Cheap housing revistied

I just drove through Surprise for the first time. It must be the largest retirement village in the nation. Although I haven't been to Florida in awhile.

I see I did a typo on revisited...just before anyone else calls me out on it.

vivalarepublica wrote:

I just drove through Surprise for the first time. It must be the largest retirement village in the nation. Although I haven't been to Florida in awhile.

It's definitely popular with retired folks. I'm going to keep my eye on that one over the next 15 years to see how it continues to stack up.

I think Ocala may give Surprise a run for the largest retirement community that cratered. Lots of cheap homes there too. But I think that's a place to dwindle, not to retire.

Flagpole wrote:

In Surprise, AZ which was one of the top 25 places to retire by Money Magazine in 2009, there are 482 single family homes with 3+ bedrooms and 2+ baths between $65,000 and $120,000.

Have you asked yourself why so many "great" houses are for sale so cheap in a town that barely existed a decade ago? Think about it: if the town was a great place to live, those cheap houses would've 1) already been snatched up or 2) been priced much higher.

If your only goal for retirement is to grow old in an air conditioned stucco box in the middle of the desert, then go for it.

Don't forget to factor in the cost of Spanish lessons so you can communicate with your neighbors and fellow "citizens."

piledriver to the face wrote:

If your only goal for retirement is to grow old in an air conditioned stucco box in the middle of the desert, then go for it.

Could not have said it better myself.

-MT

Oh, no, not this subject again. Come on, FP. You already know all the arguments for and against on this very subject. You are a smart enough guy to figure out whether you want to live here or anywhere else.

Over the next 15 years? By then, the prices could change. Get in now, rent it out, and then move when you retire if that's what you want to do.

How about I want to move to LV? What is the climate there? Housing? Things to do? Water? Can I gamble? Can I get lap dances?

How much would property taxes run you on a 100K house?

Si wrote:

Don't forget to factor in the cost of Spanish lessons so you can communicate with your neighbors and fellow "citizens."

I already speak passable Spanish brother!

thepinkmonkey wrote:

Oh, no, not this subject again. Come on, FP. You already know all the arguments for and against on this very subject. You are a smart enough guy to figure out whether you want to live here or anywhere else.

Over the next 15 years? By then, the prices could change. Get in now, rent it out, and then move when you retire if that's what you want to do.

The problem with that is that in 15 years it might not be desirable anymore.

Flagpole wrote:

The problem with that is that in 15 years it might not be desirable anymore.

Buddy, it is already undesirable. That is why 4 bedroom houses are going for under $100k.

I think it's been brought up before, from 2025 until your death water can become a real issue for those living in the desert. Not that your gonna die of thirst or anything, but it could substatially raise the cost of living.

piledriver to the face wrote:

Flagpole wrote:

In Surprise, AZ which was one of the top 25 places to retire by Money Magazine in 2009, there are 482 single family homes with 3+ bedrooms and 2+ baths between $65,000 and $120,000.

Have you asked yourself why so many "great" houses are for sale so cheap in a town that barely existed a decade ago? Think about it: if the town was a great place to live, those cheap houses would've 1) already been snatched up or 2) been priced much higher.

If your only goal for retirement is to grow old in an air conditioned stucco box in the middle of the desert, then go for it.

1) The housing bubble just really burst in and around Phoenix. By all accounts, people love living in Surprise, AZ...I've done a decent amount of research on this already.

2) Arizona has awesome scenery and trails and stuff to do outside, and it's super pleasant 9 months out of the year; more months than I can say for here in Ohio. In the three hot months, you can suffer through one of them more than likely (go do stuff in the morning or evenings outside), and then spend some time in Sedona or the Grand Canyon or Prescott or even San Diego (just 5 hours away) or even just visit children in other parts of the country for a total of 8 weeks a year. Very doable.

Samuel Clemmons wrote:

Flagpole wrote:

The problem with that is that in 15 years it might not be desirable anymore.

Buddy, it is already undesirable. That is why 4 bedroom houses are going for under $100k.

Just not true brother. The JOB market greatly affected the housing market there, and those foreclosing and short selling their homes are doing so due to job losses. If you want to RETIRE there, then you don't need income from working, so these are bargain deals.

Slow and Steady wrote:

I think it's been brought up before, from 2025 until your death water can become a real issue for those living in the desert. Not that your gonna die of thirst or anything, but it could substantially raise the cost of living.

Yep. I appreciate the reminder. The water thing is the main reason I'm not buying a house now to rent out until I retire. Just no knowing what it will be like in 15 years when I'm ready to move there (or hell, even 7 more when my kids are both out of high school).

piledriver to the face wrote:

Think about it: if the town was a great place to live, those cheap houses would've 1) already been snatched up or 2) been priced much higher.

This sentence reads like a parody of a lecture in elementary microeconomics.

A community with low housing prices can be a great place to live. A community with high housing prices can be a crummy place to live. The world is complicated. In economics, efficient markets are like frictionless surfaces in Newtonian mechanics -- they simplify analysis, and they can even clarify problems, but they should not be mistaken for the real world.

What happens when everyone starts dying off?

green cloud wrote:

What happens when everyone starts dying off?

they bury them in the sand