Is it possible to live on SS only in TV?
 

Both my husband and I recently lost our pensions and are sick with worry. We can buy a house in the villages (a small patio villa perhaps) free and clear, but will only have social security to live on. We have to leave the cold north. I am having a nervous breakdown about this. Does anyone there live on just social security? Is it possible and if not, any suggestions for us? Thanks.

suggest you sit together, hold hands, close eyes, and take several deep breaths, once an hour.

don't buy a house free and clear if you can get a mortgage. keep your cash.

praying...
Kitty

I guess the obvious question back is What will be your combined benefit?

If you were both collecting the maximum amount and were frugal it might be possible. The beauty of TV is so many things are free so you can keep yourself busy and entertained with very little additional cost.

Good advice.
There are also many nice manufactured homes in the historic area, some for under $100k.

Sent you a pm. (private msg)

Incomes here run the gamut from below poverty to extremely wealthy. All seem to live the type of life they want.

I do know some that live on only Social Security. All of the ones I know have no mortgage. They can't play golf every day; they do have good medical to go along with their Medicare; they do have fun here and their friends are not limited to just those in the same financial circumstances.

Purchasing a manufactured home is not a bad idea. You get a nice place with beautiful old growth around you. Your taxes are lower and there is no bond. Regardless of what you choose to own (or rent), all activities are open to you, so pick and choose what you want to do and go for it.

The average ss payment is $1260 but the high end is around $1900 so don't know where you fall in. You can do it but need some savings money for buying golf cart, roofs, furnaces, depending the age of unit you are purchasing. Utilities, amenities, property taxes, house and car insurance all add up. Everyone is different but a house in the historic section with more money in the bank would do it for me.

Gosh, that's a huge blow, SallyR. Did you both used to work at the same company that lost its pensions?

Living on two SS payments should be possible. To give you an example, my budget when I lived on the historic side was $2050/month, which included a $547 mortgage, amenity fee, utilities, lawn maintenance, home repair, gas, food, entertainment, and all other normal expenses. I also budgeted an additional $500 a month in discretionary income.

The biggest variable might be health care costs, depending on your situation with insurance or Medicare.

first what does it cost to live yearly where you are...find a planner either in person or online...how you budget may not be how we budget..there are patio villas with little or no bond. if you have not been here i would off season a couple of months before i would think of buying a home and try for a mortgage..are you a veteran than you can go that route for a mortgage on a preowned

Maybe it's just me but I would prefer to have my residence paid for and then not have to worry about a mortgage payment.

First Don't have a nervous breakdown over this, hundreds of people have been in this position before you and you will manage................

Get in touch with your company and go to this website to see if they have picked up your pension Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp - PBGC Protects America's Pensions

This is the website for the The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and your pensions may have been picked up by them.

This is a good question. I have often wondered the same thing. My spouse will have a small pension, hopefully enough to cover medical coverage. We will both have SS (hopefully) and I have a 401K. Buy a house out right or keep the cash has always been a quandry for me. When we looked at the historic side, most of them required a lot of updating. The realto rwe spoke with advised that TV will be completed 2015 and prices are moving up up and away. :-(

Based on my research if you have no mortgage, you can live as cheaply in TV as you can in almost any other place, and cheaper than many, especially near either coast. As has been stated, social security payments can vary widely, if you both collect near the maximum, you could live very well, if toward the minimum you had better count on at least some part-time work. Because of all the activities available with no or low cost, I think this is an outstanding choice of destination for someone with moderate income, giving them the ability to do things that would be difficult, if not impossible in most places. For example where else could you afford to belong to even one country club, much less ten, enjoy live entertainment every evening, and play executive golf every day for free?

My opinion is not to have a mortgage. The reason is that if one of you dies that SS money is gone. Can the surviving spouse live on one SS check and still make the mortgage payment?

Living on SS is possible but it must be with no debt.

I believe the surviving spouse gets the deceased spouse's SS

I think the surviving spouse draws the larger of the two amounts.

correct

SallyR: I am sorry that you and your husband are have difficulty. The tone of your post tells me that you are deeply disappointed and deeply worried.

What your post does not reveal is you and your husband's age, whether you have any additional savings, qualify for medicare and/or have health insurance. Your post also doesn't indicate the extent of any additional liabilities nor your preferred lifestyle.

Coach Ed was correct in stating that costs would likely be lower here than in many places albeit we don't know your tax situation, etc.

In my view someone wanting to live strictly on social security needs to be clear of any obligations and even than a reduction in fixed costs. so perhaps such a person would live without ll the bells and whistles from cable TV, etc.
Then their are variable cost. Let's start with the cost of moving. Insurance premiums, that go up.etc. etc. etc.

In my view those issues have to be considered and if the outcome is that in the long run you are financially better off in Florida than here. well then
I would invest in a financial counselor You are making a capital decision here

Agree with Midvale! Although as a wannabee I haven't lived in a manufactured home in The Villages, I have been to quite a few open houses for manufactured homes in The Vilalges, and several have been lovely. I have been thinking about going the manufactured home route myself...

Something else to consider is the possibility of one of you dying well in advance of the other :(. Then you're down to one SS check, but your expenses won't be cut in half.

