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Where to Buy a Retirement Home for Under $600 a Month
yahoo ^ | Monday, September 27, 2010 | Luke Mullins

Posted on 09/28/2010 7:26:59 AM PDT by BenLurkin

For Americans looking to buy retirement property, the historic real estate crash has created all sorts of opportunities. Home prices in 20 major metropolitan areas have declined roughly 28 percent from their 2006 peaks. Meanwhile, government efforts to ramp up demand for homes have significantly reduced mortgage costs for borrowers. Thirty-year fixed mortgage rates stood at 4.37 percent for the week ending September 16, only slightly above the 39-year lows reached two weeks earlier.

Taken together, lower home prices and cheap mortgage rates have made home buying much more affordable than just a few years ago. And given that real estate values in many traditional retirement spots--like Florida and Arizona--have fallen even harder than the national average, Americans who are ready to embark on the second half of their lives are in a particularly favorable position. To that end, U.S. News has compiled a list of 10 places where retirement home buyers can purchase property for less than $600 a month.

1. Phoenix

2. Las Vegas

3. San Antonio

4. Greenville, S.C.

5. Boise, Idaho

6. Corpus Christi, Texas

7. Tampa, Fla.

8. Columbia, Mo.

9. Tucson, Ariz.

10. Ft. Myers, Fla.

(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...


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To: Dr. Sivana

San Antonio is a terrific place to live! It’s conservative slant is due to the military presense and it’s a fun place to live with great restaurants. However, the allergies from cedar fever and others used to keep my wife in pretty bad shape.


21 posted on 09/28/2010 8:16:00 AM PDT by albie
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To: IYAS9YAS

good point....


22 posted on 09/28/2010 8:17:51 AM PDT by ConservativeDude
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To: Michael.SF.

Location? Hey, one could take down the shed...build a porch..clean up and plant some grass. That’s doable...but location matters.


23 posted on 09/28/2010 8:19:29 AM PDT by caww
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To: RobRoy

Photo?


24 posted on 09/28/2010 8:20:28 AM PDT by caww
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To: SoftballMominVA

I’d consider Greenville .. charming lil town.


25 posted on 09/28/2010 8:22:18 AM PDT by EDINVA
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To: listenhillary

****Why would anyone take out a new mortgage after they are retired?****

In the real-estate boom - many retirees sold homes for $300K (with paid up mortgages and/or which were purchased in the 1960’s for $100K).

I know a few who used part of the proceeds for a hefty down-payment on a retiree home (leaving a very small mortgage) and invested the rest for living expenses.


26 posted on 09/28/2010 8:22:24 AM PDT by sodpoodle (Despair; man's surrender. Laughter; God's redemption.)
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To: BenLurkin

$120,660 is the approximate amount financed for 30 years at the rate quoted in the article. That does not include excrowed amounts for taxes and home owners insurance on the property. but does result in a $600 dollar payment of interest and principle.


27 posted on 09/28/2010 8:25:06 AM PDT by KC Burke
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To: caww

>>Photo<

http://s409.photobucket.com/albums/pp176/robbbb4/Kentucky%20home/?action=view&current=26b95337.pbw

We’ve done some improvements on the place, most notably the driveway hill has been completely redone and all exposed treated wood at the front of the house and the upper and lower front porches have been painted. In the picture of the base of the driveway (with the PT Cruiser) imagine a large parking area to the left of the driveway. We added that when we had the whole thing graded and graveled with “dense pack”.

Oh, and we are still enjoying the beef from the two steers in the pictures.

The picture of the white cattle in the large field is of my neighbor’s place, looking from the entrance of our driveway.

The dogs are from the previous owner. The pictures that include the PT Cruiser are from the first day we saw the property back in October of 2008. It’s a long and interesting story...

I have a lot more from our trip earlier this month that I’ll include in that slide show once I download them. This trip we had hummingbirds swarming around us like an angry bee hive.

We truly love that place like I never thought I could love a piece of property.


28 posted on 09/28/2010 8:30:39 AM PDT by RobRoy (The US Today: Revelation 18:4)
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To: Michael.SF.

Christmas lights always dress up even the most mundane home.


