Advice about Rockledge/Cocoa (Titusville: for sale, real estate, foreclosures) - Brevard County - Florida (FL) -Space Coast: Palm Bay, Melbourne, Titusville area - City-Data Forum

chelsie00xx · 02-13-2014, 10:04 AM

Hi everyone : ) We are so excited to be moving to the Cocoa area. It's going to be my husband (who will work in Titusville) and myself. We are expecting a baby also. I was wondering about the areas in Cocoa/Rockledge. I have done my own research but I am getting conflicting information from his coworkers who already live in the area. We have a budget of 150k to buy a house (that's the very top though), but mostly we would just like to find a safe neighborhood where I can go for walks and feel safe. He works a lot so I would be by myself a lot sometimes. We do have a large dog also.
To me Rockledge seems to have some nicer areas than Cocoa, but Canaveral Groves also looks good to me. The Rockledge community looks like they really care about their city- the new parks being built and a few new bussinesses I've noticed.

His coworkers have told me that Viera is nice, Cocoa is bad, and Rockledge has bad areas as well, and Port St John is good.

From what I've seen though, Port St John has way too many houses for sale for me to feel comfortable buying there...a few parts of it seem to look pretty run down, and Viera's HOA fees are too much and we cannot afford them. Cocoa does look like it has a few rough areas. Titusville I'm not sure whether to look there or not... because of resale in a few years and the Nasa leaving... We will be transferring jobs again in a few years so resale is important.

I just need some advice as, we are buying a house in a week or two when we visit over there for his job. I just want to be in a safe neighborhood where I can go for walks by myself/or with our dog/and baby, and feel safe being home alone.

Thank you in advance!

DreamingofSunshine · 02-13-2014, 02:37 PM

I would advise to rent first.

scottschuetz · 02-13-2014, 05:25 PM

I agree with dreamingofsunshine. It would be best to rent. If you're leaving in a couple years you're not likely to see much home appreciation in the areas your talking about. My guess is the home you buy now will be worth only a couple percent more in a few years.

deebin · 02-13-2014, 06:22 PM

I would not own a home to be sold in 2 or 3 years. Renting is good advice.

chelsie00xx · 02-13-2014, 07:26 PM

I understand what you mean. For a 3 bed 2 bath and yard we are actually spending a lot on rent. We have been rent poor every month for 5 years and gradually saved little by little for a down payment to get pre approved. Now that we are pre approved, we don't want to keep being rent poor. We aren't looking to make money on the house- just maintain the value or even a tiny appreciation because our rent is killing us. We are not leaving in 2 or 3 years.. by a few years I mean that it could be 2, could be 4, could be 5. We have the option to stay at that location but not looking at the resale value in a home you buy is not a smart idea even if you think you are going to live there forever. So I just wanted to know what areas are desirable but reasonably priced.

mscalise · 02-13-2014, 10:11 PM

From the areas you are looking at, and budget, I would say Rockledge would be a good place to live. My family and I recently moved to the area. I have some friends that live in Rockledge in some great little communities. I think there are some not so great areas of Rockledge, but you would have to go and see what is in your price range, and where it is located. You probably want to stay away from Cocoa.

clnewman · 02-14-2014, 03:08 AM

Remember that when you sell a home, you're typically going to have closing costs ranging from 6%-7.5%, including real estate commissions. This should be factored in to the price you pay when looking at any return on the investment down the road, whether it's 2 years or 10 years. If your home hasn't appreciated by at least that much when it comes time to sell, you'll have a net loss on the house. Granted, it's tax deductible, but it's still a loss.

In addition, you need to consider the age/condition of the home's roof when you move in. What's fine for you at move-in might be an issue for a buyer when you decide to sell. A savvy buyer will try to beat you up on the price of the house for reroofing consideration, or just walk away from the deal. Roof condition also affects insurance costs.

I'm not trying to dampen you enthusiasm on buying. Owning a home is the American dream. However, at the end of the day, it's also business, and should be dealt with as emotion-free as possible.

Rabflmom · 02-15-2014, 05:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clnewman

Remember that when you sell a home, you're typically going to have closing costs ranging from 6%-7.5%, including real estate commissions. This should be factored in to the price you pay when looking at any return on the investment down the road, whether it's 2 years or 10 years. If your home hasn't appreciated by at least that much when it comes time to sell, you'll have a net loss on the house. Granted, it's tax deductible, but it's still a loss.

In addition, you need to consider the age/condition of the home's roof when you move in. What's fine for you at move-in might be an issue for a buyer when you decide to sell. A savvy buyer will try to beat you up on the price of the house for reroofing consideration, or just walk away from the deal. Roof condition also affects insurance costs.

I'm not trying to dampen you enthusiasm on buying. Owning a home is the American dream. However, at the end of the day, it's also business, and should be dealt with as emotion-free as possible.

Renting for 3 years would mean about $36,000 spent with nothing to show for it, if you could find a 3/2 for $1000 a month and you lose the income tax deduction.

If I were in the OPs shoes, I think I would be looking in Titusville in the Hickory Hills area and save money by not making a long commute. It is a safe, walkable area. I have friends that bought a house there back in 1999 and for tax purposes anyway, it is still assessed within $5000 of what they paid for it....even through all the economic hard times it did not change much.

clnewman · 02-15-2014, 07:34 AM

No disagreement from me about "cost" of rent. However, unless there is a quick spike in home values, buying a house and reselling in 2-3 years will probably wind up a net cash on cash loss after cost of sales are taken into consideration. Of course, this does not take into account the income tax advantages for interest and property taxes. But that's a whole other discussion.

The trick for OP is finding the most house for the money that meets their budget. I sent the OP the contact information of the real estate agent we used while looking in the area, and hope she can help the OP out. Finding nice foreclosures isn't hard (and they're usually vacant). Some may need some elbow grease to clean up a bit, but that's the nature of the beast. Avoid short sales like the plague, as the current lenders holds all the cards, tend to be slow in responding and can change the rules at any time.

Sun Thinker · 02-16-2014, 10:50 AM

It depends on the rents, which have been rising. You have closing costs to deal with and other fees not usually associated with rentals. If you use a realtor to sell on the other end, that's a complete loss unless the market goes up enough to cover it.

As for the deduction? A family of three already receives a fairly decent standard deduction. I think if you took out your Turbo Tax program and saved a file called If We Owned a House, you'd find the tax advantage of owning a home in that price range to be very minimal. I did that very same exercise for a friend, and when we looked it over with the realtor, the realtor blushed.

Remember, you have to get enough in deductions to exceed the standard deductions just to make a Schedule A worth it. With today's lower interest rates, and the price range you're in, it could surprise you.