My wife has been on the local real estate sites and has found some unreal deals. We are going to fly down around april 6th to take a look. We are looking for a vacation home and a place to semi retire in a few years. Is it a safe place to leave a home unattended for months at a time.what do you think of the real estate market ( has it hit its bottom) ? Any info would be great . Thanks. Pat:-)
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Definitely appear to be some good deals down there :-)
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My parents live in Sarasota which is a nice area. Plenty of deals to be had.
Lots of foreclosures.
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My grandparents live in Port Charlotte. They're snow birds that live here in Indiana for 5 months out of the year and there the rest. They've never had a problem leaving there house. They have one of the neighbors look after while they are here. I think only one time in about 10+ years they had some storm damage but nothing serious.

They seem to really like the area and the neighborhood.
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I wouldn't worry about leaving the house unattended. The snowbirds have been doing that for years.

I would also look in Cape Coral. Same general area. The building down there exploded because property was so cheap, comparativley speaking, to other coastal areas in Florida. Obviously a lot of it was spec and a lot of it now is upside down and empty. Real good deals to be had down there. Also look at Punta Gorda.

Who knows if the market has hit bottom yet. If it is priced right it will sell. Is it going to be a retirement home or is it an investment? I'm trying to talk my mother in law into buying down here now. She was looking 3-4 years ago and didn't do anything then, prices are a lot more favorable now but she's worried that they may go lower. The only way you are going to get the absolute bottom is luck.
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I negotiate RE sales for a large financial co. and I've had several vacant properties in Port Charlotte, Port St. Lucie and Cape Coral burglarized. Property value in these areas have decreased 50-75% in the last 2 years.

Good luck! Let me know if you have any questions.

Pip
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Thanks all. This is a vacation spot for us . I dont look to make money on it . I just think the prices cant go much lower. We are financialy able to pay cash so there wont even be any interest. We looked at cape coral and lehigh acres but there are just to many boarded up properties it doesnt seem safe.
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Well after two trips to port charlotte . we made the first offer and did not win . There were ten offers and the house went for fifteen over list . We did get the second house we made an offer on ( ten over list, eight offers) we close a week from today. Now I am thinking of moving within two years.:-):-):-)
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Congratulations. When you move down you'll have to make it to a herf and play some tunes for us.
:-)
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I would love to. Iam looking forward to being closer to people who enjoy the leaf. I think I am the only cigar smoker around.
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