Fasting, 3rd Time's the Charm
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Btw, this is my latest real estate find.
It's been for sale for 3 days.
I've saved the listing.
My sister-in-law and I are making a spreadsheet.
Well, actually, she's making a spreadsheet. I'm only giving her data.
Of course, it's too early to tell if this will be a viable possibility.
I especially like the floors. They are all either stone or hardwood.
Laundry hook-ups.
3rd floor. Elevator.
Concrete block on concrete slab, c. 1972.
2205 Belleair Rd Apt A35, Clearwater, FL 33764 [Updated 4/23] https://share.google/WoavJjXFVHkC2lWez
I could easily live here.
I doubt it will happen but we'll see.
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I have friends with places in SE Florida who tell me the common charges have skyrocketed for all the repair work the state is mandating after the Surfside tragedy. One guy I know sold his coral gables condo over it, it just wasn’t worth it any more as a second home (this guy lives in Philly).
Has that been an issue in your neck of the woods?
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No, not really.
There are new laws, after that happened, but most of them are good, e.g. a law that says all condo HOA's in certain categories (25 or more residents? 3 or more stories? I should know this by now) must publish all of their documents on a State site along with transcripts of all HOA meetings.
These documents include how much they have in escrow, all recent repairs, and if you do your due diligence, you can tell if a condo has had special assessments or is likely to have them.
The places I'm looking at are modest, and solidly built.
They differ from the Miami market because Miami has virtual skyscrapers making special assessments expensive.
The main difference between the Clearwater market and the Miami market is that all of the Miami metro area is on the Atlantic coast.
It gets a tremendous amount of water thrown at it. Water is what is causing the corrosive damage.
We border the Gulf of Mexico, and the Gulf is placid unless there is a tropical storm or hurricane.
We don't really hear about special assessments ruining people here.
Miami and the SE coast is definitely a very different market than Clearwater.
I have a lot of factors to process, but, no, I don't worry about special assessments, taxes, or insurance. I will learn everything there is to know about any specific complex before I decide I want to buy.
I wouldn't want to be buying a condo in SE Florida.
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Oh, yeah. Some people, as I understand it, and I could be wrong, are loosing everything. They can't pay the assessment(s) and the condo complex evicts them.
I think there is legislation in Tallahassee to extend the time the owner has to pay the assessments from one year to three, but I'm not sure what's happening with it (something else I should know by now).
I'm only looking at condo buildings and complexes that were built between '68 and '76 (I could go as far as '77 but I really don't want to because a type of synthetic pipe material and pipe connection that became notorious for failure was introduced around '77).
I'm not looking at new construction or any frame construction. I don't want it unless it's concrete block.
My grandparents' house in Tampa was concrete block. They bought it '63 and and it wasn't new.
Concrete block houses in Florida started in the '40's as far as I can tell.
These interiors are virtually sound proof. They don't excel during fires. They don't excel against floods if they're single story. But above the first or second floor in a concrete building is where you want to be in a hurricane. And the virtual silence and privacy in an urban environment can't be found any other way here.
I plan to have a buyer's agent and need to have a real estate attorney. I plan to methodically pull together every piece of information available on every unit I might buy.
I don't view this as an industry necessarily made up of people you can trust. I'd rather trust myself to do my own research.
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