T-Minus 302 Days: August Yard Sale

 The August yard sale was no where near the success of the July yard sale... and the July yard sale wasn't all that successful. We were open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. On Friday we barely broke $80. Saturday was a wash due to rain. On the last day, we drop the price 50% and try to just get rid of stuff. We ended the sale at $220 - almost a quarter of July's sale.

Sunday is the most fun because that is when we just give stuff away. Friday and Saturday are for making money, Sunday is for getting rid of stuff so we don't have to store it. We gave kids bags to fill with free books and free toys. We took 50% off everything and then rounded it down. If anyone looked at something and then passed it by? We told them to just take it. Linda gave away an entire tote of maternity clothes at the end of the day. One family had two little girls and they each got a bag to fill with whatever they wanted.

At 7pm Sunday we were still giving things away. We pulled the remaining items into the garage, closed the door, and will deal with it on Monday. Do we donate it? Or do we store it for the spring-time yard sale? Difficult decisions will have to be made.

We don't like donating to the Salvation Army and Good Will. They put the items in their stores for a few weeks to sell. If they don't sell, they rip up the clothes into rags. This is our cherished children's clothes that we have cared for two decades - we don't want them ripped into rags! We would rather give them directly to a family that needs them. Therefore we have never favored donating very much to them.

While we didn't do a great job helping our move budget, we did a good job at reducing our belongings. We are slowly... ever so slowly... chipping away at a house filled with belongings. 

T-Minus 306 Days: FWF's Moving To Florida In 8 Easy Steps

 

T-Minus 310 Days: Packing The Rooms

Several weeks ago I created a schedule for packing every room/location in the house. According to the schedule, if we packed one room/location per week (got it completely ready to load onto a moving truck) we would have just ten weeks to spare! That isn’t a lot of time.

I decided to get a jump start and do the easiest room in the house myself: the basement storage room. This storage room is filled with (mostly) my stuff. Everything is placed into neat uniformed boxes with labels, and all the boxes are in alphabetical order. I need a cable strap? Those are under “C”. Need a power cord? Those are under “P”.  

I thought this would be easy: I would just throw away stuff, put it in the yard sale, or sell it online. What I discovered is shelves hold a lot of stuff! By my second day, the room looked nothing like I thought it would. I thought it would be all empty and swept clean. There was just so much stuff in that room... I still am not done.

Another room in the basement was once the kid’s toy room. When the kids became older and stopped using it, I turned it into a man cave. That made my boys say “this would be a perfect room for playing video games” and they took it over. Then the room became the staging room for the Facebook Market Place sales: the room that we cleaned things up, took pictures, and stored until the item sold. My wife thought: let’s pack up that room. After 8 hours of dusting and cleaning and sorting, throwing away three garbage bags, and getting stuff ready to sell? The  isn’t “move out” ready yet, but it went from looking like a bomb went off in the room to something much nicer.

Packing a full house is a ton of work! I am not sure we can do one area every week!

T-Minus 312 days: Searching For New Builds

 We locked ourselves away in a cabin in the woods, free from distraction, so we could focus on searching for Florida houses. Our third day was spent looking at new home buiilders.

It can take six to eight months to build a house, which means: if we want to move into the house at the end of June? We need to lock in the new house in the November/December time frame. That gives us three months to make a decision.

To get started, I opened Google Maps and searched for new home construction. That showed me all the different home builders in the areas we are looking at. Then, I went through each new home builder one at a time. I looked at their home designs and prices to see if they had anything we would be interested in. If I found something, I circled them on the map. If I didn't find anything, I crossed them off. 

When I visit a new home construction site, I go straight for the plans. The plans usually have prices and square footage. I quickly learned that we weren't happy with any house that had under 2700 sqft, so, I was able to discard those. The way to get the most house for the money is to buy a two story rectangle. While I did look at the one story houses, most of those were too much money versus their two story counterparts. 

Builders list the plans with the price as "Starting at....". That starting at price is really the base bottom. A decent lot up charge, for example, could add up to $45,000 to the price of the house! Then, there are options (like... do you want a window in the bedroom?). Finally, there is the design center cost. If you want tile floors instead of vinyl, for example, the price is going to jump. 

One of our requirements is the house must have a pool, after all, what is the point of going to Florida if you don't have a pool? I understand that after a few years in Florida, pools loose their magic for most people, and the cost and work of having a pool become too much of a hassle. Nevertheless, we want to start with a pool. The problem, however, is none of the new home builders are putting in pools. That means pools get built by another company after the house is built, and they cost $50K-$60K. When we look at the price of new construction, we have to immediately add $60,000 for the pool. And that puts most of the new construction prices outside of our budget.

Adding a pool to a new construction house is not a financially wise decision. A pool depreciates 50% immediately because the next person to buy your house isn't going to pay a lot extra for that pool. That is one of the reasons why buying an existing house with a pool is a better choice.

