I have always owned old wooden houses. Old dade county pine or old heart pine (hard to tell the wood apart after 50 years) is super termite resistant.
Well, considering that they started running out of old growth forests in the south in the 50's, 80's wood houses would be a miracle if they didn't have termites at some point. As the saying goes, there are two types of houses in Florida, those with termites and those that are going to get termites. 80's houses (and 90's for that matter) also weren't designed to meet current wind speeds in the code. But the good news is with wood construction, is if the wind blows on it and it leans over a little, you can just push it back into place with a backhoe and put some more nails in it .
Ocala's safer vis a vis prop insurance, floods, 'canes.... CC has higher upside, higher risk. Personally, I'd go with Ocala. Investment property is supposed to be passive income; coastal properties tend to be higher maintenance. Jmho/fwiw.
Yes, you can always add straps to the concrete tie beam to hold the roof down a little more. The only issue with concrete block is they didn't do a lot of filled cells with re-bar back then but the block cores were much smaller meaning each unit was a lot heavier and sturdy against flying debris.
As someone who worked for a remodeler as a young man I can verify that this is true. It was unbelievable how dense the old wood was. Also, back then a 2 x 4 was actually 2 x 4. Now they start 2 x 4 but then are dried and finished to 3.5 x 1.5 if I remember correctly.
Well my house I live in now was built in the early 60’s with concrete block walls and piers underneath. So my floors are old Dade county pine and so are the roof supports. I like the combination. Every year or so I do a major project. I have redone the ac and the roof and the electric. Plumbing is probably next on the list. Windows I do myself and am about half way done there. I buy enough to get the free financing from Home Depot and replace the windows when I feel like it. I paid cash for this house in 2017 I think. I like to spend 200 a month on bringing it up to modern standards.
Ocala is growing fast and I don't seen it slowing down as more people flee South Florida and the Northeast. There are some areas that I would not buy property though. Probably need to stay out on 200 West where the new growth is and higher price houses. Marion Oaks and the Shores are older Deltona developments that have a lot of really rough areas. The houses are going to be cheaper there but you get what you pay for. The Silver Springs area off of Ft King and near the Muni golf course is older but a nice area.
“Damn this shitty Biden economy as I buy a new car and some rental properties!” I think it’s smart to invest in Biden’s America so bravo. Zero choice to me on your question. People move to the Cocoa area… people just end up in Ocala. Lol
Plus for living at the Cape as I did: watching rocket launches and feeling the rumble from my driveway, walking on the beach and watching the world’s largest cruise ships leaving port, things like that.
Cocoa Beach would be a good investment. Brightline has given the green light to a Cocoa station with timeline TBD. Port Canaveral is continuing to expand cruise passenger capacity. And SpaceX is launching rockets every other day it seems. Everyone I know with rental property is doing well at that end of the County. https://www.floridatoday.com/story/...make-way-for-new-cruise-terminal/72802879007/
Water is always a great investment. But Ocala is not slowing down at all. On top of the retirement and distribution. If you have not heard of or been to WEC (The World Equestrian Center)…it is a true spectacle! Not sure where UF is with growing our Large Animal Vet program. But they are definitely tied in with WEC and have a hospital on premises. https://worldequestriancenter.com/ Absolutely stupid money out there. People flying their horses in etc. just finished the second massive hotel.
@gatorjo, you do realize that negative rating every post in this thread (by the OP) for no reason is a violation right? If someone is doing it to you then report it and they will get called out too. I think threads like this are great. Gets us all talking about something non political and many of us have rentals etc that enjoy these discussions.
