Florida Property

Have you ever had the insurance company explain sink hole coverage?
I did, made her read the whole dang thing to me. And you know what?
No mater how, when, where, why or how big or small.......you ain't covered for a sinkhole with a sinkhole policy because every 'exception' covers every actual sinkhole.

And there is a clause regarding flood insurance that if there is a wind they don't cover the flood.:?

I am still reeling from how they calculate your deductible! It's not a flat fee like it was back in my home state......it's a percentage of the value of your home!:E

Who has that kind of money laying around in cash to be used for a deductible if your house was severely damaged and in need of repair asap?

Geez, when you cross the state line of Florida there ought to be a border crossing and the question to get in being "are you planning on buying a home and living here"?

If you answer yes they give you a brochure on ALL what you need to know since NOTHING is like any other state! Hdd I know how different and costly insurance is here I might, well maybe, not have bought a home here! :B

Don't even get me started about the 500.00 impact fee on top of the registration fee for bringing in an out of state vehicle x 3 for me!

Rant over. There is no snow in winter here, I am happy.:C

I was a free lance FEMA inspector. Believe me, you were way better off if you had insurance and paid the deductible than to get the FEMA check.

And FEMA makes sure the insurance company pays if there is insurance.

I'm guessing if you or one of your kids lost their house you would cash the FEMA check.

Years ago when we had several hurricanes come through, I was surprised to learn that if you did not have homeowners insurance then the government (FEMA) was out cutting checks to homeowners to pay for repairs. But those who had insurance were stuck paying hurricane deductibles. Thought that was odd.....

And watch flood insurance. After the hurricanes maps were redrawn.
My bros house went up $6k per year. Course if your house is paid for you don't have to have insurance.

And then there is that 'how many miles from the coast is the house'? Citizens went to the mat with the state to overall reduce their policies and there is now something like a 10 miles rule from the coast.

If your house is within the 10 miles of the coast good luck getting homeowners.

I did not know this when I came down here. I had put in an offer on a house that was to die for. I fought and fought for it and ultimately did not get it. THANK GOD I didn't get it. There was a discrepancy about which county it was in from the get go. It didn't concern me so I didn't pursue it. Well it 'was' in the country that counts as no homeowners insurance for you too close to the coast. I still think the listing agent was behind that let's be gray about which county it's in.

I would find out later that it was within that 10 mile limit. There is a lot of stuff you need to know when buying a house in a state you are not familiar with.Especially if you are paying cash. When you borrow the money the bank is your safety net/red flag for all the unknowns you don't know about!

Rockhillmanor - Interesting. First I have ever heard of that.

Just an after thought on insurance. Following the rash of hurricane's in 2004 and 2005 there were changes made to building codes around 2006. Newer homes have 160 mph roofs and either steel shutters or wind damage resistant glass. So if you can happen to get a deal on a newer home, all the better. Also, if your insurance rates reflect that you have steel shutters make sure they get put on if a hurricane is coming. Pay someone to put them on if you have to. If you don't, then the insurance company will almost certainly deny your damage claim.

JRS & B wrote:
rockhillmanor - My experiences may have been different than yours, but they are the truth. About 18 months ago we pursued the short sale/foreclosure angle.

Several others staying in our RV park were doing the same thing, only they really were more enthused than us. One even hired a local attorney to make sure he was not being scammed. Florida is a sunny place but it still has its share of shady characters. It did not help. All of the deals were on track to go through and then something always came along to screw things up. Sometimes the properties involved more than one lender. Getting multiple lenders to agree on anything is like herding cats.

Three years ago a friend of mine literally had 25 offers pending on various short sales in Michigan and every single one was a bust. Apparently that process has gotten better. It certainly couldn't have gotten any worse......

Your friend was most likely did not get those houses because he was not resubmitting the contract when the seller's 'respond by' date expired.

If you do a short sale and the seller/bank doesn't contact you by your 'respond by' date on the contract you are technically and legally NOT still in contract. And they rarely could respond by that date.

The real estate agents where telling the potential buyers it was not necessary to submit another contract extending the 'respond by' date. Because they did not want to be bothered with rewriting and submitting the contracts. Which was absolutely wrong.

So after months and months of waiting on a short sale when the bank got around to your contract you were OUT of contract with them because of the expired 'respond by' date. So you are never contacted. Lot of people lost out on good deals because of incompetent agents.

rockhillmanor - My experiences may have been different than yours, but they are the truth. About 18 months ago we pursued the short sale/foreclosure angle.

Several others staying in our RV park were doing the same thing, only they really were more enthused than us. One even hired a local attorney to make sure he was not being scammed. Florida is a sunny place but it still has its share of shady characters. It did not help. All of the deals were on track to go through and then something always came along to screw things up. Sometimes the properties involved more than one lender. Getting multiple lenders to agree on anything is like herding cats. Three years ago a friend of mine literally had 25 offers pending on various short sales in Michigan and every single one was a bust. Apparently that process has gotten better. It certainly couldn't have gotten any worse.

Now we only looked at three bedroom homes, not two. We have children and grand children we would want to come and visit with us. And we did not consider buying in a truly rural area.

So rural areas must be where the best deals are, especially in the case of a house with only two bedrooms. My parents first home in Florida had only two bedrooms and that was a real drawback when they tried to sell it 25 years later.

Also keep in mind that when a property sells for half of what the seller paid, it sometimes just means the seller bought at the peak, and therefore paid twice as much as they should have. The person we bought our vacant land from this past April for $35,000 paid $65,000 for it, but they bought when prices were at their peak.

helperzack wrote:
If looking to invest with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, do you need to have all cash? Or if one has excellent credit can you line up financing with say 50% down?

Im am pretty sure Fannie and Freddie you can finance, but I think it has to be owner occupied for maybe two to three years. Not sure. Maybe someone else knows better since we don't finance anything. I think I remember seeing the two to three year rule on the title papers on our current residence, which was through one of those two ( fnma or fmac). It was a non issue at the time since we knew we were retiring in 2015, and we bought this one in 2011. Sorry, wish I could help more.

If looking to invest with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, do you need to have all cash? Or if one has excellent credit can you line up financing with say 50% down?