A series of blog posts about life in Ocala Florida.

Is Ocala headed for a sellers market ?

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When the real estate market crashed in 2007 Ocala was hard hit. Resales went so low new home builders couldn’t compete. No one has started a major new community in almost 10 years. Subdivisions that already existed continued to build sporadically during those years but there were no new major investments. Only in the last year have we seen new investment. Shea homes started a Trilogy community. DR Horton is building in the area including JB Ranch. On Top of the World is building in new areas of Candler Hills and Indigo East. But those are established or revived subdivisions that already existed in some form.

In other parts of the country you buy a home in a town because you got a job there, you grew up there or you have relatives there. Here in Ocala people come here to escape the winters, retire on a budget or to escape the taxes and home owner insurance of southern Florida or some other state. Ocala needs it’s home inventory to constantly increase to keep up with newcomers. To some extent the flow of newcomers slowed when they couldn’t sell an existing home but it never stopped. People retire when it’s time to retire. Based on this I feel Ocala will have a housing shortage and a sellers market in the near future.

Ocala Florida weather report July 2017

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After a severe drought all winter and spring June was very wet with afternoon thunderstorms most days. That is a good thing it is the beginning of the wet season after all and we need to make up for the lack of rain earlier this year.

I could predict the weather in July by just saying it will be in the low 90’s with a 40% chance of afternoon thunderstorms every day, the humidity will be high and when you wake up in the morning it will be in the high 70’s.

Ocala Florida Weather May 2017

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As always I like to start my weather report by looking back to the previous month and see what actually happened. April was unusually hot and dry. Many if not most days were 5-10 degree above average. We are having serious drought conditions due to almost no rain in the month.

May is the last month of spring here in Ocala. Actually it begins to get hot and humid mid month although this year we are a month ahead of schedule. In May we should gradually go from the low 80’s to about 90 by months end with increasing humidity.

Ocala Florida Weather Report January 2017

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The weather in Ocala for December was unusually warm. Some days hit the low 80’s and I had to turn my AC on in the afternoon to cool the house down. Most days were in the mid to high 70’s and the low 60’s at night.

January is winter in Ocala although this year is starting off exceptionally war. Winter is all about cold fronts. A front will come in and day time temperatures will drop to the low 60’s or even high 50’s. At night we can get a frost or even a light freeze. We don’t get a freeze very year. Some times we go for years between freezes. Because our temperatures are so mild many if not most homes use a heat pump for heating. A heat pump is a central air conditioner that can heat in the same way it cools. Heat pumps only work in very mild climates like Ocala.

Most days in January are in the 70’s with no humidity and the sun shines most days. The hot humid summers are a small price to pay for winters like we have in Ocala. Email me or use my Ocala Dream Home Finder and I’ll show you what you can get for a home here.

Who says Ocala ain’t got no Arts and Culture

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I sometimes get people asking me about arts, culture, music, adult learning and movies in the Ocala Marion county area so I’m posting a few links to sites of interest.

Posted in no particular order.

Circle Square Cultural Center

Feel Downtown Ocala

Ocala Symphony Orchestra

Marion Chamber Music Society

Reilly Arts Center

Fine Arts for Ocala

Regal Cinema Imax

Marion Theatre

Ocala Drive In

Appleton Museum

Master the Possibilities

The Orange Blossom Opry

 

Ocala Florida weather report August 2016

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During July we saw record hot weather here in Ocala. In the SW area where I live close to the retirement communities it was very dry. We had very little rain fall in a month where the norm is 2-3 thunderstorms a week. Without a doubt the hottest and driest July since I moved here in 2004.

August is supposed to be hot humid and wet. We will see about the wet part. August is also the month when hurricanes really get going. The last several years have been very quiet. Hurricanes get started off of Africa and form over the warm water of the Atlantic. In the past few years huge sand storms blowing off the Sahara desert have disrupted hurricanes from forming. Weird but that is what the local weather guy said.

You can only have 1 homestead deduction in Florida

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This is an article about a recent court decision where a couple wanted to claim homestead deductions on 2 homes in 2 different states one being here in Florida.

Court upholds homestead exemption restrictions

 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – March 30, 2016 – Venice Endsley and her husband, Robert, had what a court described as an “intact, congenial marriage” for more than 60 years.

In the 1980s, Venice Endsley signed over her rights to a home in Huntington, Ind., to her husband. In turn, Robert Endsley signed over his rights to a home in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea to his wife. Venice Endsley had a homestead exemption on the Florida home, while her husband received a similar exemption on the Indiana home.

But the Broward County property appraiser learned of the arrangement in 2006, leading to a dispute that resulted Wednesday in an appeals court ruling that Venice Endsley was not entitled to receive the Florida homestead exemption. In doing so, the court waded into questions about whether state law only barred multiple homestead exemptions in Florida – or whether the prohibition also addresses properties in other states.

A three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal, pointing to a provision in the Florida Constitution, upheld a decision by a Broward County circuit judge, who found that the Endsleys were a “single family unit and could not claim separate homestead exemptions,” according to last Wednesday’s ruling.

Read more

Ocala deed restrictions

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junk car and over grown lawn in front of home's garage

I get asked a lot about Ocala area deed restrictions. Let me start by saying that no one dislikes authority figures or being told what to do more than me. However, as you can see from the picture above there are good reasons for deed restrictions. Try selling your house if you live next door to that guy. I took this picture while walking my dog in the neighborhood next to where I live.

If there is a mandatory HOA you should be given a copy of the deed restrictions to read before making an offer. Most are pretty much common sense like no mobile homes or that you can’t park your RV or boat on the front lawn. Others might bother some people.  For example, you can only put up a certain kind of fence or you can’t have a shed in your back yard. Adult communities with 55+ restrictions are another example.

If you can’t imagine living with deed restrictions you do have options in the Ocala area. There are a number of sub divisions with either no or very few deed restrictions. There are older communities that have let them expire. There is also agricultural zoning but if the house is in a sub division the zoning can be over ridden by the deed restrictions.

 

Ocala weather report March 2016

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Winter is over here in Ocala. It was a mild winter this year with a couple of light frosts but no hard freeze where I live in SW Ocala. Today is March 7. This week we expect temperatures to gradually increase from the high 70’s today to the mid to high 80’s by weeks end. The grass is still mostly brown. Grass here doesn’t like cool temperatures and goes dormant but it will be green in a couple of weeks. The azaleas are getting ready to bloom and if you vegetable garden now is the time to plant.

If you are depressed and looking forward to several weeks of lousy weather then move to Ocala. Home prices are going up but there are still good deals especially compared to northern states. The humid hot summers are a small price to pay for 6 weeks of winter that is more like fall in New England where I grew up.

Ocala Florida weather for February 2016

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January 2016 was warm and a very wet month. We had a light frost at my house in SW Ocala but not a hard freeze. It was also a very wet month where I had to drain my pool a couple of times to keep it from over flowing. That is really unusual this being the dry season when in past years it wouldn’t rain for 2 to 3 weeks at a time.

February is the last of our winter months. The first 3 weeks are our sort of winter and the forth week things begin to warm up. Highs can range from the high 50’s to high 70’s. We can get a frost at night or even a freeze. If you look at a vegetable planting guide it says Ocala can get a frost until mid March but I haven’t seen that in my dozen or so years living here. Winter is a nice time of year here.