[melb]

That is great, Jungle George and Floridabound09! I'm glad for your last posts! Yesterday after reading this thread, I was feeling very confused. As a matter of fact, on our way to my parents' house, I told my DH that one minute it sounds like we are on the right track to move, and the next minute it's, "Oh, the taxes are horrible, you will be killed by a hurricane in 2.2 seconds of your arrival, you will be baked by May 31 with the heat, and our Homeowners' Insurance is $15,000 a year!" You guys made me feel better.

We are thinking of moving to the Pensacola or Gulf Breeze areas (or a couple of select surrounding towns) for many reasons, and we are coming to a time where it will be our chance to make that change, as his job will likely be ending when they get bought out. Anyways, we are not by any means romanticizing Florida, we both were in college there, and my husband lived there with his family for several years in high school. Yes, I do remember first getting off the plane my freshman year. I thought I was walking into a wall of humidity! But you know what? I loved every minute of the sunshine, and the heat doesn't bother me like the cold. Now we are very concerned about the HOI costs due to the recent hurricanes, and we are used to high taxes, we live in Montgomery County, PA. It is crazy, they go up every year, and you do NOT get to vote on it. It is just in your bill. Could be $50 more, could be $300 more. It's a surprise! Every town and school district is different, too. We pay almost $2500 a year on an 1100 sq. ft. townhouse! My parents are thinking of moving to the mountains when they retire, b/c taxes are cheap there since there are not many people. They do not like the heat, so that is great for them. It is not a light decision for us, we do not want to make a wrong decision. We know the area we want to move to, and have lived there b/4, my DH is from Arkansas, and we lived there for 5 years b/4 coming back to my home of PA. So heat is not the problem for us. We hate the cold. There are many things we love about PA, but you have to take your pick I guess. Our big issues would be the insurance and the job availability. Plus, my brothers are moving down to Clearwater, and aunt and uncle are moving somewhere in FL, and my mom's cousin is going, too, so we won't be totally away from family, although Clearwater is 7 1/2 hrs. from P'cola area. We were joking that our whole family will be there soon!

Frankly, I think (weatherwise) that it is a matter of taste. I have a friend that hates the beach, the sand, and heat. She loves the cold. As a matter of fact, she wants to move to South Dakota! My sister went to college in FL like me, but she hated the heat and humidity, and didn't appreciate the beach and the fact that you could get a tan in 15 minutes flat in September! Everyone is different, and I think possibly what some of us are looking for in these forums are just the facts. Is the HOI really $15,000 a year? I would certainly expect it to be more than what I pay here in PA, we rarely have any severe weather at all, except for the snow and ice, and occasional Thunderstorm, and some people like to say they had a tornado if there is damage from it. But I wouldn't want to pay THAT much! So, I'll gladly take all the real and true info., good and bad, b/c in the end, we have to mash it all together and make a decision one way or the other! But if you are dying of heat in South Florida, maybe you can buy our house in PA! We had a solid week of 20-something degree weather last week! And you usually get a brown Christmas anyways, not a white one. It rarely works out perfectly that way! BTW, Happy Holidays to us all!

[macguy]

Originally Posted by melb

That is great, Jungle George and Floridabound09! I'm glad for your last posts! Yesterday after reading this thread, I was feeling very confused. As a matter of fact, on our way to my parents' house, I told my DH that one minute it sounds like we are on the right track to move, and the next minute it's, "Oh, the taxes are horrible, you will be killed by a hurricane in 2.2 seconds of your arrival, you will be baked by May 31 with the heat, and our Homeowners' Insurance is $15,000 a year!" You guys made me feel better.

We are thinking of moving to the Pensacola or Gulf Breeze areas (or a couple of select surrounding towns) for many reasons, and we are coming to a time where it will be our chance to make that change, as his job will likely be ending when they get bought out. Anyways, we are not by any means romanticizing Florida, we both were in college there, and my husband lived there with his family for several years in high school. Yes, I do remember first getting off the plane my freshman year. I thought I was walking into a wall of humidity! But you know what? I loved every minute of the sunshine, and the heat doesn't bother me like the cold. Now we are very concerned about the HOI costs due to the recent hurricanes, and we are used to high taxes, we live in Montgomery County, PA. It is crazy, they go up every year, and you do NOT get to vote on it. It is just in your bill. Could be $50 more, could be $300 more. It's a surprise! Every town and school district is different, too. We pay almost $2500 a year on an 1100 sq. ft. townhouse! My parents are thinking of moving to the mountains when they retire, b/c taxes are cheap there since there are not many people. They do not like the heat, so that is great for them. It is not a light decision for us, we do not want to make a wrong decision. We know the area we want to move to, and have lived there b/4, my DH is from Arkansas, and we lived there for 5 years b/4 coming back to my home of PA. So heat is not the problem for us. We hate the cold. There are many things we love about PA, but you have to take your pick I guess. Our big issues would be the insurance and the job availability. Plus, my brothers are moving down to Clearwater, and aunt and uncle are moving somewhere in FL, and my mom's cousin is going, too, so we won't be totally away from family, although Clearwater is 7 1/2 hrs. from P'cola area. We were joking that our whole family will be there soon!

