I recently moved from Connecticut to Disney World (Kissimmee Florida for now). I have a 9 & 4 year so you can guess our motivation. As we prepared to pick up roots we used the Internet extensively to research where we wanted to be. We had Google Earth when you actually had to pay for it, we used the FBI records, all the real estate sites and we still could not make sense of the Florida housing market. I ran an expeditionary trip with my trusted brother and we were just baffled by what we saw. Huge swaths of land measured in 100's of acres cleared to the bone with only 4 housed under construction. $500,000 homes within walking distance to 40 year old trailer parks. For Sale signs on every 10th house. And yet the prices seemed to increase each day we were there! After returning home with pictures, video and notes in hand my wife and I decided to rent for a year and check it out first hand. So this will be about what we learned in the past 8 months and what we want.
30 years ago I picked up a civil engineering degree, used it for 10 years then jumped onto the computer revolution and have been programming ever since. As an engineer I always loved concrete and I think it will finally come to play a significant role in my life.
I now invite you to come along with my family as we try to settle down and figure out what we are to do about our dream home.
Beginning days Living at Disney World:
===========================
The day after we arrived we went to motor vehicles and got our Florida drivers licenses. By lunch time we had our annual passes ($1600 for family of 4) and were in the parks reveling in the beginning of our adventure. I believe this to be the best deal in entertainment in the United States. We get the major parks Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, MGM Studios plus 2 water parks, access to Disney Quest which is a huge building loaded with video games (no quarters necessary!) and ESPN! WOW! This deal only gets better as you get closer and closer to Disney property so this should help you understand some of our motivations as I press on with this blog. Because it is really more about getting our home in Florida that Disney.
We rented a brand new house that resides on a golf course. It is a small 4 bedroom, we needed rooms more than square footage and the price was already up $1350/mo + utilities. Since we are in cash preservation mode we surely didn't want to go any higher. As it looks now that is actually a killer price for a 4 bedroom ...yikes! I have been an owner for 25 years and not used to paying rent like that. It is described as "concrete block and stucco", which is a bit deceiving, because over 1/2 the house is WOOD! Now where is that in the real estate description. Now I understand why all the termite inspectors and termite insurance! We will revisit this in detail.
We arrived in the beginning of the summer in 2005 and at night we were getting spectacular if not frightening lightening storms. With the expanse of the golf course out the back door we could see far off into the distance and all I can say is WOW! The lightening didn't just spark across the sky .... it seemed to DRILL DOWN ....zzzzz...zzzzz ....zzzzzz ....zzzzzzz poof! Lasting for seconds at a time Whoa! That was intense!
Then Katrina hit the Gulf! Everyone that forgot how devastating a hurricane can be got a rude wake up call. There is still devastation around us from the storms in 2004. Roofs are still tarped and scraped. Signs haven't been replaced. Even street signs are still missing. That's over 1 year later! So now what happens, WILMA CAT 5 erupts. Well this 'ol Connecticut family is ready to high tail it out of Dodge! And we did! We ran all the way to North Carolina to visit family for a week. Chicken you think? YOU BET!
Keep in mind that after a hurricane if you have damage so does everyone else so good luck finding trades people willing to work for normal wages. You'll be paying a premium IF you can find anyone to begin with. And in the mean time you are exposed. Not fun!
Well Wilma was a no show for Kissimmee. Everything was fine. But my ideas on my ideal home were beginning to congeal. Hurricanes, wood (termites), travel to the parks and gas blasting over $2.00 per gallon.
Here is some roughed out specs I have come up with. I will be linking them to suppliers and research articles as I go along.
Design Criteria as of March 1, 2006:
=========================
For termites - mold - mildew:
- No Cellulose products for the structure
- stainless steel kitchen
- All floors tiled - area rugs ok
- Interior doors may be wood since they are hinged and not permanent
- No Sheetrock
- Possible stucco walls inside and out.
- Exposed ducting for A/C.
- Need some architectural channeling for cables & Pipes because walls will be solid.
Storm shelter:
- Exterior walls must withstand 100mph 2x4 impact (concrete block fails).
- Construction should meet public hurricane structure codes
- Interior room with no windows typically used as home theater to be hurricane panic room.
- High impact windows
- Hurricane shutters on windows
- Backup generator with fuel to last 10 days
- House elevated to max flood water plus 2 feet.
Energy efficiency:
- geothermal heat pump (down here we are living on top of a lake)
- High temp thermal storage reservoir
- solar collector (6ft parabolic mirror from old satellite dish) to generate high temp water. They myth busters built the exact item, if they are reading I'll take it off your hands now that the Archimedes's challenge is over.
- sterling engine for electric generation
- LED lighting through out
- Possibly use AAC (aerated autoclave concrete)
- Possible swimming pool for thermal sink
Architecture:
- It seems like south west adobe style lends itself to the criteria so far. Using some terracotta tile around the parameter will add some decoration while opening the roof to additional outdoor living space. I like the idea of an elevated living space with Florida being so flat. As soon as you get higher than a palm tree you can see for miles and the sunsets and lightening storms are beautiful to watch.
Location:
- Never live on a golf course - they start mowing and spraying at 5 am!
- Florida is being so overbuilt that you must purchase exactly where you will be working, commuting is a nightmare now and getting worse daily. You want to keep commutes to less than 10 miles.
- Schooling was a major concern, we were lucky that our daughter was so far advanced for here age that she would withstand a year in a bad school while we were trying to get settled. Now Kissimmee is not considered by many down here to be a "great place" but we were blown away how great the school was compared to Connecticut. Kissimmee blows away Connecticut so that was a welcome surprise that none of our research uncovered ... and we looked! But the class sizes are much bigger. In the 5th grade she has about 27 in her class vs 17 in CT, however she has real books, gets challenging homework and is provided an exceptional gifted program. It is the class size you need to worry about because the towns are getting over built faster than they can add schools.
Click and Download ... Google can afford it!
No comments:
Post a Comment