Buying in Florida

[Anonymous]

The long term plan was always to buy a 2nd home in Florida and snowbird. I'm about 6 years away from my youngest heading off to college.

We've looked a lot pre-pandemic, but kept hesitating because we didn't want to manage a house that far away that we used maybe 2 weeks out of the year. Who would have thunk housing pricing in FL would double, even triple in that time frame. The houses that we looked at for $1MM to $2MM are now sitting at $3MM to $5MM.

Do we dive in now? Florida just keeps getting more and more popular. Can this appreciation really continue? I lean towards waiting (crash has to come, right?), but what are others doing?

Spare me the "I would never live in FL" responses. The population migration (and housing prices) says your are wrong. Take your noise somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

There's a huge population of people who are on the brink of retirement, many of them will be heading to FL. Add to that there's a growing population of people who can now work remotely. I would buy now.

Same goes for Texas.

[Anonymous]

The only reason for a 'crash' is if interest rates go way up.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think prices will crash but I do think they will level off a bit

[Anonymous]

I personally would wait but keep tabs on the market. Florida has some of the most overvalued properties currently and historically experience bubbles.

[Anonymous]

I live in Florida. This is not the time to buy. The market is insane. My home went from $400,000 to $750,000 in just the last year or so. They are still building all over my neighborhood, so people are buying. But, I don’t see homes holding this value. We live in Central Florida. About an hour from Orlando towards the gulf.

Our home in NoVa has also increased significantly, but nothing like the Florida house.

[Anonymous]

Redfin and Zillow buying coastal properties have pushed up prices significantly. If I were you, I would wait. But if you have money to throw away, then by all means jump in.

[Anonymous]

We just bought in Naples this week. We underbought by getting a small place, and if the market corrects, we’ll get a larger place. If not, at least we have something that our family will enjoy. Trends can last a long time so FL might do well for a while.

[Anonymous]

Hold off. We’ve seen a run-up like this in Florida before. A correction will eventually happen. And I say this as someone with two Florida properties, both of which have doubled in value in two years.

[Anonymous]

We're looking to move to FL and we're watching the market but not buying right now. If you don't really need the home for another 6 years, then I would definitely wait.

We're very discouraged too. Our oldest starts HS in the Fall and we wanted to be there before then, but it looks like that's not happening. I have no idea what will happen, but we can't afford what we want anyway. Prices have doubled to tripled over the last two years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only reason for a 'crash' is if interest rates go way up.

Hmmmm

[Anonymous]

Florida always crashes or goes dead for 10 years after a boom like this. Every time.

[Anonymous]

I’m 40 and my husband is 47. Our kids are 12, 10, and 7. I also want to be in a snowbird starting in about 12 years! But no, I’m not looking yet. I guess if I were you - I would keep an eye on the market but not buy yet. I guess I think we will wait until we are old and buy in a 55 and older place LOL. Well anyway DH says if we get a second house it should be an apt because he couldn’t do the upkeep of a yard at a second house etc but if it’s 55 and up they take care of that kind of stuff??

[Anonymous]

We’re in the same boat, OP. Looking in coastal areas of broward county and it’s rough. Houses setting sold for cash and then becoming rentals at astronomical rents double what a normal mortgage would be. Or, builders scoop up the fixer uppers to tear them down/remodel. We came down with a hefty budget (or so I thought) and good equity from the sale of our DC house, but between the taxes, cost of house, and private school, we’ve had to seriously scale back our expectations.

I think a crash is unlikely, but there definitely needs to be a correction. However, the cultural landscape is changing due to WFH. That, coupled with the heavy presence of people wanting second homes (domestic and foreign investors), isnt helping those that live here full time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Florida always crashes or goes dead for 10 years after a boom like this. Every time.

People don’t understand that the state is HUGE and flat, so much buildable land, lots of old retirement communities than be razed and built the next villages.

Coastal homes do demand a premium, but with rising water, flood insurance, increased hurricanes it’s much more like owning a yacht than a house.