subject: 1st of the 6 Steps to Buying a Home or Condo in Florida [print this page] 1st of the 6 Steps to Buying a Home or Condo in Florida
Whether you are buying your first home, a vacation or retirement condo, a beach get-away or an investment rental property, there are 6 basic steps that you will need to successfully complete. Some of the specifics may vary slightly from area to area within Florida, but the general steps and a majority of the specifics will hold true throughout the state. This information comes from my experience as a buyer's agent in the Tampa Bay area.
The six steps I will be covering in this series of articles are:
1. Selecting the general area.
2. Beginning the financial preparations.
3. Searching for and finding the property that is right for you.
4. Negotiating the contract.
5. Getting from the contract to the closing.
6. Closing the deal.
In this first part of the series of articles I'll cover step 1 Selecting the general area.
1. Selecting the general area.
In some cases this may already be done for you. If you are relocating for your job to a specific area of Florida or if you are moving to be within a certain distance of family members, you already know the general area you want to move to.
If this isn't the case for you, you will need to decide where you want to be and this may involve doing research on different parts of the state. You will need to look into the factors that are important to you such as climate; schools; cost of living; distance to airports, beaches, major cities, etc.; and job market just to name a few. But you will need to know what is most important to you and I'd recommend writing down a clear and precise description of the ideal location for you before starting your research.
Go through the following list to help narrow this down:
Climate the further south the hotter
Near the water or inland; how close to the beaches
Large metropolitan area, more rural, or smaller town near a large city
Distance to nearest major airport
Job availability in your field or activities for retirees
Pricing higher end areas like Miami, Naples, West Palm, Sarasota; middle end areas like Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater, Orlando, Jacksonville
By deciding what you're looking for in relation to each of those points and then comparing that to what each area of the state has to offer, you should be able to eliminate some areas of the state and narrow your choices down to a few areas. I'd recommend continuing to narrow down the areas until you have 1 or 2 left that fit all or most of your needs.
A lot of the information you need in order to make your decision can now be obtained over the Internet. You can also get information through friends or family that live here, by contacting the appropriate city or county departments or through local realtors. It also would be a good idea to visit the area or areas you think might be best for you to personally check them out for yourself. Any way you choose to do it, make sure that you don't skimp on your research.
When you have the general area in mind, it is time to start on the next step which is to begin the financial preparations for your purchase. I'll cover this step in detail in the next article in this series.