After a lot of searching, we found two builders with designs and prices we liked. One is way out in the middle of no where in Haines City in a community called Highland Meadows. The other is in Lakeside Community in Apopka, although, that has very small rooms compared to what we are used to. Another location, called John's Landing, had an interesting design that we could compromise on if necessary. 

We had many questions about Lakeside, so, our real estate agent went right out to tour the community (which was impressive!). For example, we didn't like the fact the living room's ceiling was two stories tall. Yes, we like that, but in a house that is constrained for square footage - that seems like a waste. Unfortunately, there is no option to build out the second floor overtop of the living room. The community has a $107/mo HOA fee, versus Highland Meadows that has a $100/year HOA fee.

From a price point-of-view, Highland Meadows was the best. The house is cheap enough for us to afford a pool and some simple upgrades. From a location point-of-view, Apopka is the best because we have friends there, and, it is only 15 minutes to Maitland where most of my job opportunities would be. If I had to commute to work from Haines City, I would probably add a never ending $350/mo+ car payment to the budget. So, better house? Or better location?

The search for new houses concluded our three day virtual house hunting tour looking for our Florida house. We learned a lot, we established some leads, and we made some progress. Probably the most important thing we learned was to take most of our "must haves" and move them to optional (the must haves that are on my list, not the ones one my wife's).

The next step in our Florida House search is to visit Florida in November and continue the search in person.

T-Minus 313 Days: Search Existing Homes

 We locked ourselves away in a cabin in the woods, free from distraction, so we could focus on searching for Florida houses. We spent an entire day looking at existing homes.

Our Financial agent told us to look at existing houses instead of new builds because he believed we should be able to get more house for our money on an existing house. So, this is where we started.

One of our reale state agents has put our requirements into a home search database. The database sends us an email every day of the houses that match our criteria. At first, I thought our agent was actually sending these emails and I was impressed with how much effort she was putting into our search. But after noticing all of the emails were identical.... I caught on that this was all automated emails. She isn't doing any work at all.

Nevertheless, we had a large number of houses to look through. We know none of these houses will be available when we are ready to purchase in May or June 2021. The purpose of looking at existing houses was to see what kinds of houses are available in the different areas for different prices. 

We discarded most of the houses our agent sent us because they really didn't meet our criteria. After a lot of searching, we narrowed it down to two houses that met our criteria, both were in Davenport. 

Next, we continued to search the existing houses. My wife and I took two different approaches to the search. Her approach was a scatter-gun with no systematic approach. Her thought was "If we had to move right now, could I find our house?" 

My approach was to explore the different communities to see if there was a house design we liked. When a developer builds a community, they only have 5 or 6 designs that they put into the community. If I find one house that I like, there is a good chance there are other similar houses in that community. When we are ready to buy, we can start our search by looking at the communities that have house designs we like!

Unfortunately, searching existing houses was time consuming and NOT fruitful. Out of the hundreds upon hundreds of houses we looked at, we only found two that we liked ( Occoee, and Apopka).

    

Many of the houses had smaller bedrooms than what we have now. Some of the houses claimed to have more square footage than our current house, yet all the rooms were smaller (how is that possible?). In the end, we were fairly disappointed with this part of the search. Our criteria comes from spending many years renting houses in the area, so, we expected to find a lot of houses that met our criteria. The low number of matches was discouraging.

In conclusion: searching for an existing house while holding a lot of preconceptions for what you want is difficult. We keep telling ourselves: we are only going to live in this house for 5 or 10 years, we aren't making a life long decision. But even with that knowledge, it was difficult to find a house with the layout, features, and price that we wanted.

T-Minus 314 Days: Financial Analysis

We locked ourselves away in a cabin in the woods, free from distraction, so we could focus on searching for Florida houses. Our first call was with our Financial Advisor.

Our financial advisor told us the range of prices we could afford, however (of course) he recommended we stay closer to the bottom of the range. Depending on where you are in your life as you are reading this, the range might sound like a lot of money. But in terms of the Florida housing market? It really isn't. It means: in order to get what we want, we have to look further and further away from Orlando. Or, we need to compromise on what we want.

He explained that a house purchase in Florida is a good investment. It isn't as good as some other investments, but it is good. I think he said we could see a 6% rate of return on the house versus 8.5% return on a fairly conservative percentage. A percent here or there doesn't sound like much... but he showed us the impact of a percent. A single percent can mean the difference between struggling in retirement and living comfortably. 

The next challenge: how to get there? We have to sell the New York home and buy the Florida home and move. We might have to rent something in between, which we hope to avoid. Our financial advisor explained that the markets are going to be rocky during the next 12 months.Therefore, he is in favor of us borrowing against the 401K to make a down payment on the Florida House, then paying back the 401K when the New York house sells. 

