Buying a house in Florida

For the last 6 years, each winter, I'm doing my annual pilgrimage to Florida, to visit my parents who live there for about 3 monts.

I realize every year how my parents, who have been married for more than 40 years, seem to want to kill each other. Sometimes, they really do. When I think about it, I realize how very few relations can resist the passage of time. Just think about all those bands of the 60's or 70's like The Who or Pink Floyd, where surviving members hate each other... but still tour together for money.

Except for that, my visits here make me think about the future. How long will I have to live 12 months a year in Canada? How long will I have to bear that fucking weather constituted mainly of clouds, rain, snow and melting snow? I can't wait to be old and retired.

My parents currently reside on a mobile house park. I don't really like the geographical situation of the place, but it's quiet and clean. The criteria to live here is to be more than 55 years old, which indicates clearly the kind of place it is.

The mobile homes are cheap. It looks like you could buy something for about 40 000 to 50 000$. At this price, you won't get something very classy, but it would be OK and you won't be ashamed to receive some of your relatives.

A few days ago, my mother asked me if I would buy something with her and my father. She told me the same, maybe 4 or 5 years ago, when they rented a condo, in another Florida town.

At less than 50 000$, the price is OK. But I asked what were the common fees. I learned that they were 500$ a month. Yeah! 500 fucking bucks each month in a place where snow doesn't even exist. You'd get a fucking condo in Quebec City or Montreal and these fees would only be something like 150 or 200$ a month and they'd remove snow from the parking at that price. Here, I don't know exactly what they do with that money (they take care of the pool of the park which is pretty small for a 250 houses park, some cheap labour mexicans mow the lawn of each home... and that's about it?). Do they pay the mexican people 50$ for an hour of job? Do they fill the pool with bottled Evian water?  I don't know, but fuck, Restaurant Brands should take over the place and make some clean up.

What about the insurance? I don't know. But it's probably at least 100$ a month.

So, here you are, buying a 40 000$ home with associated costs that are superior to the cost of the mortgage, in a place located 2500 km from your home (in other words, if a tornado or another catastrophe happens, you're very far). And if you're under 55 years old, you can't even reside here. You can only live here if your chances to get a cancer in the next 10 years are important.

These fees are crazy. But the idea to live here isn't.

While they have record minimum temperature in Quebec and the biggest snow storm of the year, I'm there, at 30 celcius degrees, swimming among the jelly fishes, surrounded by an infinite number of breasts.