The Problem With Nextville

Nextville: Amazing Places to Live the Rest of Your Life by Barbara Corcoran drops this month and I was given a copy by the publisher to review. You should also know that Barbara was kind enough to provide a quote for the advertising of my book, Florida for Boomers: A Guide to Real Estate. Read more

How To Make Sure A Retirement Community Lifestyle Is Right For You

TopRetirements has a good article here that talks about the pros and cons of retirement community living.

A compilation of input gathered from boomers who have lived the community experience, the article does not try to scare you from exploring the active adult retirement options available to you, but it does give you some things to think about before making a decision.

As with anything there are good things and bad, and what is good for you may not be good for someone else. So when reading the article, don’t just rely on what someone else experienced, think about how the experience fits your ‘ideal’ lifestyle.

image credit: nickgraywfu at flickr

Unfinished Houses Causing Nightmares for Buyers and Neighbors

A few months ago I covered the topic of houses and communities not being completed due to bankrupt builders who have become victims of the housing market.

Mainstream media is finally catching up to us bloggers in describing the topic.

It’s not only a nightmare scenario for buyers whose dream homes are not being completed, but what about the folks who’ve already moved in and have unfinished home sitting on either side of them?

Be smart out there.

image credit: dospaz on flickr

Boomers Want to See the Green Choices

The Chicago Tribune has a good article here on Boomers choosing to “go green” when shopping for new homes and communities.

But, this is only after their specific lifestyle and convenience needs are met. The article compares the choice to “buying a Lexus Hybrid instead of a Toyota Prius”.

I’ve written about Boomers exploring different ways of going green here before, and no doubt it will be a noteworthy trend in years to come. Developers interested in the boomer market better get their green home plans and designs together!

Mount Vintage Plantation Getaway Deal

I get several emails a week from different retirement communities and other developments offering deals to come and stay with them for a few nights to check the place out. I like to share some of the best deals here with my readers.

Today I got an email from Mount Vintage Plantation in North Augusta, South Carolina. Gorgeous place from the pictures on their website.

“We invite you to join us for the grand opening of the new nine at Mount Vintage. Designed by world-renowned golf course architect Tom Jackson, the new nine is a superb addition to the beautiful layout of the current 18-hole course also designed by Jackson.

Call 888-271-3330 to schedule your personal tour of the Mount Vintage community.”

The deal in the email was for 3 days/2 nights at $69. Looks like it might only be good for March. Give them a call and check it out if you’re interested.

Boomers Heading to Montana and Wyoming

In recent weeks there have been several articles in major newspapers and media talking about boomers who are looking to the Rocky Mountain West, including the states of Wyoming and Montana, for retirement.

Because these destinations aren’t as popular as say, Florida, its hard to find quality information on retirement communities in those states.

To be sure, there aren’t a lot of retirement communities in those states. A big reason for this is that people heading to these states are often looking for larger pieces of land (acreage) and a little bit of solitude that comes with that.

A couple places to help in your search for information about real estate and communities in Wyoming and Montana:

First check out The Land Report Magazine. They have a search box (right side of the screen) Type in “Wyoming” or try “Montana” if that suits you. This magazine has stopped publishing unfortunately, but their site is still up and has a lot of good info.

Next, check out the Yahoo! Directory for Wyoming and Montana real estate:

Montana

Wyoming

Searching in other search engines for Montana or Wyoming retirement communities doesn’t bring up very good results, but you’re welcome to try it.

Miami Realtor Being Sued by Developer

A Miami Realtor is being sued by a Miami condo developer for the tidy sum of $25 million, over comments the Realtor made on his blog about the developer “filing for bankruptcy in the ’80’s and his current condo project possibly being in trouble.”

From what I’ve read about people being sued over comments made on their blogs, the Realtor should be o.k. However, the broker he was working for terminated him, as they are also named as defendants in the lawsuit.

