Living Life + Florida Condo Update

I may have told this story before, but it's worth repeating.

It's the late '90s and everyone at work, myself included, has an E-Trade account.  We're tax people not investment experts, but we're all making money because tech stocks are booming.  I invested some fun money, funds I wouldn't miss if lost.  No one is losing though.  

The stock market is one of the biggest topics at work.  Two guys in the aisle of cubicles next to mine call out quotes to each other all day.  I roll my eyes and wonder how they're getting any work done.  Late at night, when I'm the last person standing, I print Wall St. onto a piece of paper and hang it at the end of their aisle.

My fun money grew and grew and I still remember the day I logged onto my account and a balance of $100,000 greeted me.  It was all unrealized and instead of selling and cashing out, I did nothing because I assumed it would keep growing.  You could say, in a way, I was greedy.  I also had no idea what to do.  I knew that some day I wanted to buy a house but I didn't know where.  I didn't have any debt to pay off.  In the game of life, I was still fairly young.

A part of me thought of purchasing something on the Cape, but I kept going back to the fact that I had not yet purchased a home.  Should you purchase vacation property before your first home?  What about land?  Yes, land on Cape Cod.  These were all thoughts and not actions because I was always so freaking busy with work.  I looked at new development of townhouses in Quincy, at the suggestion of a friend who was considering buying there.  My funds, post tax of course, would have been a significant down payment.  But I didn't think I wanted to stay in Quincy.    

We all know how this story ends.  While I pondered what to do with a ridiculous sum of money, the tech stock bubble burst and the only thing left to think about was how stupid I'd been to not cash out.  I did walk away with a gain, albeit much smaller, which was used as part of the down payment on the purchase of our first home.

Life Lessons:

1. Don't get greedy.
2. Take action before it's too late.

Recently, Rich and I were discussing, with family, retirement and the right time to retire and feeling satisfied with life.  Doing things before it's too late.  Which is why we purchased our cottage last year.  We were actually looking at property back in 2005 when the real estate market was ridiculously out of control.  Everything was far too overpriced and that market popped not too long afterwards.  Last year, the timing was right.

The Florida condo closed a few weeks ago, quietly and with no drama.  After the satisfaction of the close, Yay, we own a condo in Florida! I think our first thought was We need to get this place rented ASAP!  The previous owners were living there as their primary residence and, as such, they took their furniture with them.  I had been looking at furniture online at stores local to the condo and we assumed that we would need to fly down there at some point this summer and get the place ready to go.

We decided to hire a realtor/property manager in the St. Pete Beach area.  If we were renting out local, seasonal property, such as weekly on Cape Cod, yes, I could take care of that myself.  The condo is different.  The minimum rental period is two months and a realtor is going to be able to reach more potential tenants.  Plus, we're 1,300 miles away.  We want someone there to take of issues.

We automatically thought that we would be renting out the condo for shorter terms (2-3 months), but the realtor suggested looking for a longer term tenant (6-12+ months.)  This is due in part to the condo sitting there unfurnished.  I'm still not 100% sure this is the way to go but I'm going to trust his judgement.  Plus, he doesn't get paid unless he finds a tenant.  If no one bites by November, I think we're going to throw furniture in it and try to get a last minute renter for the high season, which runs January through March.

The huge negative to renting longer term is that we won't be able to use it at all right now, not even between tenants, because it's unfurnished.  Again, we'll see what happens over the next few months.  Technically, we didn't buy this for us to use now.  We just thought it could be an added benefit and, obviously, we'd rather have it rented for cash flow purposes.  When the girls are older and independent, we do intend to become snowbirds.  

Some people want to travel.  We just want to own many properties.  And travel to Hawaii.  Another life goal (mine, Rich is along for the ride) is to live there for 4-6 months when I'm older, but not too old.  But I need to get back there for another vacation first.