Moving to Florida

MantaRider

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jul 11, 2018
Hello there everyone,

We are from PA and thinking about moving to Florida this year. I was wondering, for other folks who made a cross country move, did you go for a house right away or rent for awhile first, and why?
 
Last summer, we moved from Michigan to Georgia and we decided to rent first. The primary reason was that we had never lived in Georgia before and wanted more time to figure out where we might want to but a house. While we had come down here twice for very short trips to scope out different towns, we didn't want to rush into buying a house and later find out that the area wasn't really where we wanted to live for a long time (due to things like traffic to work, schools, overall feel of the town, the city spreading outwards and inevitably making it less rural than we'd like, etc).

Also, we didn't want to feel rushed into finding a house to buy and potentially having to settle for something we didn't really want since we were on a time crunch (and didn't have a whole lot of time in the area to really look for houses). That's the issue we've fallen into with the past couple of out of state moves we've done where we've had limited time in the area to look for a house to rent and ended up settling (either in an area we weren't thrilled with or a house that we weren't really thrilled with) due to being on a time crunch. I'd rather do that with a rental house that we only have to stay in for a year than with a house I'm buying and potentially staying at for decades though.

Another consideration for us was that it's costly to make a cross country move and by waiting to buy a house, it gives us time to build our savings back up and have a better cushion for when we do buy. We'll have a VA loan so we won't need a down payment, but there are still closing costs, costs for another move (though much less costly in-state), and incidentals should we need (new paint/carpet/appliances, etc), as well as things we might want to personalize a house we buy (new drapes, furniture, etc).

Another reason relating to cost that I'm glad we waited to buy a house is it meant we had more in savings to cover the higher than expected costs of getting established in a new state. We weren't expecting to pay $1500 to get GA titles for our vehicles (no other state we've lived in has had that high of a cost), in addition to the costs for registration, emissions testing, and driver's licenses. We also needed more hot weather clothes as I quickly realized that the jeans and hoodies I wore virtually year round in Michigan were not going to work down here. There were some other incidental costs from the move that we weren't expecting as well (having to buy a new dresser since one fell apart in the moving truck, a washing machine that stopped working shortly after we got here, needing to buy a push mower since we hadn't realized in the one time we'd seen this house before moving that there was no way to get the riding mower into the back yard...)

Overall, there are just usually incidental costs that you don't realize or have no way of knowing about when you make a long distance move so it's good to have an extra buffer built into your budget. For us, that would have been harder, if not impossible, if we dropped a large chunk of money on buying a house. Also, as mentioned before, it was important for us to know that when we buy a house, it's the house we really want in an area we will be happy for many years.
 
Last summer, we moved from Michigan to Georgia and we decided to rent first. The primary reason was that we had never lived in Georgia before and wanted more time to figure out where we might want to but a house. While we had come down here twice for very short trips to scope out different towns, we didn't want to rush into buying a house and later find out that the area wasn't really where we wanted to live for a long time (due to things like traffic to work, schools, overall feel of the town, the city spreading outwards and inevitably making it less rural than we'd like, etc).

Also, we didn't want to feel rushed into finding a house to buy and potentially having to settle for something we didn't really want since we were on a time crunch (and didn't have a whole lot of time in the area to really look for houses). That's the issue we've fallen into with the past couple of out of state moves we've done where we've had limited time in the area to look for a house to rent and ended up settling (either in an area we weren't thrilled with or a house that we weren't really thrilled with) due to being on a time crunch. I'd rather do that with a rental house that we only have to stay in for a year than with a house I'm buying and potentially staying at for decades though.

Another consideration for us was that it's costly to make a cross country move and by waiting to buy a house, it gives us time to build our savings back up and have a better cushion for when we do buy. We'll have a VA loan so we won't need a down payment, but there are still closing costs, costs for another move (though much less costly in-state), and incidentals should we need (new paint/carpet/appliances, etc), as well as things we might want to personalize a house we buy (new drapes, furniture, etc).

Another reason relating to cost that I'm glad we waited to buy a house is it meant we had more in savings to cover the higher than expected costs of getting established in a new state. We weren't expecting to pay $1500 to get GA titles for our vehicles (no other state we've lived in has had that high of a cost), in addition to the costs for registration, emissions testing, and driver's licenses. We also needed more hot weather clothes as I quickly realized that the jeans and hoodies I wore virtually year round in Michigan were not going to work down here. There were some other incidental costs from the move that we weren't expecting as well (having to buy a new dresser since one fell apart in the moving truck, a washing machine that stopped working shortly after we got here, needing to buy a push mower since we hadn't realized in the one time we'd seen this house before moving that there was no way to get the riding mower into the back yard...)

Overall, there are just usually incidental costs that you don't realize or have no way of knowing about when you make a long distance move so it's good to have an extra buffer built into your budget. For us, that would have been harder, if not impossible, if we dropped a large chunk of money on buying a house. Also, as mentioned before, it was important for us to know that when we buy a house, it's the house we really want in an area we will be happy for many years.
Those are very good points. Thanks for your reply
 
You could check out Michael Kay on youtube, if you haven't seen him already. He recently moved from the northeast to Orlando and has done so so many videos about the process, his thoughts, expectations vs. reality, problems, easy parts.
 
We had been vacationing in the area we moved to for about ten years, so we were familiar with the area. We had a trip about two months before our house sold, so we spent some time on that trip with a realtor looking a houses that we had found on Zillow. Once we got an offer on our house, we put an offer on a house we had liked. We closed about three days after we arrived.

My brother and his wife are planning on moving to Pinellas County (near her sister) and plan to rent an apartment or condo for about six months before they buy a house.
 
