Florida living

We are staying in South FL until late August so we will see what we think. So far, so good!
 
Scuba said:
We are staying in South FL until late August so we will see what we think. So far, so good!
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Excellent. That will give you a good assessment of your heat and humidity tolerance, for sure.

I find that I seem to tolerate it pretty well until late August...then I'm just worn out by it, especially realizing I've got two more months to go until relief in November. This year we are traveling north in Sept/October to escape the heat and avoid the worst of hurricane season (hopefully!). If that works well for us, we may just become northern "fall birds". :D
 
simple girl said:
Excellent. That will give you a good assessment of your heat and humidity tolerance, for sure.

I find that I seem to tolerate it pretty well until late August...then I'm just worn out by it, especially realizing I've got two more months to go until relief in November. This year we are traveling north in Sept/October to escape the heat and avoid the worst of hurricane season (hopefully!). If that works well for us, we may just become northern "fall birds". :D
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Good plan. Minor version for me, as going on vacation for 16 days in Sept.
I am usually good with the heat until October, then it's like 1 more month still?
 
Dtail said:
Good plan. Minor version for me, as going on vacation for 16 days in Sept.
I am usually good with the heat until October, then it's like 1 more month still?
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That is where the NE excels, a little more tolerable than the SW and SE.
 
Dtail said:
Good plan. Minor version for me, as going on vacation for 16 days in Sept.
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We got lucky last year and made it to Yellowstone around that same time frame. Came back just in time for Ian...and for my flights to visit my family in PA to be canceled!

I've decided that I'm never planning a flight again in Sept/October - unless I drive to somewhere like Atlanta and fly out!

We are doing a driving trip this year up to the Great Smoky Mountains and Asheville.

Hope you have no issues with travel!!

Dtail said:
I am usually good with the heat until October, then it's like 1 more month still?
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Right? Heat fatigue is the real deal by then!!!
 
simple girl said:
That's a very good point. You just don't have quite as warm of a winter, typically, I suppose. Trade-offs!
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You are right, we do get a couple of weeks of perky weather in winter. Well worth it though. Being on the tail end of the hurricanes (for the most part) is priceless.
 
simple girl said:
We got lucky last year and made it to Yellowstone around that same time frame. Came back just in time for Ian...and for my flights to visit my family in PA to be canceled!

I've decided that I'm never planning a flight again in Sept/October - unless I drive to somewhere like Atlanta and fly out!

We are doing a driving trip this year up to the Great Smoky Mountains and Asheville.

Hope you have no issues with travel!!


Right? Heat fatigue is the real deal by then!!!
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Those are 2 places I am interested in, especially driving to Ashville. Let me know the good details after you come back.:flowers:
 
Dtail said:
Those are 2 places I am interested in, especially driving to Ashville. Let me know the good details after you come back.:flowers:
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Will do!!! :flowers:

We secured a 6 week housesit just outside of Asheville with a mountain/sunset view. Super excited! Kinda glad for the heat/hurricane season as it motivated me to plan ahead and secure this sit as soon as it posted. :D
 
You'll probably be fine, but you never know. DW's niece announced that she'd be married in Asheville Sept 2004. DW looked at me and said, "I bet there will be a hurricane." Nah...

There was not one hurricane. There were TWO. The niece's wedding was at the Grove Park without power the day after Ivan raked the area. It was interesting. The rehearsal dinner was blown out of the water (literally) so DW and I served as ad hoc hosts with food from Costco.

Memorable!

https://www.citizen-times.com/story...ces-ivan-impact-lingers-years-later/15217637/
 
JoeWras said:
You'll probably be fine, but you never know. DW's niece announced that she'd be married in Asheville Sept 2004. DW looked at me and said, "I bet there will be a hurricane." Nah...

There was not one hurricane. There were TWO. The niece's wedding was at the Grove Park without power the day after Ivan raked the area. It was interesting. The rehearsal dinner was blown out of the water (literally) so DW and I served as ad hoc hosts with food from Costco.

Memorable!

https://www.citizen-times.com/story...ces-ivan-impact-lingers-years-later/15217637/
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Oh man! That's definitely a memorable wedding! Oy!

Thanks for the heads up. I realize we can still end up in the path of a hurricane but by the time it is that far inland, the risks will be heavy rain and flooding and maybe tornados. I would much rather take those risks than be hit by a CAT4 or 5! We are just a few miles inland here in FL.
 
JP.mpls said:
Naples is also a half hour from the Fort Meyers airport. (RSM?) I believe they have been offering direct flights to Europe for a very long time.

There is a fairly large German population in SWFL, and I read it is because they offer direct flights to Dusseldorf Germany.
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I have lived in FL a
long time in 3 locations on 3 coasts, FL is not the same as it was a few years ago. Check your costs here, especially insurance, flood coverage, and particularly real estate. MANY are choosing other states because of this.

