Should I move to Florida?

[Anonymous]

Home invasions happen all the time

[Anonymous]

There's a reason "Florida Man . . ."is such a ubiquitous meme.

[Anonymous]

I’m a moderate Democrat and I hate DeSantis and his cronies but I do love Florida in the winter. We are on the Gulf Coast which has a very Midwest vibe which beats the southeast coast NY metro vibe. We are empty nesters so we are not dealing with the underfunded public schools. Private schools cost far more than the tax savings from moving to FL. Summers are miserable from mid June thru mid-October but the other 8 months are delightful.

It is amazing how many people hate Florida yet it has one of the fastest growing populations in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Home invasions happen all the time

Interesting. I lived in Florida for almost 40 years and was not robbed once
.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a moderate Democrat and I hate DeSantis and his cronies but I do love Florida in the winter. We are on the Gulf Coast which has a very Midwest vibe which beats the southeast coast NY metro vibe. We are empty nesters so we are not dealing with the underfunded public schools. Private schools cost far more than the tax savings from moving to FL. Summers are miserable from mid June thru mid-October but the other 8 months are delightful.

It is amazing how many people hate Florida yet it has one of the fastest growing populations in the country.

money speaks louder than almost anything else, and also, retirees don't care about schools, as you stated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a moderate Democrat and I hate DeSantis and his cronies but I do love Florida in the winter. We are on the Gulf Coast which has a very Midwest vibe which beats the southeast coast NY metro vibe. We are empty nesters so we are not dealing with the underfunded public schools. Private schools cost far more than the tax savings from moving to FL. Summers are miserable from mid June thru mid-October but the other 8 months are delightful.

It is amazing how many people hate Florida yet it has one of the fastest growing populations in the country.

I find this interesting as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're not going to get a balanced perspective on DCUM where Florida is now an evil state due to the current governor (while praising Cuomo to the sky, but that's another story).

Despite the comments on this thread, hordes of wealthy people do move to Florida for tax purposes. It's not just anecdotal, but it's a real and proper fiscal drain and it's been noted by many state officials. What they do is establish Florida residency and as long as they spend six months minus one day in Maryland, Florida is their legal residency and there's not much Maryland can do about it. The kicker is that you don't have to spend six months plus one day to claim Florida residency. So you can spend the winters in Florida, summers somewhere cool, travel a lot, and still keep your old house in Maryland, and you're still a bona fide Florida resident.

Florida can offer a high quality of life, especially for those who can escape to cooler climates in the peak summer months. It's a huge state with the whole range of demographics from deep blue to deep red and everything in between. Just find your niche in Florida. If you live and breathe and die by politics, maybe you can't cope with Republican governors. But without those Republican governors, you wouldn't have the generous tax breaks. And summers in Florida aren't that bad. It's not hotter than the DMV, it's just more humid and for a longer period. Plenty of people don't mind humidity. Miami is both an international jet set playground and very interesting and dynamic Latin-American community that makes things interesting. The Gulf side has plenty of upscale communities. Florida is VERY diverse. Commenting about running away from Florida because of the racist people is a weird thing to say. Running away from Florida because you're racist would be more logical.

Is this Federal?

I think it's only a matter of time before states start moving toward a truly pro-rata taxation framework for purposes of state residency. I fully expect the six months minus one day safe harbor to be whittled down to 30 days in the next 10-15 years.

[Anonymous]

Guns and crazies. Only in Florida

[Anonymous]

I don't know how/if this applies to Florida, but we moved to Texas (no state income tax) and while we are saving money on income taxes, we are getting killed in property taxes.

The thing and income tax vs property tax is that eventually your income tax will go down. Property taxes will only go up. (Though there are some exemptions based on age.)

Make sure you understand the full picture if you're only reason to leave the DMV area is income tax. Plus, as noted, you need to understand what your tax implications are if your job is still in MD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how/if this applies to Florida, but we moved to Texas (no state income tax) and while we are saving money on income taxes, we are getting killed in property taxes.

The thing and income tax vs property tax is that eventually your income tax will go down. Property taxes will only go up. (Though there are some exemptions based on age.)

Make sure you understand the full picture if you're only reason to leave the DMV area is income tax. Plus, as noted, you need to understand what your tax implications are if your job is still in MD.

