Anonymous wrote:Family and I had a nice 10 day long trip to Sarasota and had tons of fun. We rented a house with pool and wondering what would be people's recommendation for an upcoming and reasonably priced (<$750K) SFH on the gulf side as a second or vacation home. We like Sarasota but open to other cities as well.

I'd look from Cedar Key south to Port Charlotte/Punta Gorda. I'm not a fan of Cape Coral, Ft Myers or Naples as I find it really geriatric.

2024 poster again--the age of the roof is really key for getting insurance and for cost of insurance

I live inland in Florida. Nationwide dropped my home insurance last year. I'd been with them for over 25 years and never filed a claim. I had to go with Citizens.

We were dreaming about having a place in FL for a while, I wanted something beach front like a condo, turnkey, no hassles. While this is enticing we could never pull the trigger as it made no logical sense.

OP, do you have kids in school? When will go you there and how? Flights for a family can add up and driving there is too long. It really makes sense if you truly are going to live there at least a few months out of the year. Otherwise, you can rent airbnb or from local vacation rental furnished places that are abundant. We don't have much vacation time to spend there, we just go for a beachfront hotel to make it easy.

We have pets, that was also a reason to get our own place, but we can't see this making sense either until we can commit to living there for long enough periods of time.

It's not just the cost of insurance. Companies will pull out of the state altogether. That has happened in California and there are fewer companies to work with. Those that are still there charge more. And what if they leave?

People started overpaying for Florida real estate by the hundreds of thousands when rates were low. Places that hadn’t sold anything over $150k were suddenly getting $300 then $500-$700k all in the same year.

Current Sarasota resident who has lived on the east coast of Florida for over 10 years.

Property tax will come out to likely 1.5 percent of the purchase price if it is not your primary residence. If it’s your primary residence, the property tax is 1.2 percent of purchase price.

The term “insane” for insurance is relative to your income. That said, the insurance is higher than DC (I lived in CCMD for 2 years), but also lower in Sarasota than in other coastal Florida cities. The newer the home, the cheaper the insurance. The newer the roof, the cheaper insurance. So, a 1980s block house will be double to insure than a build from 2001. Wood frame homes, even with hardy plank are even higher. For example, we looked at a home west of trail to insure. 1980s with a brand new roof and the insurance was 10k. I looked at a 2006 built house with a new roof and the insurance was $5k. My previous home in Fort Lauderdale was 17k at last renewal (2001 build and completely hurricane proof windows and doors). Florida has an all or nothing hurricane credit (meaning everything must be impact rated or no extra credit). Unless it’s a really new build, you actually don’t see impact glass in many homes (nor the shutters).

Regarding flood…..we looked at a home on one of the keys. The flood insurance was 5k, but the regular insurance was 15k (nothing impact rated, 1950s build, 20 year old roof).

The people that say you *cant* get flood policies are not being truthful. You can’t but depending upon your proximity to the coast, the number of providers is definitely less.

As for the market, yes, there are certainly price decreases happening in Sarasota. Desirable areas, however, are still seeing quick turns with a 92 percent list to sales ratio within 60 days. Hardly a crashing market.

Out east is a different story because there is plenty of land to build on and those homes quickly become outdated. Plus you have HOa fees and CDD fees in many of those communities (looking at you Lakewood ranch) that bring up the overall monthly costs.

And to the people that say - omg, look at Sarasota it just flood. Yes, Sarasota had 11 inches of rain. The coastal neighborhoods are not the ones with the damage you see on the news. Those were the ones near the rivers and lakes and in some newer developments which have been cleared for massive building. Or at least, that’s what the locals are clammering about.

OP - this is the realistic cost of having a second home in Florida. Only you know if you can swing it financially and if it’s worth it.

Florida isn’t cheap anymore but the whole “you’ll never get insurance” comments are largely exaggerated by the Florida haters.

Hope this helps some!

Have you not been keeping up with the Florida housing market? It's terrible as people can't keep up with the property taxes, HOA and insurance. A simple YT search should shed some insight.

I live inland not in a flood zone and insurance is not cheap but not insane, plus we have low property taxes compared to so many NE areas! That being said, I would not buy in a coastal area/flood zone. We're 30 mins from the beach and it's good that way. When we become empty nesters, we will eventually move somewhere less disaster-prone because it is anxiety-inducing and I want to live somewhere cooler, summers are hell.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anna Maria Island is so nice too

Not OP but looking into same. What are the reasonable price point for Anna Maria?

I just sold my house in Bean Point, the northern tip of Anna Maria Island, three months ago for 1.5M. Had to get rid of it due to insane cost of hurricane & flood insurance.

You would be better off renting an AirBnB for the winter months.

This. One house, one spouse. Makes life a lot easier.

I would wait. Prices are now falling in FL. Also make sure you check home insurance as rates have more than doubled recently. Also don’t buy a condo as HOA fees and special assessments are out of control.

Imagine having to worry about damage and flooding with each storm. And it’s getting worse not better. There is a reason insurance is so expensive if you can even get it. I’m a fan of owning but in this scenario would definitely rent instead.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know insurance is insane but it will balance out in the future. Also, property prices are coming down compare to what they were 6 months ago. Continue looking, OP and check the numbers.

Explain.

He says that hoping OP will buy his Florida house so he can dump his bags. Tale as old as time

Anonymous wrote:I know insurance is insane but it will balance out in the future. Also, property prices are coming down compare to what they were 6 months ago. Continue looking, OP and check the numbers.

Explain.