www.CostaRicaTicas.com

No. If you were paying attention, the first thing that matters is where the OP and all his actually want to be. The rest is details, easily worked out. And BTW that Nobel Prize winner you mischaracterized (Paul Krugman) is expressing long-term optimism, that deficits matter but aren't crushing because we can grow and possibly inflate our way out of them. If anything, the deficits aren't big enough--no provision was made in the huge Treasury borrowings to deal with the estimated $1.5 trillion needed for infrastucture repairs and replacement. Do try to keep up with the the real world and abjure that "Pure Capitalist" fantasy. I am not in any way a Socialist, I'm a "constrained capitalist"--huge difference.

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"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

Agreed,i just about to sign lease on a condo in Boca Raton-Century Village for $600/month with only added expense being electric bill which the owner said was between $30-70-anyone that can back that up?I,m new to area,From NYC where utilities are WAY higher!Anyway,since this is only 6 month lease,i looked at others for the future and found many in the range of $650-800/month

Vig:

I am very familiar with the Century Village properties (there are 4 in south Florida, Boca, West Palm, Deerfield and Pembroke Pines). They all have great opportunities for sales and rentals. You are doing a good thing if you are looking for a great deal! I am assuming at $600 that is for a 1 bedroom?

As long as the AC is cranked down real low you can have a $50 electric bill.
If you didn't already know this, the locals call it Cemetery Village.

Buy in Orlando many great flights out of there and skip Miami, Over priced, Cuban parasite ridden city. They steal everything. I lived there, property taxes were 8k on a 80k condo. You do the math. plus traffic is a mofo. they stop when its green and go when its red. If they dont speak english the rules dont apply to most in Mia. I lived in Cutler Bay, Never again. just my .02

Cemetery Village baby! Count me in!

According to the City University of New York...

Krugman will serve as a “distinguished scholar” in the CUNY Graduate Center’s Luxembourg Income Study Center.
“As a distinguished professor in the Ph.D. program in economics, your nine-month salary will be $225,000. During year one (2015-2016), you will not be expected to teach or supervise students,” said a letter to Krugman, explaining how much he would get and what he would have to do for his paychecks.
“Instead, you will be asked to contribute to our build-up of LIS and the inequality initiative and to play a modest role in our public events.”

Yeah, the same Paul Krugman, long-time leftist Op-Ed columnist for the NY Times and Princeton economics professor, and winner of the Nobel Prize. Isn't it hypocritical for someone who has long railed against income inequality to accept such an overly generous position that involves so little work? This is the same guy who for the past 15 to 20 years has opined that offshoring/outsourcing is a good thing for the US.

He thinks a deficit of $17.5 trillion is nothing to be overly concerned with?! Incredible.

_________________
"In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upwardly mobile, and the rest of us are phucked until we can put our acts together; not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely"...Hunter S. Thompson (RIP)

SeaBreeze is 100% correct. I was in mortgages and real estate in south Florida for many years up to 2007, even though it's been 7 years since, many of the basics remain the same. Ft. Lauderdale properties in equal areas as that of Miami are apx. the same cost. There are numerous benefits, however. Ft. Lauderdale has a lot less traffic and a lot less crime than Miami. Most of Miami is a Cuban/Latin American community and you and your friends may not feel you fit in your new neighborhood. It's a more difficult rental market as well.

S. Beach is still crazy overpriced, traffic is a living hell and it's basically an area for younger people. The rest of the Miami Beach areas tends to be less desirable than Ft. Lauderdale Beach because they are a series of islands and access is limited and traffic a nightmare. You can be in a nice condo a good distance from the actual ocean in Ft. Lauderdale and still be a 10 to 20 minute drive to the beach as well as shopping, I-95 and the turnpike.

Orlando continues to be a growth area, probably as long as you picked right, an equal investment opportunity as far as future increases in value compared to S. Florida, but it's a family oriented place with no ocean and no ocean breezes. It's sticky and humid there, also you can get sick and tired of hearing about "Disneyland" every damn day. As a transplanted northerner, I've often wondered why people move all the way to this land of gorgeous beaches and plant themselves in the middle of a swamp in the middle of the state???

If you and your friends are going to occasionally stay there for a few days, Orlando can be boring, especially for mongers. Ft. Lauderdale / Broward County/ is a fun exciting vibrant area and you can be in Miami and/or Palm Beach within an hour's drive. Too bad I still don't have my real estate license, I'd be sending you listings!

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Don't try to understand 'em, just rope 'em down and brand 'em...

I hold this Post in the same high regard as explosive diarrhea...which it closely resembles.

_________________
"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

Devo: Have you ever owned a condo before? If not, here are a couple of cautionary realities that typically are NOT required by law in MOST of the USA relative to "condos".

1. Make certain that an OBJECTIVE reserve study has been done recently. The reserve study is for the purposes of establishing OBJECTIVE lifetimes for common element aspects of the property and are not based on the "hope" strategy which centers around "We hope the swimming pool will last 100 years before it needs any maintenance."

2. With reserve study in hand: Is there a separate fund for PLANNED repairs; replacements; and maintenance (not day to day stuff like grounds maintenance; elevator maintenance; whatever).

