Hello from the Sunshine State!

[Anonymous]

Closing on our house in DC next week and under contract in Kenwood in St. Pete. Super excited! Been in DC for almost 2 decades and really looking forward to the slower pace and the outdoors. We have lots of friends in Miami/FLL and other parts of FL, that are super liberal/lgbtq+/women of child bearing age, and no one mentioned moving out once. Everyone that I know that moved there during covid has 0 regrets and happy to not live in the pressure cooker that is the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Libs hate Florida because people are happy.

+1.

Libs love FL and are committed to change. Moving here is a great opportunity to make the world a better place for our grandkids. Not to mention the beautiful weather and the tax breaks. My many liberal friends don’t come from a place of hate. Your comment is the direct opposite of what is going on.
We love it here. We are living an active healthy lifestyle and love the beaches and the restaurants and have met some fabulous people.

Is there really much of a tax break now? I understand there is no income tax, but the property tax, insurance, gas tax, etc makes up the difference, does it? I was in Florida this weekend and had to refuel my rental. The gas was $5.69 for regular. Yikes. How much is the sales and hospitality tax, such for eating out? Does Florida have a homestead exemption to save on the property tax? I am imagine that would help to reduce the high property tax.

Yes, there is a tax break. No income tax (which made a huge difference in my 70K salary) and the homestead exemption. Where were you paying 5.69 for gas? I just paid 3.39 this morning.

Car insurance is more though! I have not had the experience of rising homeowners insurance, perhaps because of where I live and age of my home. I do understand others are having rising rates though. But my electricity rate is low compared to where I came from. I'd like to get solar at some point.

The homestead exemption doesn’t help in the first 10 years or so. She will still pay the 1.8% property tax per year (based on purchase price). The exemption just protects her from increases of property taxes as the assessed value of the home increases over the years/decades. So if her modest ranch house in Coral Gables costs $2M, her annual property taxes are $36,000. This amount can only increase 2-3% per year. That’s not nothing, especially for a modest house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Libs hate Florida because people are happy.

+1.

Libs love FL and are committed to change. Moving here is a great opportunity to make the world a better place for our grandkids. Not to mention the beautiful weather and the tax breaks. My many liberal friends don’t come from a place of hate. Your comment is the direct opposite of what is going on.
We love it here. We are living an active healthy lifestyle and love the beaches and the restaurants and have met some fabulous people.

Is there really much of a tax break now? I understand there is no income tax, but the property tax, insurance, gas tax, etc makes up the difference, does it? I was in Florida this weekend and had to refuel my rental. The gas was $5.69 for regular. Yikes. How much is the sales and hospitality tax, such for eating out? Does Florida have a homestead exemption to save on the property tax? I am imagine that would help to reduce the high property tax.

Yes, there is a tax break. No income tax (which made a huge difference in my 70K salary) and the homestead exemption. Where were you paying 5.69 for gas? I just paid 3.39 this morning.

Car insurance is more though! I have not had the experience of rising homeowners insurance, perhaps because of where I live and age of my home. I do understand others are having rising rates though. But my electricity rate is low compared to where I came from. I'd like to get solar at some point.

The homestead exemption doesn’t help in the first 10 years or so. She will still pay the 1.8% property tax per year (based on purchase price). The exemption just protects her from increases of property taxes as the assessed value of the home increases over the years/decades. So if her modest ranch house in Coral Gables costs $2M, her annual property taxes are $36,000. This amount can only increase 2-3% per year. That’s not nothing, especially for a modest house.

Your post is misleading. Assessments are very low in coral gables. A 2 million dollar home is typically an assessed value of 1 million. If you go and look on Redfin, you can see people with 2 million dollar homes aren’t paying 36k in property taxes. Typically closer to 10k depending on when they bought. Even if they bought today, it would be $18k.

$18k is a steal considering there aren’t any income taxes. Our home has $22k taxes on 1.5 million MV house + $30k in income taxes and high home insurance too. Someone who is a high or moderate earner and lives in a high tax state will save tens of thousands every year in Florida.

Some people truly can’t get their heads around how some states truly do have a lower tax burden and lower COL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Libs hate Florida because people are happy.

+1.

Libs love FL and are committed to change. Moving here is a great opportunity to make the world a better place for our grandkids. Not to mention the beautiful weather and the tax breaks. My many liberal friends don’t come from a place of hate. Your comment is the direct opposite of what is going on.
We love it here. We are living an active healthy lifestyle and love the beaches and the restaurants and have met some fabulous people.

Is there really much of a tax break now? I understand there is no income tax, but the property tax, insurance, gas tax, etc makes up the difference, does it? I was in Florida this weekend and had to refuel my rental. The gas was $5.69 for regular. Yikes. How much is the sales and hospitality tax, such for eating out? Does Florida have a homestead exemption to save on the property tax? I am imagine that would help to reduce the high property tax.

Yes, there is a tax break. No income tax (which made a huge difference in my 70K salary) and the homestead exemption. Where were you paying 5.69 for gas? I just paid 3.39 this morning.

Car insurance is more though! I have not had the experience of rising homeowners insurance, perhaps because of where I live and age of my home. I do understand others are having rising rates though. But my electricity rate is low compared to where I came from. I'd like to get solar at some point.

The homestead exemption doesn’t help in the first 10 years or so. She will still pay the 1.8% property tax per year (based on purchase price). The exemption just protects her from increases of property taxes as the assessed value of the home increases over the years/decades. So if her modest ranch house in Coral Gables costs $2M, her annual property taxes are $36,000. This amount can only increase 2-3% per year. That’s not nothing, especially for a modest house.

Here's a listing for house in Coral Gables at $2M, hardly a modest ranch house. Over 10K sq ft, pool, 2022 tax bill $12K.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1220-S-Alhambra-Cir-Coral-Gables-FL-33146/60794525_zpid/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New Smyrna Beach here. I am so excited there is an actual Florida forum now - although I am sure it will be eventually filled with disinformation and generalizations. I am a liberal Living in a blue collar town but I love it anyway.

I'm a DC area transplant to FL and I'm pretty excited too! I'm sure there will be disinformation and generalizations but then, find a forum on DCUM that doesn't have that issue! I look at this as an opportunity to tell those who are generalizing and stereotyping Florida and it's residents what the truth is. None of us think Florida is perfect but the disinformation is mind boggling, especially considering that DCUM is supposedly filled with intelligent, educated people. I guess not 100% though.

Another DMV to FL transplant here and couldn't agree more. Life is good, which is why so many people are coming, despite the conspiracy theories and misinformation in the media.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Closing on our house in DC next week and under contract in Kenwood in St. Pete. Super excited! Been in DC for almost 2 decades and really looking forward to the slower pace and the outdoors. We have lots of friends in Miami/FLL and other parts of FL, that are super liberal/lgbtq+/women of child bearing age, and no one mentioned moving out once. Everyone that I know that moved there during covid has 0 regrets and happy to not live in the pressure cooker that is the DMV.

Welcome from two miles away from Kenwood - we're in Crescent Heights. You're going to love Kenwood - it is such a nice place to live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Libs hate Florida because people are happy.

So true! Just arrived. It’s glorious, even in July on the Atlantic Ocean.