We only have approximately 50% equity in our New York home. But when the house sells, we'll be sitting on a pile of cash. Should we put that money toward the Florida home loan? His answer: no. The house value is going increase (I think he said) 6%. The interest on the loan is at historic lows, 3 or 4%. The spread is about 2%. He suggested only putting down the minimal 20% and then investing the rest to pull 8.5% return. He showed us the numbers that we'll come out way ahead in the long run by investing the money from the New York House sale versus putting the money toward the Florida house. Again, just 1% can make the difference between a comfortable retirement and a struggling one, and a home within the recommended range has a mortgage is similar to what we are paying in New York (given the higher real estate taxes).

Now we have the long awaited answer! And we can get to work finding the home that fits us financially!

t-Minus 315 Days: Locked Away In A Cabin In The Woods

 

Our original plans were to fly to Florida in August and search for Florida houses for our June 2021 move. COVID-19 spoiled those plans. Instead, we decided to do a 'virtual search' from 1200 miles away. The problem with doing a virtual search is that, like most people, our home life is crazy. Someone always needs something, pets, in laws, children, deliveries - it is impossible to get more than one uninterrupted hour to just focus on one thing. Our solution? Lock ourselves away in a cabin in the woods!

And that is exactly what we did. 2.5 hours away from home, deep in the forests of the Adirondacks, we borrowed a friend's camp an locked ourselves inside of it for three days. We lined up all of our computers for the search process. 

We even hung Florida themed shower curtains on the sliding glass doors to help us get in the mood and stay focused.

We started with a call with our Financial Expert to discuss how much we could afford for a house and various financial options to get us to Florida.

Next, we talked with both of our real-estate agents (we divided them up: one for the north west of Orlando, and the other for the west and south west of Orlando region). Of course, neither agent knows about the other, and the one that will win our business is the one that works the hardest for us.

We spent a day searching through all of the existing houses that are for sale, then we searched all of the new home builders.

The next several blog entries will describe our search. My hope is that by sharing our experience it will help others who hope to leave New York and/or hope to move to Florida.

 

T-Minus 319 Days: What We Want In A House

 While working with a real estate agent, she asked us to go through a bunch of houses and tell her what we liked and didn't like. From that, we created a list of the things we want in our Florida house.

• 
  Driveway large enough to hold 4 cars (side by side/front to back)
• Good walking score for the neighborhood (sidewalks around the community)
• Yard and landscaping is kept up
• An entry way. Don't have the front door spill into a room.
• At least 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms on second floor

• Master bedroom and an office downstairs
• Master bedroom at the back of the house on the 1st floor
• Master bedroom walk-in closet
• No door between pool and master bedroom. Door from pool to master bath would be OK
• No marble in the master bath

• Master bath stand up shower. A lot of counter space. An additional tub isn't important to us.

• Kitchen with breakfast nook and view of the pool area

• Open between the kitchen and living room

• Kitchen has either a peninsula or island that can be used with bar stools
• Pantry for the kitchen

• Pool privacy (bushes OK. No one looking down at us from ontop a hill)
• Good pool size (can't be small). Hot tub isn't important to us.
• Large deck that allows us to walk around all four sides of the pool

• Concrete pool deck (no pavers) 
• Screened in pool
• Lanai large enough for an outdoor kitchen & eating area under a roof 
• 
• Laundry is indoors (not in the garage)

These are 'nice to have'

• No neighbor backed up to us. Water or a field preferred 
• 3 car garage
• second floor living room
• Master bedroom has three windows that looks out at the pool
• Waterfall for the pool
• Tile floor in the common areas instead of hardwood or rug
• Palm tree in the front yard
• Two sinks in the master bath

T-Minus 321 Days: Housing Options

 We had another call with one of our real estate agents yesterday and reviewed the various kinds of housing.

RENTAL OPTIONS

APARTMENTS - Apartment rentals in the Orlando region can be tricky because the people renting are often the people who can't afford a house. These often leads to issues, so, apartments need a lot of research. Getting an apartment can be a challenge because they want you to have a job, security deposit, first month's rent, and sometimes multiple month's rent up front. If you are moving to Florida, you might not have a job or a lot of savings, so, this could be a challenge.

HOUSE RENTAL - While a house is more expensive than an apartment rental, this can be a great option. If you are moving to Florida and plan to purchase a house, there might be a gap between leaving your old house and going to the new one - that gap can be filled by renting a house for a few months. If you aren't sure what area to move to, you can rent for a while to see if you like the schools and the area. If you don't like the area, you can leave and try another house. Also, house rental lowers your risk versus home purchase. If a storm comes through or the house needs a repair, that becomes the responsibility of the management company.

