Corpusfishing.com

Ugly Tuna · Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 11:15 am Post subject:

Me and wife moved to the bend 3 weeks ago from central Texas and immediatly started looking at property under 200,000 that we had been tracking for the last 6 to 8 months on-line, in the Rockport, Aransas Pass and Ingleside areas.

We ruled out the island for a varity of reasons. Most all of them all ready mentioned here. And we found that getting into a decent place in those areas under 200 that can house 3 comfortably is about impossable.

I can tell you, and dependent on your budget, that house's under the 200's in good to decent condition located in a fare to better neighborhood are far and few between. One thing that we found here is that some neighborhoods have nice homes that are well priced but, surround by awful eyesores!

If you have mucho money to spend on a house then it is a mute point, but for us we were in a position to spend just so much cash. We didn't want another mortgage.

We settled on a house in Aransas Pass and we had to go a bit over budget to get into something in a nicer neighborhood that we felt would apprecitate in value over time. And though it is still a buyers market, and I'm talking about the here and now, but I can assure you that this area's real estate market is on the up swing now and god only knows how it might be 3 years from now.

I like Aransas Pass for location. 20 minutes to the island, 10 minutes to the flats. 40 minutes to PINS.

Indeed it is Salt Water Heaven!
_________________
"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life son."

riofrio · Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 11:58 am Post subject:

I live in a canal front home on the island near the big bridge. It's a great place. Good fishing in the back yard, and just a few minutes from the bay and gulf by boat or car.

I don't think you will find any waterfront homes under 200k. However, there are some nice waterfront condos in that price range.

tailrope · Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 5:22 am Post subject:

Thanks for all the input. Anyone have any insurance cost numbers for living on the island?

Ugly Tuna · Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 7:58 am Post subject:

We looked at a home on the island on Farley St. This being the only home in our budget. Was told by the Real Estate Agent that Hurricane insurance could be as much as 6,000 yr! and that is just for Hurricane insurance.

Also, most of Port A is flood zone. Unless you can find a home over or at the 9' above sea level mark you'll pay more for flood coverage too.

Our agent said that the above sea level mark used by insurance companies keeps going higher each year.

We did look at some very nice condos, Harbor Bay Condos, in Rock Port under 200 with a decient monthly condo due but, nothing big enough for us. If it was just me and the wife we might thave purchased one there.
_________________
"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life son."

Ol Sanch · Flour Bluffian in training Joined: 05 Jun 2006 Posts: 320

BaitBoy · Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 3:01 pm Post subject: Our plan

My wife and I have started nosing around at real estate on the island. I'm looking at 7 years to retirement from up in Okla-damn-homa. Our primo plan is to buy a couple of places on the island within a couple of years as investment properties to lease out during high-occupancy stretches of the year. That plays well to the spring-break through summer crowds, and Schlitterbahn just adds to that as an investment. I'm thinking that with the rates for leasing we have been seeing, we could likely have the places paid off within 5 to 10 years. At actual retirement, sell our place up here and pay cash for a permanent retirment place on the mainland, likely Rockport, but could be in the Bluff, to live in during the high occupancy times on the island. Then during the off-season on the island we have a couple of places to stay closer to the water and to a big boat to go offshore on. When we're too old to play that hard any more we can piddle around like old folks on the mainland. That would still allow us to leave the rental properties to my two remaining children and their families. They don't necessarily have to be stilt homes, they could be condos, like the Sand Castle, where we pay somebody else for the maintenance, management, and upkeep.

All that being said, we might can only afford one rental on the island. If we can't do that, then Rockport or Fulton for the fallback plan of a single retirement home. Can't afford the big boat? - Well, we'll just charter a few times a year for way less money. That's assuming, of course, that all our work to provide for retirement goes acccording to Hoyle.

To keep myself from totally drifting off into la-la land while visualizing the above, I only need to remind myself that to make God laugh, I start to plan the rest of my life...