I know I live in a retirement town but.....

[KMARINO]

OMG!!!!! Went house hunting today, people are retired here in Florida, I am young where I live (lol) But for god's sake.....

I know you bought your house in 1970 and had it professionally decorated and you think your house is perfect just the way it looked in 1970, and of course you are asking top dollar...But I WILL NOT pay what you are asking when I have to go in and do EVERY single room over, and I am not talking paint or cosmetic...I am talking the mirrored dinning room wall, the pink and baby blue tile in the bath rooms, the Brady Bunch oven built into the wall, the custom floral drapery's that was made in 1970 to match your border on top, it was never ending today!!! I can look past cosmetic, but to have to completely tear out kitchens and bathrooms for the price range we are looking at is ridiculous.....Looked at 5 houses today, all NO, looking at 6 more tomorrow. I do not have my hopes up.

OHHH, and another thing I love, even though we were qualified for alot more than what we are willing to spend, don't show me houses over what we are even qualified for and they still are in a time warp!! Had to set some strong boundries with our realtor today so tomorrow is not a waste of both of our times.

 

[KMARINO]

Oh my...I just read my post, it does sound like I am talking all simple things like curtains, trust me it was not, it was thousands of extra dollars to bring it up to date. I am talking about knocking down walls and gutting bathrooms and kitchens, not because I don't like it, but because it has to be done.

 

[HrsDiva]

Oh wow... Kinda went threw that too... But i did find perfect house... 8 days till close:-D

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

 

[GatorRay]

It is tough in that area! Most of the houses are older and of course everyone that lives there is hanging out in "heaven's waiting room" lol. My mom has the cutest little beach house but the inside is all practically re-done. Just need to re-do their little bathroom and a few more things in the kitchen. You will need to find one that is WAY below your budget and then plan on getting another loan just to get it updated. lol. Can you take pics of some of the houses you have seen? Have you looked on Anna Maria? They have some houses out there that have had a lot of work.

 

[bulldog family]

Just move to Indiana. I'd be glad to have you for a neighbor!

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

I'm late tonight..but don't get discouraged! You know the saying..you got to kiss a lot of frogs..before you find a prince!! Well that actually is a stoooopid analogy..but I'm using it anyway...the perfect house is out there...you are in NO hurry! Just relax..don't worry about trudging around going in and out and in and out of overpriced..run down..out of date..ugleeeeeee old peoples houses! Jeez Kelly...isn't this what you thought it would be like?? it's there..waiting..you just gotta find it! You will!

 

[anatess]

@KMARINO , I know exactly what you mean!

I love house hunting... even when I'm not on the market for a house. I just like going to Open Houses and imagining how I can fix up the place to my liking. LOL. You should try going to the internet first before you go visit a house. Most of the houses in MLS have pictures online. Tell your realtor to give you all the MLS listings within your search criteria - I'm sure he can email you the list. I get an email every week from this realtor where I live - I'm in Florida too.

Then you can go through the internet pictures and tell the realtor which ones you would like to visit. Then you'll have better luck at looking at something promising...

 

[KMARINO]

[MENTION=2874]anatess[/MENTION], that is exactly what we did last night, she sent me links for 14 homes, we sat down together and looked at all the pictures and eliminated 6 right off the start. This is how we are going to do it from now on, I am sure she does not want to waste her time or ours. [MENTION=1906]GatorRay[/MENTION], we can not look on Anna, Joe has to be within 30 min. of his job since it is high security and he is on call often. His main office is Palm-getto, lol. [MENTION=2092]JAKEISGREAT[/MENTION] we sort of have time, Our lease is up Oct. 1st, I will not settle for any house, but I know the right one is out there for us, we will just have to make full days of looking. I did take my video camera yesterday but there were none worth taping. [MENTION=2714]HrsDiva[/MENTION], Congrats!!!!!! [MENTION=1046]bulldog family[/MENTION], no I grew up in Ohio I have lived in Fl. for 9 years now, I do NOT miss the snow, but you can move to Fl and be my neighbor!!

 

[BruceP]

Two words,,,, Build! New!!

 

[KMARINO]

[MENTION=1034]BruceP[/MENTION], we would love to! but it would be to much of a hassle, Joe works all the time and even has some weeks coming up soon that he will be out of town for a while, Joe is very handy and can do just about anything in a house, we need something that we can move into and work on while living there. I am going to try very hard today to have more of an open mind. The house we rent now and have rented almost 2 years is a million times better and completly updated, than anything we seen yesterday, I guess I kept comparing.

 

[LariP]

Too bad you can't buy where you live and then fence in the back yard.

 

[KMARINO]

[MENTION=983]LariP[/MENTION], our house is sold, our lease is up in Oct. 1st, our landlord did say he would work with us for a bit longer if needed, (he sold it to his mother). I can not put up a fence because we are in a development with HOA's...No fencing allowed. We even got in trouble at Christmas for lining our front yard with lights as a boarder. The development takes care of all the lawn care, and it prevented the lawn care workers to work on our yard. My BIGGEST nightmare is to have to move out of here with out having a house. I hate moving!!

 

[LariP]

Ahhh I see! This brings up another whole topic....HOA's I would be hard pressed ever fitting into that kind of place. Sure it means no yard work. But I guess I just can't see being happy living in a cookie cut kind of place. We have the only (almost, and soon to be completely) lawn free property in our area, and we like it that way. Some people think we are odd.

 

[kim n the guys]

I can say good luck and I LOVE Anna Maria Island. It's funny this morning I was talking to Ron about moving to FL as soon as I'm done with school and not waiting for a couple of years so I can have more negotiating power when it comes to salary. I told him I would be happy with whatever they wanted to start me out on just so I can get down there. My first choices are the Bradenton/Sarasota area, then Tampa Bay area, and finally dream choice Anna maria. To me it would be worth the drive, but then I won't have to be on call like Joe!

 

[KMARINO]

[MENTION=983]LariP[/MENTION] we are avoiding homes with HOA's like the plague! To many restrictions when you own your own home. We have a 26 ft. boat that we have to keep in storage about 40 min. were we live, in it a total pain in the A*S when we want to go out on the boat, we have to go get it, load it up with 200 poles that Joe insist we need ALL of them, coolers etc. go out in the hot sun all day, come home unload the whole mess, and if we caught fish deal with cleaning and filleting, then drive the boat back. We are not even allowed to keep it overnight on our property. [MENTION=2152]Kim Sebastian n Oliver[/MENTION], I love to visit Anna Marie Island it is only about a 10 min. drive from where I live now, we go to the Beach House for happy hours, but I would not really like to live there, too conjested, to many tourist, to high of prices on homes. Total tourist trap. But it is great and beautiful to go hang out there.