You could check out Michael Kay on youtube, if you haven't seen him already. He recently moved from the northeast to Orlando and has done so so many videos about the process, his thoughts, expectations vs. reality, problems, easy parts.
Thanks for the Advice! I will check out those videos
 
We had been vacationing in the area we moved to for about ten years, so we were familiar with the area. We had a trip about two months before our house sold, so we spent some time on that trip with a realtor looking a houses that we had found on Zillow. Once we got an offer on our house, we put an offer on a house we had liked. We closed about three days after we arrived.

My brother and his wife are planning on moving to Pinellas County (near her sister) and plan to rent an apartment or condo for about six months before they buy a house.
We still need to talk it over but I believe we are leaning towards renting for awhile. We may live in East Orlando where the rent is a bit cheaper, giving us the opportunity to visit areas and get comfortable with house hunting
 


Without hesitation, RENT first. We moved here years ago and are so glad we rented first. We bought a home a few months later in a quiet little area we never would have known about otherwise. Take your time to explore and get to know different areas. Get to know your new coworkers and see where they live. Don't always trust realtors. We have purchased two homes here but they are homes we found ourselves that the realtors never mentioned. Also, if you have kids, check out school digger.com. It's amazing how the quality of school districts and even schools differ in close proximity. We have school choice in FL-- where you can apply to have your child go to any school if there is room at that school--but it's a joke. Almost every school of quality is at capacity. We've looked at moving and had a couple of realtors give us misinformation about this that could have been disastrous. Do your homework.
 
It partly depends on how well you know the area you are moving to and if you retired/still working or have school age children. If retired, for example, being near your work isn't an issue. Similarly, if your children are grown, the quality of the local school system won't matter. If you rent, you will either have to move twice when you finally buy or you will have to pay to keep things in storage that won't fit in your rental place.

I would certainly want to be familiar with an area and/or have it be someplace you have vacationed in the past to know what is around you and if it has all of the things (shopping, recreation, doctors/hospitals, etc.) you are looking for. I think you can also find many other threads talking about this subject.

Someplace you enjoy a few weeks on vacation may not be the optimal place to live all year long.
 
Last summer, we moved from Michigan to Georgia and we decided to rent first. The primary reason was that we had never lived in Georgia before and wanted more time to figure out where we might want to but a house. While we had come down here twice for very short trips to scope out different towns, we didn't want to rush into buying a house and later find out that the area wasn't really where we wanted to live for a long time (due to things like traffic to work, schools, overall feel of the town, the city spreading outwards and inevitably making it less rural than we'd like, etc).

Also, we didn't want to feel rushed into finding a house to buy and potentially having to settle for something we didn't really want since we were on a time crunch (and didn't have a whole lot of time in the area to really look for houses). That's the issue we've fallen into with the past couple of out of state moves we've done where we've had limited time in the area to look for a house to rent and ended up settling (either in an area we weren't thrilled with or a house that we weren't really thrilled with) due to being on a time crunch. I'd rather do that with a rental house that we only have to stay in for a year than with a house I'm buying and potentially staying at for decades though.

Another consideration for us was that it's costly to make a cross country move and by waiting to buy a house, it gives us time to build our savings back up and have a better cushion for when we do buy. We'll have a VA loan so we won't need a down payment, but there are still closing costs, costs for another move (though much less costly in-state), and incidentals should we need (new paint/carpet/appliances, etc), as well as things we might want to personalize a house we buy (new drapes, furniture, etc).

Another reason relating to cost that I'm glad we waited to buy a house is it meant we had more in savings to cover the higher than expected costs of getting established in a new state. We weren't expecting to pay $1500 to get GA titles for our vehicles (no other state we've lived in has had that high of a cost), in addition to the costs for registration, emissions testing, and driver's licenses. We also needed more hot weather clothes as I quickly realized that the jeans and hoodies I wore virtually year round in Michigan were not going to work down here. There were some other incidental costs from the move that we weren't expecting as well (having to buy a new dresser since one fell apart in the moving truck, a washing machine that stopped working shortly after we got here, needing to buy a push mower since we hadn't realized in the one time we'd seen this house before moving that there was no way to get the riding mower into the back yard...)

Overall, there are just usually incidental costs that you don't realize or have no way of knowing about when you make a long distance move so it's good to have an extra buffer built into your budget. For us, that would have been harder, if not impossible, if we dropped a large chunk of money on buying a house. Also, as mentioned before, it was important for us to know that when we buy a house, it's the house we really want in an area we will be happy for many years.

That is what I call a detailed answer, was really helpful! Thank you :)
 
Highly recommend renting first. This gives you a chance to really “live” the area and the climate and to explore different areas.
 
My mom's cousins who moved from PA to Clearwater rented first. I moved into my parent's home down here so I guess I rented before moving to my house. So I say rent because where you get a job might be an hour from where you live and that commute in Florida is not fun.
 
We moved to south Florida about two months ago.
We picked an air bnb and I'm so glad we did.
We were given advice on what cities to move to and they were so wrong and not what we were looking for. In the last 8 weeks I have learned so much. We are moving into our new home next week :)
We used uhaul uboxes and stored them now they will be delivered to the driveway.
 
We moved from PA to Florida almost twenty years ago. We didn't rent and forged right ahead with a home purchase. It was a little challenging coordinating selling our PA home before actually moving into our FL home. We had to stay in a month to month apartment rental for about 2-3 months until the logistics worked themselves out.
 
My grandparents built a home when they moved down and retired, but they ended up moving twice more. They had narrowed down the area they wanted to live in, but then things like slightly better proximity to health care and golf etc. had them adjusting, but they hadnt known that initially. Just like anywhere, there are lots of specifics to an area that you won't know until you get there.
 

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