Frankly, I think (weatherwise) that it is a matter of taste. I have a friend that hates the beach, the sand, and heat. She loves the cold. As a matter of fact, she wants to move to South Dakota! My sister went to college in FL like me, but she hated the heat and humidity, and didn't appreciate the beach and the fact that you could get a tan in 15 minutes flat in September! Everyone is different, and I think possibly what some of us are looking for in these forums are just the facts. Is the HOI really $15,000 a year? I would certainly expect it to be more than what I pay here in PA, we rarely have any severe weather at all, except for the snow and ice, and occasional Thunderstorm, and some people like to say they had a tornado if there is damage from it. But I wouldn't want to pay THAT much! So, I'll gladly take all the real and true info., good and bad, b/c in the end, we have to mash it all together and make a decision one way or the other! But if you are dying of heat in South Florida, maybe you can buy our house in PA! We had a solid week of 20-something degree weather last week! And you usually get a brown Christmas anyways, not a white one. It rarely works out perfectly that way! BTW, Happy Holidays to us all!

$15,000 would be very high, but for the record, my HOI is $7200.00, so it can be up there no doubt it and you would be moving to a high risk area. I don't care about taxes they are what they are based on values. I would like to see them more fair though.

[Jungle George]

Originally Posted by melb

That is great, Jungle George and Floridabound09! I'm glad for your last posts! Yesterday after reading this thread, I was feeling very confused. As a matter of fact, on our way to my parents' house, I told my DH that one minute it sounds like we are on the right track to move, and the next minute it's, "Oh, the taxes are horrible, you will be killed by a hurricane in 2.2 seconds of your arrival, you will be baked by May 31 with the heat, and our Homeowners' Insurance is $15,000 a year!" You guys made me feel better.

We are thinking of moving to the Pensacola or Gulf Breeze areas (or a couple of select surrounding towns) for many reasons, and we are coming to a time where it will be our chance to make that change, as his job will likely be ending when they get bought out. Anyways, we are not by any means romanticizing Florida, we both were in college there, and my husband lived there with his family for several years in high school. Yes, I do remember first getting off the plane my freshman year. I thought I was walking into a wall of humidity! But you know what? I loved every minute of the sunshine, and the heat doesn't bother me like the cold. Now we are very concerned about the HOI costs due to the recent hurricanes, and we are used to high taxes, we live in Montgomery County, PA. It is crazy, they go up every year, and you do NOT get to vote on it. It is just in your bill. Could be $50 more, could be $300 more. It's a surprise! Every town and school district is different, too. We pay almost $2500 a year on an 1100 sq. ft. townhouse! My parents are thinking of moving to the mountains when they retire, b/c taxes are cheap there since there are not many people. They do not like the heat, so that is great for them. It is not a light decision for us, we do not want to make a wrong decision. We know the area we want to move to, and have lived there b/4, my DH is from Arkansas, and we lived there for 5 years b/4 coming back to my home of PA. So heat is not the problem for us. We hate the cold. There are many things we love about PA, but you have to take your pick I guess. Our big issues would be the insurance and the job availability. Plus, my brothers are moving down to Clearwater, and aunt and uncle are moving somewhere in FL, and my mom's cousin is going, too, so we won't be totally away from family, although Clearwater is 7 1/2 hrs. from P'cola area. We were joking that our whole family will be there soon!

Frankly, I think (weatherwise) that it is a matter of taste. I have a friend that hates the beach, the sand, and heat. She loves the cold. As a matter of fact, she wants to move to South Dakota! My sister went to college in FL like me, but she hated the heat and humidity, and didn't appreciate the beach and the fact that you could get a tan in 15 minutes flat in September! Everyone is different, and I think possibly what some of us are looking for in these forums are just the facts. Is the HOI really $15,000 a year? I would certainly expect it to be more than what I pay here in PA, we rarely have any severe weather at all, except for the snow and ice, and occasional Thunderstorm, and some people like to say they had a tornado if there is damage from it. But I wouldn't want to pay THAT much! So, I'll gladly take all the real and true info., good and bad, b/c in the end, we have to mash it all together and make a decision one way or the other! But if you are dying of heat in South Florida, maybe you can buy our house in PA! We had a solid week of 20-something degree weather last week! And you usually get a brown Christmas anyways, not a white one. It rarely works out perfectly that way! BTW, Happy Holidays to us all!

Firstoff...good luck with your decisionmaking!!

Now, I must say it's an important & good thing to do your homework. These threads are helpful in 1 way & detrimental in another...thus your confusion.

My advice to you would be first to settle on a specific area (like you were saying the Pensacola area). I then would spend some time there in person looking at the area & talking to "locals" so you can narrow it down to a town, then a neighborhood.

There are SO many variables on costs of taxes/HOI/etc you can't really judge by what you read. It seems to actually be a crapshoot!! When you settle on a neighborhood, I would check homes for sale in the area & check what your estimated taxes would be at the town hall there & talk to some homeowners or an insurance agency nearby to get a more "concrete" estimate as to what your HOI would be. Age of house, material used in construction, location, they ALL affect the price. My HOI is now 2200.00 & my neighbor next door is 4600.00 & across the street is 1800.00....as examples. So you see the variables...

