Even living in a house can have problems with smoke drift.
Our poor S had to move from his 1st rental because someone in the building smoked and it made him wheeze. S caulked everything he could to no avail.
When he was at our home in the furthest bedroom from the neighbor, the tenant neighbor would go outside his house to smoke and S would inevitable immediately start wheezing. Fortunately the tenant’s 1 year lease was not renewed.
Yea. I looked at one really nice condo online. It was out of my price range but the HOAs were thousand a month. I don’t mind some HOA fee but the not being able to control it in the future on a fixed income is a concern.
And some HOAs. Yikes My son rented for a few months when he moved to FL in an area with an HOA . There was a bad storm one night and a lot of palm fronds blew down. He had to leave for work at 6 and was going to take care of it when he got home. The HOA complained before he could even get home. When he bought his previous house in SC he closed then came back to OK to help us move temporarily to an apartment in Houston where my husband was being treated for esophageal cancer at M D Anderson. He was in M D Anderson with us for an appointment when the HOA lady called wanting to tell him the rules for trash day. He was not moving in for another 2 weeks. He kept telling her he was with his Dad at MD Anderson in Houston and she would not back off. It was extraordinary.
In our area (inland - not on the water), there are some small bungalows that are 2/2 single family homes in a 55+ restricted neighborhood. One car garages. They have small yards, but they are maintained by the POA. Not a spendy area at all.
HOAs can have special assessments as well. It’s sometimes tough to know how well properties are managed and maintained. So far we have just rented an apartment and lived in our own house with no HOA.
Assessments depend on whether and to what extent reserves are maintained. In Florida, that is not a requirement. Though, there was some talk of legislatively changing that after the building collapse in Miami. Without mandatory reserves, owners can just keep going to put off necessary repairs.
That is the scary part.
I told our association treasurer I would pay in installments. She sent out a note that anyone paying that way would have to deposit the checks at the bank themselves and then give her the deposit slips. ??? Really? I’ve been treasurer for many organizations and never asked that of anyone. There are only 13 lots on our road so it’s not a big job. I’m treasurer of the road association at our cabin and there are 43 lots. It also bugs me that this woman insists on using the version of QuickBooks that costs $500/year. It’s expensive overkill. I could go on with issues with other neighbors. I’m pretty determined never to be part of any HOA in the future. People are nuts when it comes to their property.
My husband’s motto is “the quickest way to hate your neighborhood is to join the home owners association”. One of the worst experiences of his life.
Interesting. It does make for good people watching, ha. Neighbors who are hung up on minute details about our deeds don’t care at all that the state wants us to sign a contract that says they can make changes to the private RR crossing and require us to pay for them. !!! The officers were about to sign the contract without getting our approval. Uh, no…
@ccreader That’s what we did; we just bought it in 2020. It’s a single story with a 3 car garage, so we can build a ramp in the bay closest to the door going into the house. We widened the narrow hallway to make it wheelchair accessible (it was only 24" wide!!) and widened the only narrow doorway in the house before we moved in. It has a large walk-in shower that needs to be renovated eventually, so we’re going to make it wheelchair accessible. It has a large built in bench for now; I re-epoxyed the base to add non-slip to it, so it’ll work for now. It’s open concept, so there’s enough room for a wheelchair around all the cabinets. The only other thing that may need to be adjusted is the water closet in the master bath, but we’ll see. There’s a 500 sqft area closer to the garage that we turned into a temporary in-law efficiency. My parents have been living here for the last year since they sold their house up north, but they’re buying a cottage on the other side of the lake. The area could work for a live-in aide or for our autistic child as she gets older, if she ever needs it. I have a degenerative condition, so we definitely took that into account when we chose the house. Hopefully we can live out retirement here.
@swimcatsmom
My parents didn’t want to worry about noise and smoke in a condo situation either, but they wanted maintenance free landscape living. They’re closing on a stick built cottage/bungalow on the other side of the lake this week. They will own the house, but not the land. The land lease fees are included in the HOA fees. It’s a single story, 2B/2B with a lake view, amenities, outside maintenance, gated, but unfortunately no garage. My dad uses a walker, so it had to be single story. They were built to be vacation homes, but you are allowed to live full time; no rentals less than 12 month are allowed. They tiered the hills, so each row has a view of the lake. We need to get a ramp installed as my dad’s condition gets worse. They were selling it furnished and everything looks like new, so they won’t need to buy anything. The ownership setup is not for everyone, but it’s the right fit for their stage of life.
This is similar to the one they’re buying.
@Tigerwife92 that looks lovely. I could see myself living in something like that.
@Hoggirl that sounds like the sort of place I should be looking for. I have mixed feelings about the 55+ communities. Sometimes I think I’d like it then others I’m not sure. I’m somewhat restricted location wise because I really don’t want to be too far a drive from the kids.
I am coming down to thinking a 2 bed 2 bath house would be a good choice for me. For a while I was very focused on having a view. In reality, I think I need to find a nice little house that us easy to take care of. There are some lovely parks in the area to get my nature/view fix.
I’m so thankful for this thread. It is really helping me narrow down what I should focus on.
If you are going to be working with a realtor let them know while not a deal breaker, you’d LOVE to have a view/water view. Since age doesn’t allow us to go backwards, 
the years ahead could include more “watching the world go by” (a phrase I hate) and that view would give you a lot of pleasure.
I guess what I’m saying is if it’s high on your wish list ideally, don’t give up the thought! You never know what might be available.
Paywall for me 
Open in a private browser. That sometimes works for me
@abasket I’m realizing my view does not have to be saltwater which was my original dream. I honestly don’t think we’re going to be going out and buying a boat, though it’s an attractive dream. There are quite a few places in the area on big lakes that are much more affordable. I actually saw a delightful listing for a cute little 2 bed on a lake on redfin the other day. I don’t want to buy till we have sold our current home but I was definitely 
. Hopefully something like that will come up when we are ready.
I’m beginning to refine my wish list a little. 2 bed 2 (or 1 1/2) bath, small garden, possibly with a lake view is where I’m at right now. At one point I did not want to move till we could afford the perfect place. Realized I will never move if I wait for the perfect time/place. And that grandbaby is changing so fast.
I messaged you with a link that will open. Anyone else who wants to read the article but it’s behind the paywall, message me.
When we saw the house we are in now it checked every box. We jumped on it and got busy selling the one we were in. So glad we didn’t wait
That’s a really attractive/cute house for your parents, Tigerwife92!
swimcatsmom - as Hoggirl mentioned, it seems like there are quite a few small single family homes in FL w/views of water - manmade lakes often, but still water view. It’s nice that you have a strong reason to move there (chid’s family/grandchild). That really clarifies!