Need Some Input From Central Florida Garage Owners

[whitedawg]

Planning on buying our retirement home somewhere between Tampa and Orlando, but we keep running into the issue of "restrictions" on building an additional garage on the property. I cant be the only one that wants a garage to go play in. If any of you all can point me in an area where its less restrictive I'd appreciate it. Thanx

 

[cowboyjim]

Whitedawg, If you are looking to live in a development / community, many many have deed restrictions. Deed restrictions are not only in higher priced areas. Many areas with houses less than 100k also impose deed restrictions. We left Tampa and bought property in Bushnell (Sumter County). Sumter did not require permits when we built our 42 x 60 farm shop or our 6 stall horse barn. Question whether or not an area has restrictions before you fall in love with the house. I know they are supposed to disclose this up front but from my personal experience, that doesn't always happen - for example, our Tampa house. Good luck.

 

[LutzTD]

Tampa is very nice, there are a lot of properties available around Tampa I am 30 miles north. Had I gone a little farther to get out of Hillsborough the taxes would have been cheaper but it would have added 20 minutes to every errand round trip.. Stay out of subdivisions and get out in the "unincorporated" areas. most have 1/2 acre minimum lots, try to find a double or triple lot. If your adventurous there are some multi acre lots. I find that the aggressive nature of the fauna here make 1.5 acres a handful to manage. I haul 3000lbs of oak leaves to the dump every year.

also be wary of large trees, even in unincorporated Hillsborough it is a crime to cut down a tree larger than 14" diameter without a permit. If they chose not to give yo u the permit your sunk.

also be wary of septic and well locations as there are restrictions around those too

 

[dho]

Whitedawg, there are 2 types of restrictions to be aware of: 1. government restrictions, such as land development regulations. These regulations will place limits on what can be built and where. They will differ from county to county and city to city (and within a county, a city may impose additional regulations, other than the county). 2. Private restrictive covenants. These restrictions are in addition to, and more restrictive than, the land development regulations. Some subdivisions may have minimal restrictions of a few paragraphs, others may have a thick book.

I strongly recommend that you retain an attorney, before you sign the contract, to represent you in the transaction; and make sure the attorney knows how you wish to use the property.

Good luck!

dho

 

[Justin1776]

Unincorporated Polk County (right between Orlando and Tampa) seems pretty easy going. There are quite a few family farms and orange groves. Lakeland (in Polk) is a neat place, historic district is cool. I'm currently in Oviedo which is northeast of Orlando, close to UCF. It is nice, easy to have a home shop but is being impeded on by the urban sprawl. Like previous poster's said, avoid incorporated cities. Florida is full of retired lawyers who love to make ridiculous restrictions within city limits. H-O-A's are even worse here.

Tax tip: Raise farm animals or grow a small tree farm on your property to get the agriculture tax rate. That is if you decide to live in the "country".

 

[SGKent]

Planning on buying our retirement home somewhere between Tampa and Orlando, but we keep running into the issue of "restrictions" on building an additional garage on the property. I cant be the only one that wants a garage to go play in. If any of you all can point me in an area where its less restrictive I'd appreciate it. Thanx

Tell your realtor what you want. Then if he / she doesn't listen get another realtor. When we bought this house the first four or five didn't hear a word I said and they showed me only a couple homes before we ditched them. The guy who did get my business only showed me the home that matched what I was interested in and when I gave him input what I liked and didn't like about those he used that to fine tune the next places he showed me. That is what they get paid for. If they only want to show you the homes they like for themselves then they aren't worth keeping as an agent. And if you are trying to do it without an agent in an area you don't know - good luck. You will either get lucky or spend many hours looking at properties.

 

[whitedawg]

Thanx for the inputs
Working with agents in both Orlando and Tampa, with very detailed instructions on what we want...will find out in May when we go down to Fl