Well, I'm in Boca house-hunting, and tonight went out to dinner at one of those restaurants in that little shopping center across from FAU (where Whole Foods is). And there's a guy driving MY CAR -- a Silverstone S, top down. Except it isn't, because he's got some good-looking aftermarket wheels and it's an AP1.

Meanwhile, I'm driving a POS Chevy Cobalt rental.

It's clear, though that I made the right choice -- the S2K is THE car for South Florida. HPH

 

House hunting is Boca is no fun right now as you might have seen! Prices are pretty stupid.

 

They're nuts over here too.

fltsfshr

 

Out of control. $350,000 buys you a 642 sqft. apartment on the intracoastal. That's a lot of money for a closet.

 

Yeah, but it's a closet with one heck of a good view!!!

 

It is a bit wacky, but, then, I saw this happen in both Boulder and Santa Fe, and did OK -- so now it's my turn to be on the other end.

What's amusing, and sort of sad, is when you look at several properties (all overpriced, of course) that are reasonably comparable in both amenities and price and then see one that's a dump at the same price. Some people just don't get it -- their greed has got them carried away.

Anyway, I suppose househunting is better done with this crappy Cobalt -- at least the selling agents won't think I'm awash in money! HPH

 

Hey, I think I saw the same silverstone you did. It was parked infront of barnes and nobel on glades. It looks really good. I'll be going to FAU soon. Good luck with house hunting. . . Here's something that may be of interest for you. You can search for property records by the owner name or ADDRESS. It gives you info such as how much they spent on the house and a simple blueprint type thing. I use it when buying properties or atleast helping my parents to decide whether to buy or not. The best feature of this is it tells you how much square feet under air which is good because when you search on realtor.com for houses they have large square footage but significantly smaller living square footage.

http://www.co.palm-beach.fl.us/papa/ CLICK ON RECORD SEARCH ON THE LEFT

this in combination with realtor.com and you should be set.

 

Yep -- thanks. Someone at the U put me onto that site, and it's quite useful. It's also depressing, as it shows a house's last sales price. Comparing this with the new asking price is enough drive you crazy.

Here's an interesting tidbit that astounded our Realtor: In New Mexico, actual sales prices (that is, what houses really sell for, not the asking price) are never made public. Consequently, something like that PAPA site just isn't available there.

I'm quite happy to be coming back to civilization, even if South Florida does have its, um, eccentricities. HPH

 

Can you wait until next year to buy? Rumor is that the real estate market in South FL will either collapse or go through a price adjustment in 2006.

 

I think "collapse" is probably too strong a term, but a price adjustment -- especially next year after several more months of inflation at this rate -- is in order. I'm betting, of course, that prices will adjust back to about where they are now. Relative to 20 years ago, the prices now are about where other places I've lived recently are -- it just seems to be the going rate for magnet locations. HPH