Thinking of Moving to Miami and have a few questions. Please help! (Homestead: sales)

[khindman]

Hi everyone,

I am a single 40 year old guy looking to move to Miami. I am looking at Brickell at the moment but have a few questions and reservations about the move.

1. I hear a lot about high property taxes in FL. Is the property tax directly link to the purchase price of the house\condo? I think the highest tax being 2.2%... does anyone know? Also, is it true that if the property is your primary home I can apply for Homestead and the property tax would be a lot lower?

2. Currently I have a job that requires I travel every week , but I am getting tired of it. Can someone tell me where are the highest concentration of Information Technology jobs in the area? Am I better off looking somewhere else in the greater Miami area?

3. I hear that the foreclosure situation in Miami is getting worse. Does anyone know if it is true that if there are a lot of properties in Foreclosure in the same building, that equates to higher maintenance fees because there are less people paying it?

Thank you in advance!
- Kaier

[doggiebus]

Hi everyone,

I am a single 40 year old guy looking to move to Miami. I am looking at Brickell at the moment but have a few questions and reservations about the move.

1. I hear a lot about high property taxes in FL. Is the property tax directly link to the purchase price of the house\condo? I think the highest tax being 2.2%... does anyone know? Also, is it true that if the property is your primary home I can apply for Homestead and the property tax would be a lot lower?
Answer: Your property tax would be 2% of the purchase price. If this home is your primary residence you can apply for Homestead exemption which I think is 50k now (not 100% sure if its 50k as it was 25k earlier this year before we took a vote.) So here is how it would work lets say you buy a place for 300k - 50 exemption= 250k and 2% of that is $5,000 and that is your property tax.

2. Currently I have a job that requires I travel every week , but I am getting tired of it. Can someone tell me where are the highest concentration of Information Technology jobs in the area? Am I better off looking somewhere else in the greater Miami area?
Answer: I think I thought I heard something like jobs in the IT field are hard to come by in South Florida, but I could be wrong...


3. I hear that the foreclosure situation in Miami is getting worse. Does anyone know if it is true that if there are a lot of properties in Foreclosure in the same building, that equates to higher maintenance fees because there are less people paying it?
Answer: Yes this is happening, will it get worse, who knows, we probably aren't at the bottom yet. What is happening is some people have stopped paying the maintenance fees and so others have to pick up the tab, and when others don't pick up the tab, some services stop and then issues start to happen. So do your research about each individual building before you purchase.

Thank you in advance!
- Kaier[/quote]

[steverino1434]

Today, One lady new bldg condo owner paid her fees and mortgages faithfully. Other owners of the new condo bldg did not. Needed roof modifications could not be done, bldg is now declared unfit. Woman is about to be kicked out.
Be very VERY carefull if/where you buy.

[big mean bear]

If you are moving to Brickell - to own, your taxes, insurance, and association fees will generally be 40% of your mortgage payment, assuming that you mortgaged from 20% to 50% of the sale price. A lot of people think that if they buy, they are "investing" in their future, but homeowners associations have SKYROCKETED, and insurance, well, Brickell is on the coast.... Bottom line, in this market it is much better to rent. Also, we are years away from the bottom of this real estate 'over-saturation' trough.

[khindman]

Thank you to Doggiebus, Steverino and Big Mean Bear... yeah, I am not sure what I am going to do. I keep hearing Brickell is a high risk area in terms of foreclusures, etc. and having a real hard time getting used to the idea that I will pay high maintenance. The other problem I have is that I usually travel for work and not sure I want to spend so much money in maintenance/insurance when I am only there on the weekend. Thanks again

[jbravo]

Originally Posted by big mean bear

If you are moving to Brickell - to own, your taxes, insurance, and association fees will generally be 40% of your mortgage payment, assuming that you mortgaged from 20% to 50% of the sale price. A lot of people think that if they buy, they are "investing" in their future, but homeowners associations have SKYROCKETED, and insurance, well, Brickell is on the coast.... Bottom line, in this market it is much better to rent. Also, we are years away from the bottom of this real estate 'over-saturation' trough.

Actually, HOA and taxes will EXCEED the mortgage payment many times.
I would say most times this is the case, even if the down payment is only 20%
Most HOAs come in at 43-50 cents a sq/ft.
Taxes even on a condo you buy now at 300K on a pre-foreclosure can exceed 9K a year as the property appraiser's office is going by prior years sales of 500K.
If I could buy condos in the newer, nicer Brickell buildings and the HOA and taxes were only 40%, I would buy 3.
Alas for the "investors," that is not the reality and that is why "investors" are waving goodbye to their remaining dollars.
Everyone should really check out taxes before buying:
Miami-Dade County - Property Appraiser
Then look at the docs for current HOA monthly assessment fees and then look over the condos' last year finances.
However, Big Mean Papa Bear has the correct solution: rent.
Good luck.
:-)