3. After you have an answer to point #2: What is the projected dollar amount that the reserve study determined would be necessary? How close to that dollar amount is in the reserve fund? MOST condo's are grossly under funded relative to repairs and replacements in an effort to keep the monthly association fee artificially low. It is artificial because a well run association will be putting aside a % of that monthly fee into the reserve fund per the reserve study. (It is CRITICAL that the reserve study be done by an OBJECTIVE outsider professional and not done by an outfit who is a buddy to one of the condo cops on the board. They'll understate dollar amounts and overstate expected longevity of common elements.).

4. Is the reserve fund 100% funded per the reserve study? If not, what % is the association at relative to having that fund at the 100% it needs to be?? Most condo associations in the USA "borrow" money from their reserve funds and never trouble to put the money back. Like government, sorta).

5. The whole idea of having an adequately funded reserve fund which is separate from the operating budget is so that an apartment owner can avoid the dreaded "special assessment" when that 100 year expected life for the pool proves to be wrong; there's a huge crack on all sides of the pool now despite it's only 8 years past the warranty period; and now all condo owners have to pony up cash money to repair the pool because it was not a planned repair.

When reserve funds are grossly underfunded big problems are just around the corner for any owner of such a unit. Most condos in the USA are underfunded and unregulated by any governmental entity. I do not know the laws of Florida, but I very much suspect there is no law covering reserve funds.

Hawaii went through condo law fix when the "lease hold" condos were just about to have the leases expire. The state mandated "lease hold" be banished and all condos be "fee simple". At the same time, the requirement to conduct a reserve study every X number of years was mandated as was the creation of the separate reserve fund with no funny bunny co-mingling of $$ between the operating costs and the reserve fund budgets.

Yes, you'll pay a higher monthly fee but that sure as heck is a whole lot better than getting hit with a $10k special assessment because the condo cop board was stupid about how long the roof would last; the parking lot would need resurfacing; blah, blah, blah.

Most associations don't even like to share the financials until after you've made an offer which is just pure D stupid to me: Why would I put in an offer when I don't know the status of the reserve fund? Yes, I'm fixated on that reserve fund, and you should be too in my view. Even after making an offer, they'll do everything they can to obfuscate the real deal financial wise; particularly these "professionally run" outfits. It is there best interests to keep the condo cop board happy....and that means funny bunny financial reports so that the monthly fee continues to be as low as they can get it. A happy board means a continued contract with the "professional" telling the board what it wants to hear and not just the cold, plain truth.

Be certain to secure and obtain a copy of the most recent reserve study. It will be most telling if it is an objective one. If there isn't one, think twice....again.....from my view point and experience.

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"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand."
- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Ch. 16

more attention to "economic realism" is the message. John J. Mearsheimer out of the University of Chicago is who needs to be listened to.....

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc ... gs/308839/

(NYC snobs, along with their "Ivy League Buddies", typically snub UofC which has far more diversity of thought; academic freedom; and free thinkers vs. "the East").

_________________
"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand."
- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Ch. 16

This commentary is as full of sh!t as a Christmas turkey. Greengo is, what's Agnew's phrase? Oh yes: a nattering nabob of negativity...and increasingly irrelevant and less fun to read. He's less than adorable/But so ignorable.

_________________
"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

I agree that a strong dose of realism has a place, as long as it's not the dominant place. That dominance leads to the Realpolitik, value-absent policies of the Kissinger era. One result of that was the murder of 1/3 of the people in East Timor when the Indonesian Army marched in afte ET independence...and we did nothing because we had over-arching biz with the Indonesians. And how does the genocide in Rwanda fit in with your "Realist" theories? The point being, if there aren't some value components attached to policies and actions, then what's the point of doing (or not doing anything)? I see the Brits between the wars "Peace at any price" posture as Realpolitik writ small and was thoroughly discredited. Nice try, though. I will agree that such as Mearsheimer and others in the "Chicago School" of economics/history are a valuable counter-force to the Left's more lurid ambitions/fantasies. And you provided a valuable context on condo purchases. Good job there.
Mearsheimer's theme song by a friend of yours: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_p-gacgSns

_________________
"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

But board member JazzboCR continues to read, absorb, and opine on board member Greengo's posts. If board members do not like Greengo's perspective, board members have the simple option to block his posts. If the posts are so bothersome, use the block tool of the message board and the posts won't even appear as if they do not exist.

All of these cries and calls for banning and exclusion and exclusivity are boring and indicative of the George Wallace mentality (?) of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum: A homogeneous message board where every body agrees with everything; where one post reads pretty much like the last post; where all are looking through the same hue of rose colored glasses is contemptible.

I find Greengo's post beyond informative and helpful. I find nothing "negative" about them. Then again, I have an attention span that is greater than 160 characters. I also took off the rose colored glasses during An Loc (http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/d ... ietGap.pdf ) and never put 'em back on. I can see very clearly now, too. Click on me, listen, relax. (Some may prefer this version. Click on me)

Irrespective, there can be no "positive" without a "negative".

_________________
"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand."
- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Ch. 16

Excellent post, and as the British would say...'spot on'

_________________
"In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upwardly mobile, and the rest of us are phucked until we can put our acts together; not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely"...Hunter S. Thompson (RIP)