frkelly74
08-13-2014, 11:28 PM
Well we have gotten moved in to our house in Florida here finally. We are painting and repairing and making it our own. The house was re-poed and had been vacant for about 4 years according to the neighbor, which is a sad story that we are getting piece by piece from other neighbors. We have the only 2 story cape cod house in a subdivision with mostly stuccoed, hip roofed ranches. It is a fixer-upper for sure. Already we have put in a new HVAC system and I had a lot of leaking valves and other plumbing issues. But the last time this house sold to an owner who intended to live here it went for $217,000, We got it for $79,900 . So I guess you would expect a few things to be awry.
Some shockers that have come up so far are the cost of bringing in an automobile. The Tax Collector got us for about $1000 to register and re title two cars and get new drivers licenses. And they don't euphamize the office name like " Secretary Of State " or something like other states do. It is the Tax Collector. It took us all day too, we had to go twice because the vehicle must be there for them to see or they won't believe you have it. I have never immigrated anywhere before. Another thing was home owners insurance. The Agent said it could be as much as $3900 a year because the house was vacant and uninsured for so long. But if we get a wind mitigation survey it could cut the cost. So we met a nice inspector who was able to see that the rafters are connected to the walls with metal clips and he even found the nail spacing was within the code requirements. He had looked for the permit for the roof which was not original to the house and had found nothing. In 2004/2005 after the storms wrecked the place the county quit issuing permits for roofs due to the lack of ability to keep up with the demand. So he was not surprised to see that no permit was in the computer records. But if there is no permit the insurance company assumes that the roof is about to fail and will not give a discount for a good roof, even if it looks good. But i asked the man a question about the records and he was kind enough to show me the entry and don't you know, there was an entry for a building permit issued in 2005 for the roof that hadn't been there 20 minutes before. That by itself made the cost of insurance $1400 a year instead of $3900, which I would not have paid. We own the house free and clear and I could do a lot of repairing for $3900. We are going to spring for the reduced cost insurance even though it is still 4 times what we paid in Michigan, We want to get a HELOC loan to pay off the moving costs and some of the repairs and decorating that we need to do to get comfortable, and they require insurance.
Grocery prices are really nuts in a tourist area like this where there must be a lot of money walking around. We have found a Save-A-Lot and a meat and produce outlet store that are affordable so far.
I will have to travel back to Michigan to complete some left over work and was wondering if there is anything that I could bring one way or the other without getting myself into trouble that is scarce here or there but available there or here. I am pretty sure I can pick up some kinds of powder in Michigan but do not know what is available or scarce in Florida yet.
Some shockers that have come up so far are the cost of bringing in an automobile. The Tax Collector got us for about $1000 to register and re title two cars and get new drivers licenses. And they don't euphamize the office name like " Secretary Of State " or something like other states do. It is the Tax Collector. It took us all day too, we had to go twice because the vehicle must be there for them to see or they won't believe you have it. I have never immigrated anywhere before. Another thing was home owners insurance. The Agent said it could be as much as $3900 a year because the house was vacant and uninsured for so long. But if we get a wind mitigation survey it could cut the cost. So we met a nice inspector who was able to see that the rafters are connected to the walls with metal clips and he even found the nail spacing was within the code requirements. He had looked for the permit for the roof which was not original to the house and had found nothing. In 2004/2005 after the storms wrecked the place the county quit issuing permits for roofs due to the lack of ability to keep up with the demand. So he was not surprised to see that no permit was in the computer records. But if there is no permit the insurance company assumes that the roof is about to fail and will not give a discount for a good roof, even if it looks good. But i asked the man a question about the records and he was kind enough to show me the entry and don't you know, there was an entry for a building permit issued in 2005 for the roof that hadn't been there 20 minutes before. That by itself made the cost of insurance $1400 a year instead of $3900, which I would not have paid. We own the house free and clear and I could do a lot of repairing for $3900. We are going to spring for the reduced cost insurance even though it is still 4 times what we paid in Michigan, We want to get a HELOC loan to pay off the moving costs and some of the repairs and decorating that we need to do to get comfortable, and they require insurance.
Grocery prices are really nuts in a tourist area like this where there must be a lot of money walking around. We have found a Save-A-Lot and a meat and produce outlet store that are affordable so far.
I will have to travel back to Michigan to complete some left over work and was wondering if there is anything that I could bring one way or the other without getting myself into trouble that is scarce here or there but available there or here. I am pretty sure I can pick up some kinds of powder in Michigan but do not know what is available or scarce in Florida yet.