29 posted on 09/28/2010 8:33:45 AM PDT by RobRoy (The US Today: Revelation 18:4)
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To: RobRoy

Well, is that sweet property or what! How did you find it?
Hard to believe at $400. monthly. I do think there will be many, and are now looking to relocate to less expensive areas to live. Yours is idea...Great!


30 posted on 09/28/2010 8:36:53 AM PDT by caww
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To: BenLurkin

San Antonio is a nice city. Corpus too. If ya’ can stand the summer heat and humidity!


31 posted on 09/28/2010 8:39:07 AM PDT by smart.muffin (just a simple gal from Texas, BUT not so simple as to be a liberal!)
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To: BenLurkin
LIVIN' THE DREAM! Photobucket
32 posted on 09/28/2010 8:40:23 AM PDT by Ronald_Magnus
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To: Michael.SF.

The house on tha left,is it one or two bed rooms?.


33 posted on 09/28/2010 8:41:56 AM PDT by Vaduz
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To: RobRoy
Christmas lights always dress up even the most mundane home

Specially so in July.

34 posted on 09/28/2010 8:42:50 AM PDT by Michael.SF. (How many Korans were burned in the Twin Towers inferno on 9/11)
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To: Ronald_Magnus


Compliments of the Obama administration
35 posted on 09/28/2010 8:43:41 AM PDT by Scythian
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To: caww

>>How did you find it?<<

We were visiting our friend in the area and had a day to ourselves. We were already looking for a place to buy there but NONE of the listed stuff came even close to living up to the reasons we liked the area in the first place.

So we’re driving on one of the twisty narrow roads (that STILL have a speed limit of 55!) and came across a sign pointing to 40 acres that was going to be auctioned off. We turned on the road - which was like a Seattle bike trail, except more beautiful and a foot or so wider - and rounding the corner in one of my photos was an old “for sale by owner” sign at the bottom of a rough, steep road.

We drove up expecting to find a cantankerous old guy sitting on the front porch with a mouth full of chew, a dog at his side, and a shotgun in his lap. Instead we found a Christian missionary in his mid 20’s living there with his new (and pregnant) wife and a beautiful 1000 sq ft “love shack that he had just built. They are still our friends and he is now the pastor of a local church.

And since he worked at a local building supply place all the hardware is top notch: Real wood floors, vinyl dual pane windows, six panel doors, quality baseboards, etc., full heat pump air conditioning and heating.

We were actually slated to go to Haiti with them on a mission trip early in the year. The earthquake struck less than a week before we were to go. That nixed the trip.

One of the reasons the payments are so low is that we just refinanced, and we put money down on the original 98k price to get it below 85k. The place cost me less than a years salary, which is about right. I figure that once hyperinflation kicks in our monthly payment will be the equivalent of a dinner for two at a fancy restaurant, or maybe a Big Mac and a Coke.


36 posted on 09/28/2010 8:47:11 AM PDT by RobRoy (The US Today: Revelation 18:4)
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To: BenLurkin
Anyone that has to make payments on a home shouldn't retire, they are totally irresponsible financially!!!
37 posted on 09/28/2010 8:51:13 AM PDT by dalereed
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To: RobRoy

Great buy...I think looking for a house is like looking for a job...you have to go there and look around...ask questions..and let your intentions be known.

Years ago we bought a home in Pa. that never even made it to the real-estate office. Family well off wanted to unload it . Paid $7,000. Amazingly...put in 20,000 to update and modernize. It was sweet. Country living is great!


38 posted on 09/28/2010 8:53:54 AM PDT by caww
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To: RobRoy

Great buy...I think looking for a house is like looking for a job...you have to go there and look around...ask questions..and let your intentions be known.

Years ago we bought a home in Pa. that never even made it to the real-estate office. Family well off wanted to unload it . Paid $7,000. Amazingly...put in 20,000 to update and modernize. It was sweet. Country living is great!


39 posted on 09/28/2010 8:56:25 AM PDT by caww
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To: dalereed
Anyone that has to make payments on a home shouldn't retire, they are totally irresponsible financially!!!

If I didn't know better you sound like someone who has been on gummint teat, one way or another, and never owned a business or created a job and had your financial well being dictated by the free market system!

40 posted on 09/28/2010 8:59:40 AM PDT by RVN Airplane Driver ("To be born into freedom is an accident; to die in freedom is an obligation..)
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