TX has one of the highest property taxes. States need revenue. They have to get it from some where.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live here, I love it. We were choking in northern Virginia/ DC and it is just easier here. Even with one stay at home parent, we can afford things like horseback riding, piano, ballet, vacations, good camps. At the same time it is way less pressure to perform on the kids, which can be freeing. Agree with the above poster that it depends on where - most Northerners (esp on DCUM) have a monolithic, negative view of the place but there are a lot of different places. Some good, some not so good depending on your politics and passions. Some people would absolutely hate it and I can see that. However I must add, ignore the judgey condescending Florida haters on here- not all of us have biglaw salaries or secure fed jobs and we need to do what is best for our kids. I have concluded that life is WAY easier here - but at the same time it is essential to go somewhere else once or twice a year. We try to go to the mountains for 2-3 weeka in the summer and back to Virginia to Grandma’s for a week at Christmas. We are working on saving for a second house / summer house somewhere up “North” like Asheville .

Yeah it's easier on the kids because the schools are crap there.

I’m honestly confused. It’s not like there aren’t easy school systems in the DMV, or just let your kid be a B student at a W school.

FL schools will have them woefully unprepared for college, unless the plan is UF and be like a local accountant in Tampa or something. Which is fine but vulnerable to economic tides more so than more comprehensive education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it is so fascinating to read all the responses, and what seems to be 95% hatred at the mere mention of florida.
perhaps i have different perspective because i grew up in south florida. and much of south florida, especially miami and fll really doesn't consider itself part of floriduh.
i left dc 2 years ago and feel like i can finally breathe!
i appreciate my time in dc and the many benefits to having lived there, but i'm so glad to be raising my family back in south florida.
and yes, i and many others cannot stand desantis.
but i love living 10 minutes from the beach and going to the beach 2x a week vs 1-2x a year, year round beach (warm enough to swim in, not freezing and rough) and pool weather, NO WINTER ICE OR SNOW!!!, no state income tax, incredible diversity, my kids are already conversant in spanish and portuguese, fantastic food, less cutthroat emphasis on who you know/what you do/what can you do for me, not worrying about signing up for good quality daycare or preschool spots at 6 weeks pregnant, being 2-3 hour plane rides from much of central and south america, having kids in person learning, all the watersports you can imagine, the lush tropical plants and trees, having fruit trees in my backyard like mango papaya and lychee, how greeen and alive everything is in winter instead of brown and dead, blue sunny skies, etc

the thought of being back in dc makes me feel suffocated and anxious.
my 2 cents!

Well yeah, if you are wealthy, live within 3 miles of the beach in Miami or FLL and send kids to private school, it’s a nice retirement leisure lifestyle.

But don’t venture inland, where the extreme poverty suffers in squalor; tale of two cities for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live here, I love it. We were choking in northern Virginia/ DC and it is just easier here. Even with one stay at home parent, we can afford things like horseback riding, piano, ballet, vacations, good camps. At the same time it is way less pressure to perform on the kids, which can be freeing. Agree with the above poster that it depends on where - most Northerners (esp on DCUM) have a monolithic, negative view of the place but there are a lot of different places. Some good, some not so good depending on your politics and passions. Some people would absolutely hate it and I can see that. However I must add, ignore the judgey condescending Florida haters on here- not all of us have biglaw salaries or secure fed jobs and we need to do what is best for our kids. I have concluded that life is WAY easier here - but at the same time it is essential to go somewhere else once or twice a year. We try to go to the mountains for 2-3 weeka in the summer and back to Virginia to Grandma’s for a week at Christmas. We are working on saving for a second house / summer house somewhere up “North” like Asheville .

Yeah it's easier on the kids because the schools are crap there.

I’m honestly confused. It’s not like there aren’t easy school systems in the DMV, or just let your kid be a B student at a W school.

FL schools will have them woefully unprepared for college, unless the plan is UF and be like a local accountant in Tampa or something. Which is fine but vulnerable to economic tides more so than more comprehensive education.

Interesting my cousin graduated a north Florida public school . Went to Harvard undergrad abd Harvard med school. Must be dem genes I guess

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone who lives in Florida, I guess there are some savings, but we pay A LOT in home insurance because of the hurricane coverage. Our $1M home costs us $10K a year in home insurance, our property taxes, $13K.

And this is only going to get worse. Plus, the rest of the country will, at some point, get sick of subsidizing Florida's rebuild when hurricanes and floods of ever-increasing frequency and severity continue to decimate it.

Climate change is really going to hit FL hard over the next 20 to 50 years. They are already seeing the impact of it.

+1. Typical of Floridians to completely ignore climate change. OP sounds like he will fit perfectly in Fl

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is literally no amount of money you could pay me to live in Florida, especially under their current leadership, and paying taxes is a basic civic duty and part of the social contract, so my answer would be no on that.

+1 to all of this. Taxes are not killing you. Please.

FWIW, my ILs moved to FL and had to move back because it was impossible to make non-racist friends. They are really great at making friends and shifting topics and keeping things surface level nice with awkward conversation partners, but FL was beyond even their skills.

This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen on DCUM.
Really? The entire state is racist?? Maybe you or your in-laws are lying.