housing
 

old news

those of you who live elsewhere (in the Northeast especially) with higher housing costs and living costs, and who are waiting until the market springs back to sell might be making a mistake, at least IMHO (for what that's worth). We retired 2 years earlier than planned (at 60 instead of 62), knowing we would have a little less income than if we had waited.

BUT - we feel it is worth the tradeoff - 2 more years of living in TV while we are relatively young and hopefully in good health - that is just about priceless.

We also did our financial homework, or at least we hope we did. We didn't even move from a high cost area compared to many of you, but we are still finding it much cheaper to live in Florida than in Ohio.

Guess I don't quite understand the comments about needing to find "comparable" housing when you are retired and no longer raising a family. There is nothing wrong with downsizing, and much right about it if you have thought about your needs and done the math. It's not like you need to be in the best school district or something. As many posters have said, there is no bad neighborhood in TV - buy what you can afford and get on with it.

Hope this doesn't happen
 

http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/22/real...ices/index.htm

ANOTHER possible 25% drop in home prices? I'll never get my house sold in the "frozen tundra" ! Can not move to TV until we we sell up north.:cryin2:

Property taxes
 

Correct me if I am wrong but does not the homestead act protect us tax payers from any major increase yearly? I think the max is 3% a year that our property taxes can increase.

Is that fair?
 

1. How is it fair to put a cap on current residents and expect new residents to pay more? Let me guess..it works just like social security.. what happens when there are no more new buys to pay for increased costs?
2. That homestead act will not be worth the paper it is written on if housing values continue to drop. They have to get the money to pay their costs one way or another.
jj

Same in Michigan, Our house was appraised at $399,000 in 2007 since then has gone down. Just had appraisal and down another $45,000 from last year.Our 399 is now $225 and said 'IF WE are Lucky". Yes, lake front on Higgins lake, always was looked at as one of the nicest lakes.

Like all of the above, do you sell and live life now on a less of a buget due to low price or do you play the gamble of waiting and hoping price goes up AND you remain healthy enough to enjoy some years at TV.

Something to really think about HUH!

AJ

This is all very depressing
 

Those of you who can take a 100 thou drop in equity I envy you but I sure can't.
Even a 20% dip on a house in Fla is like 50K a 20% dip in our area is more like 150 to 200 K. So those of you saying that all areas are down so bite the bullet and take what you can get I don't understand your math. For many the built equity in the home is one of the main assets that they have for retirement.

In 2006 we made the mistake(in hind sight) of dumping alot of our retirement funds into a fixer in a very high end neighborhood where we had made money when we lived here before. As I can no longer work full time after my stroke accumilating the extra cash to make up the difference is not possible. So if you are all right and prices will not come back I guess we will never be able to join you all in the villages.
In which case I guess I should stop reading this forum.

Bye

I think that most who say they can take a large drop in price have probably owned their home for a long time and have enjoyed the appreciation of their property. Those who purchased recently (just before the big drop) are faced with losing real dollars (theirs) and not just "on paper" dollars.

These are just some ideas that came to mind as I read the preceding posts and I related so much to them. These are just my thoughts, for whatever they are worth to those who are trying to figure out their next move; and my views, I know, won't apply to or work for everyone. I remember how anxious I was when we were considering what to do about making the big move and changing our lives in such a huge way by moving to TV, and the feeling of wanting to make sure we weren't making a 'mistake'.

My perspective was influenced by a number of unexpected tragedies that happened to my loved ones, at both young and middle ages, over the years; most of which were health-related. These events lead me to try to live every day with a greater sense of urgency, and put first priorities first. At some point we have to face what is, not what we wish was, or what we planned on, and deal with present realities, and be willing to adjust. When I was in my early 50's I realized that people my age, and even younger, died every day, and that I could not just continue assuming that there would be plenty of time in the future for all that I wanted out of life. Waiting for the perfect solution to a dilemma to appear may mean never having what we want the most.

I still expect to live to a very old age, but I am trying to live my life in a way to not have regrets in the event that that plan doesn't pan out.

I think that most people who want to live here could figure out a way to make it work, financially, in TV if they just decided to make it happen and made that their first priority; and the great lifestyle, plus the climate here which, in my opinion, so lends itself to better health and longevity, are such huge payoffs and 'trade-ups' that whatever perceived sacrifices will be seen as well worth it sooner or later. (After all, I figured, 80,000+ Villagers can't all be wrong!)

So, if you like me are not a 'spring chicken', and given that the real estate market is not looking great (and being mindful of Trump and others who believe we are witnessing the end of, or at least huge decline in, the middle class in the US, which would make me think that most real estate values cannot be reliably predicted to increase substantially in the near future) then if my ownership of a home elsewhere was preventing me from moving to TV, I would consider these options: either I would sell it at whatever the current value is, mourning yet accepting whatever loss was necessary, and then either buy or lease whatever I could afford in TV even if it meant an adjustment from my 'dream' retirement home (reread above about the 'trade-ups'); or, if I could not bring myself to sell at the current value, then I would try leasing the property for a few years, and then move to TV and lease here until the property eventually got sold, then use the proceeds to buy here (or just continue leasing). (I think most people will find that living in TV is, overall, substantially less expensive than living in other locations; there are some previous threads discussing this).

I liked Martin Luther King's words about "take the first step. . . you don't have to see the whole staircase". I think that once we make a decision, the universe moves too, and the next steps will become evident. Sometimes we have to make decisions based on not just knowledge, but factoring in our intuition and a measure of faith. I think that for most people once they find a way to move to TV, by doing whatever it takes for that to happen, they will actually be all right, and their future steps will become evident over time.

No, no, no
 

Trudy M don't leave!

Freeda, a very wise post indeed. A long life isn't promised to any of us. Let's all seize the moment and be joyous.

Beautifully said. I like this sentence " At some point we have to face what is, not what we wish was, or what we planned on, and deal with present realities, and be willing to adjust."

Some of lifes tragedies (what we perceived at the time to be tragic anyway) have turned into some wonderful blessings in the long run for us.

I am going to print this post and frame it.

Thank you, Freeda.

And Trudy...Don't give up. Please don't.