[DONEO75]

We are a senior couple that want to move for the last time. We live in central Florida and I am insurance poor. Where do I find the exact savings I will receive if I move to Alabama. I mean homowners. car insurance, property taxes. We muust be able to save a lot for the move to be worthwhile.

[Kegan]

Things like auto insurance, fire insurance, and certainly flood insurance can change drastically in just a few blocks. Fire classification etc all factor in. In Baldwin County for instance, basically you can not get flood insurance west of US 98, the further east you go, the cheaper it gets. Also, local sales tax run as high as 10% in some areas.

So.... in order to get an exact idea, you would need to pick an address first.

Also, remember if you have wage income, there is an approx. 5% state income tax. I seem to recall FL doesn't have one.

[Chris Bassett]

If you move to AL. stay out of the large cites crime is high and all that goes with it. The best place to live with the lowest crime rarte in the Southeast(FBI report) is Marion, Winston, or Larmar County in Northwest Al. Stay out of Mobile, Montgromery, Huntsville and Birmingham AL. they have high crime, high prices, bad schools, and bad goverment.

[deesonic]

Originally Posted by Chris Bassett

If you move to AL. stay out of the large cites crime is high and all that goes with it. The best place to live with the lowest crime rarte in the Southeast(FBI report) is Marion, Winston, or Larmar County in Northwest Al. Stay out of Mobile, Montgromery, Huntsville and Birmingham AL. they have high crime, high prices, bad schools, and bad goverment.

That is an utterly ridiculous statement, especially as it pertains to Huntsville. I can only guess you have an agenda for making such a claim and have spent little time in the Rocket City. Huntsville's crime rate is extremely low for a city its size and the leadership is nothing but progressive and forward thinking. Why do you think this town is booming? And schools? Some of the best schools in the state are in the CITY of Huntsville; Grissom and Huntsville High. There's a surplus of high paying jobs here. Cost of living is probably slightly higher than rural counties, but that's because there are plenty of high paying jobs to go around. What good is a low cost of living without a decent job? And for that matter, the original poster was not concerned with schools or jobs.

Coming from central Florida, a city like Huntsville will have a relatively nice small town feel. But we have many amenities of a larger city, such as nice restaurants (Ruth's Chris just opened here), nightlife, and minor league pro sports (AA baseball, arena football, hockey, and D1 college hockey). But I might also recommend Guntersville. It's a great place to retire; beautiful mountain/lake scenery, lots of amenities, close to Huntsville, Bham, Atlanta. Real estate is a bit higher than many small towns because G'ville is a resort town though.

So, good luck and welcome to Alabama if you come this way. I just returned after a ten year absence and I'm glad I did.

[bamagal]

Hi!

We moved to Clay, Alabama, which is just north of Birmingham, from South Florida almost 10 years ago. We really love it here.

For a $200K home in our area, property taxes run around $1K-1.2K a year. Homeowners' insurance is about the same. Car insurance is going to vary a lot, depending upon your record, type & year of car, type of coverage, etc., but you could probably assume around $1K-1.5K per car per year.

Sales taxes are around 8-9% in the local communities. Yes, there is a state income tax. You could go to the Alabama Department of Revenue website to see the forms and do an estimate of how much state income tax you might have to pay for your salary.

I imagine the property taxes would be greater if you moved to a very upscale community, but I can't imagine they would be nearly as much as I know they are right now in South Florida. I don't know if Central Florida has had the same situation with greatly increased insurance and property tax rates, but I know it isn't anywhere close to the same amounts for the same size homes here as it is in South Florida. (Of course, we don't have the annual hurricane threat to worry about in our part of the state). We do have tornadoes, although we've not had one in our community in the almost 10 years we've been here. Although I haven't seen any scientific studies on this, I've noticed that the tornadoes tend to be more of a threat in flatter areas than ones that are more mountainous. But I could be wrong - that's just my observation of tornado strikes in this area since we've been here. And I saw more tornadoes when we lived in Florida than I've seen here, so I wouldn't let that deter you from moving here.

There are a number of new garden homes being built in the Clay area. They have small yards for low maintenance, and they are one-story homes. I think most homes in our area run $130K-$350K and up. You could also look into having a home built to your specifications. I know the Clayton Cove subdivision off of Clayton Road in Clay has several builders and a number of lots that would probably be well suited to a one-story home. I don't know if they require you to go with one of their plans or not. I think those homes sell for $260K-$320K - I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure that's close. I think some of those homes are in the adjacent Highland Green subdivision. You might find more information if you do an internet search on one of those names. Trussville and Springville are also nearby, and they have garden home communities as well. In addition, there is a lot of new construction in the Argo & Margaret areas - some of those may be garden homes.

We really haven't experienced a lot of crime in our area, although since our area is growing, I imagine the crime will increase as well.

We do have some lovely scenery; the leaves were absolutely gorgeous this year. I know that's something you don't see in Florida. You can also grow lots of things you simply can't grow in Florida, if you have any interest in gardening. (Although deer can sometimes be a problem - it depends upon exactly where you are.)

Winters are relatively mild - the lowest it's gotten since we've been here is around 15 degrees F., although that is unusual. The upper 20's are usually the lowest it gets, and even then it doesn't last long. We have more ice storms than snow in our area, and even those are relatively rare. Nobody drives around here when there is snow or ice on the ground - it just doesn't happen that often, and people aren't comfortable driving on it.

There are a lot of excellent medical facilities in the Birmingham area. UAB Hospital is particularly well-known, and it's about a 40 minute drive from here. There are lots of other hospitals and doctors offices as well.

There are lots of churches of different denominations in our area. We have a wonderful church family - we would love to have you visit us if you should decide to move to this area.

There are also lots of excellent shopping areas nearby, mostly in the Trussville area.

I hope this helps!

[homey]

You need to pick an area your interested in, check the internet, locate a Realitor, then vist.

We moved from SW FL and wanted to live in Dothan, we ended up in Slocomb and are 10 mile to the circle in Dothan, we bought a brand new house, first of all we saved, No FLOOD ins, second we saved homeowners ins is 1/3 of what I was paying, third we saved on property taxes, if you are 65 or older you do not have to pay property taxes as I understand it. You are maybe 6 hour drive to central FL, if you want to go back and visit, you are about 5 to 7 mile from the FL/AL line here, and the property taxes we cheaper here then in Huston county - car ins will vary.

I ended up paying as must for my mtg pmt as I was in SWFL, but that includes the taxes and ins and I got a brand new home with more Sq footage and more property.

You need to pick an area, then come check it out first hand for yourself.

[rabbiMeister]

I have met some nice folks in Dothan as well. Dothan is an interesting little 'circle city'. We had a great meal at a steak/seafood house right across the street from the Holiday Inn, it was surprisingly good and fresh- I can't rmember the name of it now though

God Bless and SHALOM

[homey]

Hunt's - best place in town - and Holiday Inn is the best bet for a place to stay money wise.