little pink houses for you and me

The title of this bloggo post is a lyric from this song. Listen to the tune and watch the vid if you like. For fun count how many mullets you spot in that video.

For kicks I examined the Florida real estate market just to see what's up. Summed up, it is a buyer's market. Plenty of foreclosures, rentals and sales to go around.

I'm currently located in Hillsborough and plan to stay within it because of that stupid "55+ rule" almost everywhere in Pinellas. For those not aware, all the good affordable housing in that county is reserved for crusty old people only. If you ever wanted to know why there's so many old farts in Clearwater and surrounding towns, that's why.

Hillsborough on the other hand doesn't have this problem. And yes it's a problem because Pinellas is eventually going to have to wake up and lift that 55+ b.s. because in about 15 years or less everyone there is going to DIE from old age. And dead people can't pay mortgages obviously. But I digress.

I'm fully aware it's always cheaper to rent than own but I have years of New Englander thinking imprinted on my brain that says "Must.. own.. house.." New Englander tradition is to own everything, but living in the Sunshine State makes you question that way of thinking.

Even though I question the whole homeowner thing I'll probably work up the nerve to acquire a property one of these days. If I have any choice in the matter I'm going to try to get something relatively close to the water but not directly on it. The reason is because of the evacuation stuff when storms happen. Basically put, if there's something nasty weather-wise a-comin', you'll be asked to leave and not come back until the storm passes. And yes that really happens here. This is why I will never live in a town that contains the word "beach" in it (like Reddington Beach).

As noted above I plan on staying in Hillsborough. When I'm in the market for a house (whenever that happens) I'll be looking here first.

Something that's still weird to think about is that yeah, this is exactly where I want to be and don't want to be anywhere else. I never said that about New England. While I was living there the whole deal was to get out, and of course I did. Whatever living situation I in up there I always deemed temporary. Here in FL there is a sense of permanence and I'm still not quite used to it - but I like it. 🙂