I understand their reasoning behind this, but this quote the brokerage gave to the Miami Herald irks me a bit:

“We want to encourage associates to be a positive source of information,”

Does that mean they just want their associates to talk to the public about the “rosy” side of the picture and just brush the bad stuff under a rug? Licensed real estate agents in Florida have a duty to fully disclose “all known facts” to clients. Are they asking their agents to neglect that duty a bit?

Florida Passes Tax Reform Amendment

As of 11:40 p.m. the precincts are still reporting, but it looks like Amendment 1 (Florida’s Property Tax Reform Amendment) has passed by a pretty wide margin. So, let’s recap again what this Amendment means:

• “Doubles” the homestead exemption from $25,000 to $50,000. However, the 2nd $25k does not apply to school taxes (~30% of most property tax bills), so it’s more like an additonal $15,000 exemption. (Assuming a 2% tax rate thats about $300).
• Portability of Save Our Homes. SOH is Florida’s cap on how much your property taxes can go up in a year. Previous to this amendment passing, once you sold your home and moved, you lost your built up savings and had to start again in your new home. Now, take a good portion of it with you.
• Snowbird only living in Florida part time (non-homesteaded)? Your property tax increases will now be capped at 10% per year. Big whup now you say… but if there’s ever a time like 2003-2006 when property taxes nearly doubled for some folks, you’ll be happy with this change.

Time will tell if this is *the* spark that the Florida real estate market needs. Those on the fence don’t have too many excuses left to wait now.

Two Weeks Until Florida Property Tax Vote

Two weeks from today on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 Floridians will step into the voting booths… hanging chads and all… and decide on an important property tax measure.

If approved, the measure, among other things, will serve two main purposes:

1) It will “double” the homestead exemption from $25,000 to $50,000 (Uh, not really double…read what I’m talking about here) and

2) It will also provide portability of the Save Our Homes Tax (Not sure what that is? Learn more here)

You can read more about the property tax bill at http://www.yeson1florida.com/amendment_1.php

Also, this past weekend I read a good (good meaning funny) column in a local paper which “answers some questions” about this whole Florida property tax issue. Think you’ll enjoy it!

My favorite question and its “brilliant” answer:

Bankrupt Home Builders Break Dreams

What a scary time to be a buyer in the real estate market right now. While everyone knows it’s a buyers market, the deals are great, and prices are falling faster than a rock, you still have to be careful about taking that final leap and putting a contract on a new home someplace warm.

In November 2007, a popular builder of active adult retirement communities throughout the SunBelt, Levitt and Sons, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. This has left buyers stranded with partially or wholly unfinished homes, not to mention unfinished community amenities. Deposits as high as $50k per, are also presumed lost.

Levitt and Sons is a “wholly owned subsidiary of Levitt Corporation (NYSE: LEV) whose other divisions include Core Communities and bluegreen Vacation Resorts. Levitt Corp. is apparently trying to sever its ties all together with Levitt and Sons so that they won’t have to pick up the tab for the unfinished homes, communities, and lost deposits. Merry Christmas have a nice day!

If it can happen to a development company the size of Levitt and Sons, assume that it can happen to anyone. What can be done to protect yourself, your money, and your dreams of owning a (completely finished) new home?

Thats a tough question to answer. To avoid having to put up such a large deposit (most new home builders require 10-20% or more) you could go the construction loan route where you will essentially pay the builder in different phases tied to the construction of the home. But as I’ve written before, this is not without it’s troubles.

Another option that this article says to try is to get the builder to agree to place your deposit in an escrow account held by a third party. If something happens, you’d at least be able to get your money back.

In my experience, I’d say good luck to this. While you might get the smallest of builders and developers to agree to this, most will not. Look…these guys have in-house counsel, out-house counsel, and every other which way of counsel you could think of protecting their (ass)ets first. They’re going to make sure that they are covered and protected before you are.

The best solution I can come up with? For now, in today’s real estate environment, buy a house that’s already built or almost complete (trust me…there’s plenty out there) and buy it in a community that is already somewhat established with completed amenities you are happy with. This way if something happens and the second community swimming pool you as a buyer were promised never gets built, you’ve got the amenities already there to fall back on.

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