What's it like to live in FL?

[LuvDaOcean]

In order to know who much property taxes are you would have to be able to afford property!

Something to work with - House paid in full for $500K in Broward County. What sort of property tax would that incur?

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Rough estimate is $1 per sq.foot of living space fot taxes, and it is about the same for insurance.

 

[LuvDaOcean]

Rough estimate is $1 per sq.foot of living space fot taxes, and it is about the same for insurance.

So, for a 2000 sq.ft. home that would be approx. $2000 per year for property taxes and $2000 per year for insurance, right?

Where in the world did my husband come up with $12,000 per year for property taxes alone based on a $500k cash purchase (broward)??


btw, here's to wishing you a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY today, ScubaJenny!

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Well, my house is not a $500k house either, and a 2000 sq. ft. house is not that big.
Here is Broward Countys Tax Appraiser website.
http://www.bcpa.net/index.cfm?page=TaxCalc

 

[Bill51]

Then there’s central Florida where you can get a nice 2,000 SF house on a canal with your own dock being a 30-minute boat ride to the ocean for $500K.

After 40 years of vacationing in Florida I never had a desire to live here until I came across the Space Coast area where it has everything I like about Florida and very little of what I didn’t like. Coming from the Midwest I find the weather great compared to the high heat of Kansas and we always have a nice sea breeze making it even better – and we get a few flakes of snow every 10 years or so.

Plus – where else can the whole neighborhood sit in the middle of the street in lawn chairs to watch the shuttle launch less than 15 miles away?

 

[Bill51]

Well, my house is not a $500k house either, and a 2000 sq. ft. house is not that big.

I actually find that my house with 1,850 SF under air feels bigger than my 2,600 SF house in the Midwest because we spend more time on the patio, around the pool, or in the screened in porch than actually IN the house. With a dinning room table on the porch, I don’t think I’ve eaten a meal inside for 3 months. But – it did take me a while to get used to not having a basement to store all my junk in.

I just wish I had closer beach diving.

 

[badmojo]

I just traded emails with a friend who is a real estate agent. He says figure on average about 2% of purchase price so 500k X .02 = about 10,000...

So 12k for a house in broward would definately be in the right range...

 

[triciask]

I work in Real Estate, if you want me to do a search for you i'll be happy to email you some listing in areas of interest to you. PM me the realistic criteria you're trying to meet and I'll see what I can come up with.

Tricia

Hello Floridians!

I realize this is not a scuba related question, but I didn't know where else to post this?

My husband and I have been considering moving to FL for a couple of years now and would like to know what it's really like to live there. He's from Britain and has been in CA for 16yrs; I'm a native CA (spent half my life in southern CA and the other half in northern CA). I've read books and articles and such, but I know that the only way to get the real nitty-gritty about daily life in FL is to ask all of you - the "Real McCoys".

I did live in Tavernier during the year of '95, but the memory is a bit sloppy since it's been so long. I do remember having to run from air-conditioned house to air-conditioned car to air-conditioned bldgs, back to air-conditioned car, back to air-conditioned house. I also remember never being able to open doors and windows for any length of time to air things out. But, I also remember spending nearly every single day on/in the ocean without any problems at all as far as the humidity goes. Maybe Tavernier is different than the rest of the state?

Of course, ideally, our choice would be to live on the south-eastern side so that we could be reasonably close to Miami for my husband's business, but we're open to just about anywhere. We'd like to live in a smaller-ish size town (hate crowds!), as close to the ocean as possible (accessible to our young daughter), not in a community housing development, but rather in an older home with a tiny bit of land (1/2 acre or a bit more), and at a reasonable price ($500k or less).

You'll probably all laugh at our dream since we more-or-less want it "all", but heck, it can't hurt to ask, right?

Thanks Conchers!!!!!

 

[lowedaph]

Of course, ideally, our choice would be to live on the south-eastern side so that we could be reasonably close to Miami for my husband's business, but we're open to just about anywhere. We'd like to live in a smaller-ish size town (hate crowds!), as close to the ocean as possible (accessible to our young daughter), not in a community housing development, but rather in an older home with a tiny bit of land (1/2 acre or a bit more), and at a reasonable price ($500k or less).

Something to work with - House paid in full for $500K in Broward County. What sort of property tax would that incur?

property tax = millage/1000 * assessed value

Each county determines its millage rate, and it varies by municipality. Assessed value roughly approximates market value. Countywide, Broward's mill rate is hovering around 24, Dade's varies widely 19-30. In Monroe county (more commonly known as the Keys) millage is ~11. Above said home would have property taxes < 6k.

If a Florida home is going to be your primary residence, a statewide homestead exemption is available. This makes the first 25k of assessed value free (which isn't particularly significant given SoFlo prices) and caps future assessed value increases to 3% annually during the period you live in the home (which is significant when prices are appreciating at rates > 15% annually).

The Upper Keys meet all the criteria you listed except for price. Drop your lot size requirement, and you can meet your price. A year ago, 500k would have had your boat docked in a canal behind your house, 5 minutes @ minimum wake from the ocean. Today, it'll take a few more $, but there's not likely to be any bubble bursting here- demand is unlikely to subside and supply is essentially fixed. If you can't build, they can't come, thereby escaping the population boom and sprawl that other parts of FL are experiencing.

Daphne

 

[LuvDaOcean]

Thanks very much to you all for the info ('specially to badmojo for emailing your friend - that was really nice of you).

Wow, that's a LOT of money per year just for property taxes...egads! How in the world do you all manage?

The Upper Keys meet all the criteria you listed except for price. Drop your lot size requirement, and you can meet your price.

Thanks for the detailed info, Daphne. I did live in the upper keys for a year in 1995 (Tavernier). I like small town living, but I think the Keys would be too remote for our growing daughter and there really aren't any beaches to speak of there. I'm afraid that I'd be acting rather selfishly if I were to convince my husband to live down there. He'd go absolutely insane with boredom, poor guy.

I really believe in the idea that if you want something badly enough, you can make it happen, but it seems that if it's moving to southeast FL, a person better be ready to pay an exhorbinantly high price - literally. *sigh*