PURCHASE OPTIONS

CONDO - This is like an apartment except you own it. You are allowed to change the inside, but the outside is maintained by the management company.

INVENTORY HOME - This is a new build that is completed except for some (or all) of the design decisions. You may get to decide on counters, faucets, flooring, and other items. Builders like to keep a few inventory homes in stock for people who can't wait for a new build. Of course, you might pay extra to avoid the wait.

MOVE-IN READY INVENTORY HOME - This is a new build that is completed and ready for you to move in immediately. All the design decisions have been made by a designer. This is a good idea if you need a house right away.Again, you might pay extra for a move-in ready home.

TRADITIONAL PURCHASE - This is a home on the market by a private seller, represented by a real estate agent

TO BE BUILT (NEW BUILD) - This is an empty field that will have a house built on it. It will take around 3 months to get the permits and 3 months to build. Due to the 2020 Pandemic things are backed up, so, it might actually take 8 months total. 

    Putting a house "on contract" means the purchase is contingent on selling you old house.  In Florida, new builds are probably the only on contract option (it is rare to get a contract option otherwise). However, the builder may require you to have your house on the market at the time of commitment. If you are committing 8 months in advance, that means your house has to be on the market for 8 months before you plan to move. If your house sells? You will need to rent somewhere (or move in with relatives) until the new house is ready. 

     I asked if I could over price my existing house to avoid it from selling until I was ready. The answer was: no. The house has to be priced appropriately for the market. 

NEIGHBORHOOD CONSIDERATIONS

GATED - Some communities are surrounded by a wall to reduce the amount of foot and road traffic through the neighborhood. Gates can reduce crime, but won't eliminate it. To enter the community, you must pass through a gate whereby the gate opens by a key, pass card, or remote control. The roads within a gated community are not owned by the town and must be maintained by the Home Owner Association (HOA) fees.

    When looking at Gated communities, you should consider where the home is in relation to the gate. Some gated communities are huge and it will take ten minutes to navigate the maze of streets just to get to a gate. Sometimes houses sit on a major artery for the community and will have a lot of traffic. Some houses back up to a wall with a loud busy road on the other side. All of these should be considered.

NO GATE - These are communities that do not have a physical restriction for entry. You'll want to make sure the community isn't used as a 'cut through' to get from one area of town to another because that will increase traffic. You should also look at the neighborhoods immediately adjacent to this community in terms of crime and poverty because that could impact an non-gated community. 

GATED WITH GUARD - This is just like a gated community except instead of having an automated gate there is a guard. The guard will sit in a shack. When they see you approach they will either recognize you or you'll have to show ID and then the guard will press a button that opens the gate. You'll need to notify the guard if you have guests coming to visit or else they won't be allowed through the gate. These tend to have a high Home Owner's Association (HOA) fee because the guards have to be paid.

GATED WITH PATROLS - This is like a Gated With Guard except in addition to a guard at the gate, a guard will occasionally patrol the neighborhood in a car or on foot. These tend to be rare and have very high HOA fees. 

COMMUNITY POOL - Many communities will include facilities such as a community pool, club house, play grounds, tennis courts, volleyball courts, golf courses, gyms, small movie theater, game room, activities calendar, or miniature golf. While these features are usually within gated communities, sometimes communities without gates will have facilities but require a key to access them. In one community near Champion's Gate, they described their club house as "a cruise ship on land". Club houses may have an attendant, gift shop, a bar, and sometimes a grill for ordering food. All of these community amenities add to the HOA fee.

WALKABILITY SCORE - Neighborhoods are scored with a walkability score. If you plan to go on walks, jogs, or bike rides around the neighborhood, you'll want to pay attention to this score. Some neighborhoods don't have sidewalks and are on busy roads. Others having nature trails or bike paths. If this is important to you, you'll want to pay attention to this score.

SHORT TERM RENTAL COMMUNITIES - Some communities were built for short term rentals and others built for permanent residents. Some have HOA agreements that prohibit short term rentals. And some neighborhoods are a mix of both (like a 25/75 split or a 50/50). A short term rental is when an individual (but more likely a company) purchases a house and provides it for rent on Home Away or AirBNB. The rentals are for a few days to several weeks.

    There are advantages and disadvantages to being in a rental community. The advantages: if you don't like your neighbor, they will be gone in a few days. The house often sits empty. The renters are usually at the parks and beaches during the day and only return in the evenings. And the property is maintained by a management company. The disadvantages: you don't get to know your neighbors. Renters tend to abuse their houses. Many renters think the neighborhood is like a hotel and everything (including your items) are included in their rental. And they like to party loudly until 4 am on the last night of their stay. Another disadvantage: when the economy goes bad, rental companies become less picky about who they rent to, which could result in some undesirable neighbors. During the Great Recession, for example, drug houses moved into the rental properties at Indian Creek.