Buying Florida Property?

[GatorMomInNC]

Uh, my property taxes are so much lower here than they were on my starter home in MA! Our house here is like twice the size and a block from the beach too. I pay $3900 and change a year. Our school is absolutely fantastic too.

Property INSURANCE is high. Maybe that is what you were thinking of???

No, I meant property taxes, but I guess it is all relative. I lived in Florida all my adult life until about 8 years ago when we moved to NC. That was the first time in my life I ever paid state income taxes. BUT our property taxes on our house that we bought when we moved here (even though the house cost almost three times the one we had in Florida) were half as much...

Property insurance is much higher in Florida also, due to hurricanes.

 

[delmar411]

Uh, my property taxes are so much lower here than they were on my starter home in MA! Our house here is like twice the size and a block from the beach too. I pay $3900 and change a year. Our school is absolutely fantastic too.

Property INSURANCE is high. Maybe that is what you were thinking of???

My property taxes here are 10x higher than in IN. I think it has to do with where you are coming from to whether taxes are 'high' r 'low'. Our property insurance is low IMO.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Uh, my property taxes are so much lower here than they were on my starter home in MA! Our house here is like twice the size and a block from the beach too. I pay $3900 and change a year. Our school is absolutely fantastic too.

Property INSURANCE is high. Maybe that is what you were thinking of???

My property taxes here are 10x higher than in IN. I think it has to do with where you are coming from to whether taxes are 'high' r 'low'. Our property insurance is low IMO.

I agree. $3900 is less than half our property taxes here. (1600 sf on 1/4 acre) $3900 sounds dreamy to me but our homeowners ins. is only $800/yr.
It all varies so much in different areas.

I understand how a 2nd home is an investment but I don't think I'd ever feel comfortable owning a 2nd home in FL. A friend of ours has one in Venice, FL and says snowbird renters have it made. Half the time he spends there is maintenance on the house but renters just walk away with no stress about storms, roofing, painting, etc. No commitment.

 

[purpledisneyprncess]

Out of curiosity, how much (appx) is home owners insurance in FL? I always hear that in FL the insurance is high but I don't know if that's for flood zone areas or for all of the state?

 

[Disneylover99]

I just wanted to say we've been talking about purchasing something in Florida and this thread has been a real eye-opener, so thanks everyone!

 

[delmar411]

Out of curiosity, how much (appx) is home owners insurance in FL? I always hear that in FL the insurance is high but I don't know if that's for flood zone areas or for all of the state?

Ours isn't about $400/yr for a single family home. Single story, 4bed/2bath with an in-ground pool, 10miles outside of Disney.

 

[foreUT]

Honestly the market here is going up. We wanted to buy something affordable and were constantly outbid by cash investors. We bid on a ton of homes and finally managed to get a foreclosure vacation house that the listing person had taken horrible pics of so it didn't look appealing at all. We still had to fight with investors for it. It was the most ridiculous thing Ive ever gone through.

I own a home in a beach vacation-area of FL and am in process of attempting to purchase another. I recently read that 62% of recent home purchases in FL were cash purchasers. Buying a shortsale or foreclosure is becoming more and more difficult. The lenders initiated a process of forcing shortsales into an auction after a valid buyer offer to provide a "market validation" of the sales price. And, if that is not enough of a head-ache, the foreclosures seem to often be priced low enough to initiate a bidding war. I am seeing prices in my area starting to resemble the 2006 prices. Crazy, imo.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

My house in Solivita is a 3 bedroom - 3 bath. I have 2,317 sq ft of air conditioned space included in 3,106 total under roof, which includes two-car garage and screened in lanai.

Last month my property tax bill was $2881.12 and my insurance, due in February, is estimated at $881.70 (last amount paid).

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

My house in Solivita is a 3 bedroom - 3 bath. I have 2,317 sq ft of air conditioned space included in 3,106 total under roof, which includes two-car garage and screened in lanai.

Last month my property tax bill was $2881.12 and my insurance, due in February, is estimated at $881.70 (last amount paid).

Wow, that's awesome!!