It's a big move and well worth the extra effort beforehand, if for nothing else than your peace of mind in making an educated decision!!

As you can see, many posts here are "jaded" by the poster's attitudes or emotions whether for Fl or against, so as individual as we all are, it's best to make YOUR decision on as many facts as possible.

Good luck in your eventual move & Happy Holidays!!
George

[macguy]

Originally Posted by Jungle George

Firstoff...good luck with your decisionmaking!!

Now, I must say it's an important & good thing to do your homework. These threads are helpful in 1 way & detrimental in another...thus your confusion.

My advice to you would be first to settle on a specific area (like you were saying the Pensacola area). I then would spend some time there in person looking at the area & talking to "locals" so you can narrow it down to a town, then a neighborhood.

There are SO many variables on costs of taxes/HOI/etc you can't really judge by what you read. It seems to actually be a crapshoot!! When you settle on a neighborhood, I would check homes for sale in the area & check what your estimated taxes would be at the town hall there & talk to some homeowners or an insurance agency nearby to get a more "concrete" estimate as to what your HOI would be. Age of house, material used in construction, location, they ALL affect the price. My HOI is now 2200.00 & my neighbor next door is 4600.00 & across the street is 1800.00....as examples. So you see the variables...

It's a big move and well worth the extra effort beforehand, if for nothing else than your peace of mind in making an educated decision!!

As you can see, many posts here are "jaded" by the poster's attitudes or emotions whether for Fl or against, so as individual as we all are, it's best to make YOUR decision on as many facts as possible.

Good luck in your eventual move & Happy Holidays!!
George

Did your HOI go down?

[Jungle George]

Originally Posted by macguy

Did your HOI go down?

My insurance went down 1000.00 from 2006. Also our taxes went down almost 200.00. I am still not working from taking care of my mom, (but plan to get back to work in January) so the savings was a boon this year especially!!.

If your HOI is so expensive, you might check with an agency that deals with a whole bunch of companies as opposed to an independent if you haven't done so yet. In 2006 a bunch more companies opened up the Fl market.

[Sunnydee]

Hi, everyone! Just another Ohioan checking in to say that the snow and cold of last week was not pleasant. We had school delayed twice and three days in a row I woke to temperatures in the teens. Meanwhile my parents, who live in Florida, were enjoying sunshine and temperatures in the 80's. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Florida sounds mighty good to a lot of us in the Midwest.

[sunrico90]

See OP

I promised some of you a snow ball when the first snow hit here. Well, it is not a snow ball ( too soft ) but it will let bring back memories to some of you.

I promise I will bring a snowball to Florida in an ice chest when I finally leave this place.

Oceandreams, JenRen, Nomoresnow, Frank, My Home Ocala and many I cannot remember right now too tired from shoveling SNOW, I went sleding with my daughter tonight and what did she say " Daddy, do we really have to do this? "

Roads are nasty, going to 18 tonight, no school, level 1 road emergency, dog wont even go outside...YUCK !!!

I cannot stand it anymore.

Anyway, heres your first look at some real white stuff from the frozen tundras of Ohio.

Lets keep this to the original post and other discussion might be better in other threads, we got many to choose from, just find the proper one.

Thank you

[melb]

Thanks for your help and advice, btw, I'd love for my taxes to drop! (not going to happen here in philly suburbs!) Yes, we are trying to keep from being too close to the water, thought Gulf Breeze at first, b/c we knew how totally nice it is, but too risky, probably higher ins. So, we are definitely going to have to take a "vacation" and check it all out in person, as we haven't been down there in several years. Thanks again!

[faithfulFrank]

Dear Floridabound09,

Sorry...I just found your post. Actually, the day you started it, I was flying to Florida....been here a week now AND LOVING IT...!!!!!

Sunny and 80's every day so far. We have 3 weeks down here, Christmas here with my wife....no kids , no snow, it is great !!!

Today I've been helping the neighborhood committee STRING CHRISTMAS LIGHTS ON PALM TREES !!!! No big deal to the residents, but for me it was unreal......I never in a million years would have thought I'd be doing this and loving this a year ago. If you told me a year ago I'd own a house in Florida, I would have thought you were nuts. I've never been happier.

I've been busy working on so many projects here on the house.....shorts on every day, and a nice tan to boot. Nights swimming in the pool and hot tub looking at the stars and the fireflies......

Well, I gotta get back to those lights......post more later.....

Posting from beautiful sunny Leesburg,

Frank D.

[luvmyanimals]

I lived in Florida for over 13 years and loved every minute of it. I am not there now but it's not because of the heat(loved it),hurricanes(went through 3 living there). I know you will enjoy living there and have so much fun. The only thing I was nervous about, swimming in lakes due to alligators, just have to keep the eyes open. I think the best part is mowing the grass the day before Christmas to have the house just perfect for company(only in florida). Who knows maybe someday I will return down there, jobs are hard to come by anywhere right now, and times are getting tough anywhere. I say life is what you make it, and if Florida is the place then live it up, have a blast. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL