after the first round, and nearly everyone is clear after a second. But since DS had pretty bad side effects from the very high doses of his first round (he's 6'7" and 220 lbs and they go by weight, so he was on a VERY high dose), he really didn't want to go through it again. So he opted to try Differin, and that cleared his face up pretty well — at least to the point where he was just having "normal" occasional teen zits, but not full blown acne. By 22 or so, he had (and still has) perfectly clear skin.
ETA: I should note that DS is an athlete who trains several hours a day, 5-6 days/week, and sweats a LOT, including having his head in a sweaty stinky fencing mask that doesn't get washed nearly as often as it should. Add that on top of bad teen acne, and I think that probably had a lot to do with why the first round didn't totally clear him up.
Since Dd is still in high school I can wash that cloth around the fencing mask. She will probably do club fencing in college. Plus I noticed if she eats dairy she gets clogged pores/acne. I’m not sure if accutane can overcome dairy, sugar, and sweaty bands.
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39 minutes ago, Corraleno said:
DS used Accutane and it cleared up both his face and back, but once he went off it the face acne came back a bit (although not as bad as it was) while the back acne stayed gone. One thing I wish I'd known before we started Accutane is that it's the cumulative total dosage (over months) not the daily dose that matters. Dermatologists just ramp up to the highest daily dose tolerable to get it over with more quickly, but that's also what leads to the bad side effects. If we could do it over, I'd stick with a low dose, avoid the side effects, and just expect it to take longer.
If you don't want to do Accutane though, have you tried Differin? It's like tretinoin, but more targeted to acne vs wrinkles. It used to be Rx only, but is now available OTC. That's what DS used after he went off Accutane when the acne on his face came back, and the Differin cleared it up pretty well. Now he uses Curology, but honestly the Differin worked at least as well and was cheaper. DIfferin also makes a facewash and moisturizer.
Thanks for mentioning the accutane accumulation. Dd has mild but persistent acne, and she will start next month with accutane. I used to worry about side effects but after talking to the doctor, I think whatever side effects may happen is better than the constant struggle with acne. We’ve really tried everything, but 9% SA helps a lot unless she consumes a lot of surgery foods and then the process starts over as it takes time to get rid of the clogged pores.
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Instacart has done this a couple of times, misdelivery, and they absolutely do not want anything back. I had that happen this week and got to try gomacro bars which are delicious and oh so expensive. The other person got some veggies.
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Florida and real estate agent
in The Chat Board
Posted
I asked about hurricanes before seeing your post. I was looking at homes asking the state lines and even thought that buying a home in GA might be better. It looks like a better deal over there. But he now needs to be in central Florida - someone must have told him that that's where their politics align more with his. I have an uncle (not close to him at all) who lives in Brower County in a condo but he's lucky to go back and forth from here to there.