Oops...didn't see the other posts with SS info, but it's still an important consideration.

My girlfriend lives on Historic side in a completely remodeled really beautiful home. She was so surprised because it only cost her 500 a month to live there. No mortgage. And yes she put out saving for a cart. Good luck and come on down!!

another possibility is to look at another area that would be less expensive. you might try Sun City Center near Tampa...you could get a resale for less there and you might be able to make money on your home sale....not as many activities as TV but would still get you out of the cold north

Sun City has HIGH taxes being in Hillsborough
County.
They also have a Chinese drywall problem.
And the traffic is HORRENDOUS.
I'm just saying...?

(I currently live in Hillsborough County)

I agree w queassy...wow i feel for you two....how terrible losing both pensions...
I do know someone who lives on her deceased husband's
'social sec, she pays mortgage on a ranch in TV, lives tight, but makes do.
With budgeting and some sacrifice, it is possible.
And though jobs are low paying, some villagers do work to supplement incomes.
Good luck w everything! :)

Another consideration for a manufactured home is that property insurance is comparatively high since only 2-3 companies provide it. Premiums have really been going up. I would never recommend going without, but that would be an option if you didn't have mortgage.

Property taxes in Lake County are low if you have the homestead exemption (my bill was about $525 annually).

It is wise for you to consider the money you "might" have to sink into an older home. We've always bought older homes in Vermont as there wasn't much of any choice nor new builds.......everything moves at a snails pace up here, including home building. Mostly singly built homes by owner. Not a development type situation like in N.J. or Fl.

Which leads me to: Even on social security alone, people would have to remember to have an emergency fund.

After years of noticeable climate change up here in Vermont with warmer winters and the typical January thaw coming in November......and the snow being RAIN....with saturated ground and sometimes rain on frozen ground......people started getting minor flooding in their lower levels and basements.........like soggy carpeting........

After years of thinking it would "change back" to the old climate, which did not happen........and more winters of ice jams and ice dams on the roof (which was new).........we had to put in French Drains all around the perimeter of the home.......dug out deep and then pipes put on gravel, etc. and they WORK GREAT......especially this year with two months of steady heavy rains up here..........VERY ODD WEATHER, TO SAY THE LEAST.

We also replaced our fairly new roof with another new roof with special "something or other" under the shingles and "ice glides" on the edges so that the snow and ice on the roof will gently fall off and not accumulate and go under the roof shingles..........

Just guessing, but in an older Florida home..........the airconditioning might go and that is as important as our oil furnace is up north......so even on S.S. keep in mind (the original poster) to keep an emergency fund for home repairs..............one never knows.

Excellent advice. It's true. They would be down to one check monthly if the spouse passed away.

We haven't had a mortgage since we were 45 years old since we bought our first home at age 22 and then obviously paid off all the other mortgages.

I've mentioned to my husband how people do buy in TV with mortgages and that they seem to give them out to older people........

He always has told me he would NOT want to start with a mortgage again.

Last count, we have owned and sold 5 homes; this being our 6th home which we will sell, hopefully, next spring. Neither of us would want a mortgage at age 68 now and 69 next year.

They do get the higher amount, but it's still one check, minus the other one.

This pretty much says that the answer is yes. If you buy a house outright and have no mortgage payment, you can reduce that budget by about $300. If you can mow your own lawn, you can save another $50 a month.
If you both are receiving SS benefits you are taking in at least $2600 a month well over Queasy's budget.

nb; NOTHING IS FREE IN THE VILLAGES

That's correct. My friend was a widow and had to choose between her or her deceased spouse's SS. Doesn't seem fair to me, but there it is.

I would vote for no mortgage.

correction
 

golf is free on execs. if you walk!...You might be referring to VCDD fee, and we all pay approx. $135 month, IMHO..

Would you feel better if we said "you get a whole lot of stuff for your amenity fee"???

If you pay up front, you might be able to get a reverse mortgage in the event of an emergency, but not on a manufactured home, I'll bet..they don't get worth more with time, like site built homes, require more maintenance and are risky for storms. Right?

My suggestion would be to figure out how much you get on ss and minus out your expenses. There are also lots of part time jobs in The Villages and surrounding area's for extra money.. Buying a house would be great, but, I would suggest buying something with NO BOND.Owning a home would be better than renting. Getting a three bedroom house and renting one of the rooms is another option, there is always snow birds looking for a place to stay...

Good luck...

My husband and I considered a manufactured home in Orange Blossom Hills but decided not to once we learned of how much higher the homeowner's insurance was on an older manufactured home! Many insurance companies would not even insure it because it was older than 1985. It made no sense to us but that is how it is - take the insurance premium payment into consideration before buying a manufactured home!

I agree, I would never get a mortgage if I have the cash to pay for the home, just doesn't make sense to me. It depends on your benefit from SS. My wife and I combined get about $3K we could certainly live here without a mortgage. Also if you are in good health you could also pick up a part time job 10 or 20 hours a week to supplement your SS

I hope to make over the 3% for a mortgage by investing the cash.

I would agree with Kitty, but I also understand there are people who are totally risk-averse and would not feel comfortable with that.