Be careful....I see many come and not stay long these days.
 
cj1717 said:
I have lived in FL a
long time in 3 locations on 3 coasts, FL is not the same as it was a few years ago. Check your costs here, especially insurance, flood coverage, and particularly real estate. MANY are choosing other states because of this.

Be careful....I see many come and not stay long these days.
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+1 My wife has been here 74 years and I have lived here for 56 years. We have also seen a lot of changes. "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot". It isn't the same as your father's Florida.

Cheers!
 
Once nice thing about Florida is the Tax portability. When you sell to buy another home, up or downsize, your RE Taxes are limited assuming you have the Homestead exemption. So the RE tax does not reset to the new price you paid, this is a big problem in California Prop 13 or no Prop 13. There is a calculator too.
 
ShokWaveRider said:
Once nice thing about Florida is the Tax portability. When you sell to buy another home, up or downsize, your RE Taxes are limited assuming you have the Homestead exemption. So the RE tax does not reset to the new price you paid, this is a big problem in California Prop 13 or no Prop 13. There is a calculator too.
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So how does this work? Is there a website you recommend for me to better understand this?
 
ShokWaveRider said:
Once nice thing about Florida is the Tax portability. When you sell to buy another home, up or downsize, your RE Taxes are limited assuming you have the Homestead exemption. So the RE tax does not reset to the new price you paid, this is a big problem in California Prop 13 or no Prop 13. There is a calculator too.
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I never knew of this Tax Portability in Florida. About 12yrs ago I was looking into buying and moving to a new house but I thought my taxes would triple for the same size house so for that and other reasons I didn't. I always thought when you buy another home the taxes started at "square one". If I go first my wife may want to take advantage of this Tax Portability. However, I have seen where people will tear down a house and leave one wall so they can call it a remodel to save on taxes.

Cheers!
 
I didn't know, either. When I moved to FL from MD four years ago, one of my very first trips was to the tax office for my Homestead application.

My RE taxes were at the previous owner's low rate during the first year, then jumped 50%* (yikes) based on what I paid for the home. Thank goodness for homesteading, as there has been a price "bubble" in my area (they never last).

*It was really 50%, not 33%. Double yikes!


Badger said:
I never knew of this Tax Portability in Florida. About 12yrs ago I was looking into buying and moving to a new house but I thought my taxes would triple for the same size house so for that and other reasons I didn't. I always thought when you buy another home the taxes started at "square one". If I go first my wife may want to take advantage of this Tax Portability. However, I have seen where people will tear down a house and leave one wall so they can call it a remodel to save on taxes.

Cheers!
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ShokWaveRider said:
https://forst.tax/how-florida-homestead-portability-works/

https://www.miamidade.gov/pa/exemptions_portability_calculations.asp

https://specializedra.coffeecup.com/Portability Calc 106/
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A couple of additional points.
If one purchases a different home which is less than the market value of the home they sold, there is a prorated value as to the homestead portability.
Also the maximum carryover to a new home is 500k, based on the difference between the market and assessed values.
 
Scuba said:
Another update - we are narrowing things down. We decided we prefer the Sarasota area for a number of reasons. We also decided to do a 1031 exchange as we are selling our CA beach condo. Therefore, we need to buy an investment property.

We decided to focus on gated resort style country club communities that offer golf, tennis, pickleball, beautiful pools, a gym, and a restaurant/bar. A property management firm said homes in areas such as these are very easy to rent seasonally, and may also be able to be rented occasionally during other parts of the year with a 30-day minimum rental. We think we could also enjoy spending time there and/or living in it as our primary residence if we decide down the road to convert it from an investment property.

We are still open to other options, but the community we are most focused on is Esplanade in Lakewood Ranch. It is beautiful, well located, and has wonderful amenities. It’s a bit further from the beach than we had hoped - 30-45 minute drive, but the benefit of this is that it is not in a hurricane evacuation zone. There is a similar community we like in Venice, but damage from Ian is still quite apparent in nearby areas. It’s not in a flood zone, but it is in “Zone C” for evacuation. I imagine homeowners insurance will also be less expensive in Lakewood Ranch.

We like the beaches in this area alot, but realistically probably would not go to the beach more than a few times per month. We looked at some beachfront condos in FL, but they seem to have very few full time residents. The ones we saw were pretty dead in the summer, while Esplanade and similar communities still had groups of people in the pool, at the bar and restaurant, in the gym, etc. That isn’t that important as an investment property, but if we convert it to personal use someday, we don’t want to be there when it’s a ghost town. We actually enjoy being in FL in summertime - best time of the year to enjoy the beaches!

Now we just have to see if we can find a property we like in the location we want within the 45 day allowed period. Right now there is nothing on the market that meets our criteria.
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Make sure someone will write you a hazard insurance policy. It's getting ugly down here!
 
Buckeye said:
Make sure someone will write you a hazard insurance policy. It's getting ugly down here!
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This is not breaking news. Insurers have been leaving the state since the hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005.
 
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