[tasdad4701]

Me an my wife are looking to move to Seminole county,
or Volusia. We have heard that insurance and taxes are out of control,
in Florida. We are looking to get a house for $120,000 to $180,000.
There is a town named DeLand that has houses listed between $150,000
and $180,000 that are newer homes in nice subdivisions.
We just want the truth, this will better prepare us for the market.
My wife is a Elementary school teacher and I am a Heavy Equipment operator,
these are jobs easily found in Florida. We are attending a teacher fair, in June
and are looking to be in house by Mid-July.

[missy sissy]

as far as i heard delbarry on the other side is better also i remember something about flooding .make sure you check all that out .and if you do buy i would get a home inspector to be safe.

[pianogal]

Debary is a very nice bedroom community of Orlando - a neighboring city of Deltona which is not very nice. They are both much closer to Orlando than Deland. You can count on about 2% of assessed value for property taxes. This is NOT market value. You MAY save a little on your property taxes by buying a resell versus new home. Most of the time a new home assessment seems to be closer to actual market value than an older home - however due to the Save our Homes Bill where property taxes are capped at 3% - New purchasers of previously homesteaded property may pay significantly higher property tax under current Florida Law (Save Our Homes Amendment). Previous owner’s values were “capped” the year after purchase. New owners are assessed at full value, then “capped” for future years of ownership.

So, if you buy a new home for 180K - plan on having up to 3600.00 a year property taxes. Debary would be less about 3100.00 because their millage rate is 17. Deland's is 20.

I don't know for sure about property insurance. Are you currently with a national company? Allstate or State Farm? If so, you could call them and get the number to the local Florida agent. They could give you some info. In Orlando we are paying 1600 for a new 3200 sq foot concrete block home. We got a 1K credit because it was new and built to the latest hurricane codes. I'm GUESSING a new smaller home would be a little less.

Good Luck! Deland is a beautiful little almost country place. ALthough with the new development happening it won't stay country for much longer! However, it is only 24 miles to New Smyrna Beach (my favorite east coast beach) close to Blue Springs (think Manatees and snorkling) and De Leon Springs (think paddle boats, canoes, fishing, swimming, and a fantastic cook your own All You Can Eat - freshing ground Pancake Batter from THe Old Mill Pancake House) and Stetson University. I really like Deland!

[Prichard]

Deberry has more flooding problems than Deland or most of Orlando. FWIW, most of Orlando and surrounding areas don't flood, with a few exceptions. And those exceptions are areas that surround some of the larger lakes.

It always amazes me how wealthy people pay more money for the worst land. Having lived here all of my life and seen routine flooding around many of the larger lakes, I have absolutely no desire to live on a lake. If you live on a lake, people in boats zip by your home constantly. Or park it in front of your home so that they can gawk at your mansion that sits on the smelly, wet piece of land. Not only do lake properties flood, they smell bad, aren't very good for swimming, have loud boaters and jetskiers on them, and insurance on lake front properties is almost always higher.

Give me enough acres of wooded upland property so that I can run around naked on my land without scaring the neighbors, and enough so that the neighbors activities don't scare me (ideally 20 acres, but 7 will do in a pinch), and I'm a happy man.

[tasdad4701]

Originally Posted by pianogal

Debary is a very nice bedroom community of Orlando - a neighboring city of Deltona which is not very nice. They are both much closer to Orlando than Deland. You can count on about 2% of assessed value for property taxes. This is NOT market value. You MAY save a little on your property taxes by buying a resell versus new home. Most of the time a new home assessment seems to be closer to actual market value than an older home - however due to the Save our Homes Bill where property taxes are capped at 3% - New purchasers of previously homesteaded property may pay significantly higher property tax under current Florida Law (Save Our Homes Amendment). Previous owner’s values were “capped” the year after purchase. New owners are assessed at full value, then “capped” for future years of ownership.

So, if you buy a new home for 180K - plan on having up to 3600.00 a year property taxes. Debary would be less about 3100.00 because their millage rate is 17. Deland's is 20.

I don't know for sure about property insurance. Are you currently with a national company? Allstate or State Farm? If so, you could call them and get the number to the local Florida agent. They could give you some info. In Orlando we are paying 1600 for a new 3200 sq foot concrete block home. We got a 1K credit because it was new and built to the latest hurricane codes. I'm GUESSING a new smaller home would be a little less.

Good Luck! Deland is a beautiful little almost country place. ALthough with the new development happening it won't stay country for much longer! However, it is only 24 miles to New Smyrna Beach (my favorite east coast beach) close to Blue Springs (think Manatees and snorkling) and De Leon Springs (think paddle boats, canoes, fishing, swimming, and a fantastic cook your own All You Can Eat - freshing ground Pancake Batter from THe Old Mill Pancake House) and Stetson University. I really like Deland!

Thanks for all the info, we have AAA Property insurance here in Michigan I beleive there headquarters is near DeLand.

[Prichard]

There are very few insurance companies insuring residential structures in Florida right now. Don't count on AAA Property insurance (not one that I've heard of insuring in Florida) giving you property insurnace when you move here just because they have a business here. You better ask them if they insure in Florida, and if so, what parts and whether they have plans to cancel Florida policies in the near future (like when hurricane season starts again).

[RedWingsFan]

We were just in the process of buying a house in Port Orange (Volusia County). The home was $250k and the homeowner's insurance was going to be $1350 per year (that included a 2% hurricane deductible). The property taxes were to be almost $5000 per year (ouch). Nice city, but salaries are SO low and expenses are high.

[pianogal]

Some insurance companies that I know are writing in this area right now. Just had to find another company so have researched it exhaustively recently.

State Farm
AllState - under Royal Palm
American Strategic
Amica - MAY be writing in Volusia/Lake. Right now is NOT writing Orlando and south.
Universal Insurance

[AJ67]

FYI AAA no long writes in Flroida, we we Dumped last yr by them.
what they do is underwrite, and the prices are alot higher then if you were to go else where..
Since you wife is a teacher Try Horace MAnn Ins. they are strictly for Educators and are very good , with their claims and competative prices

[tasdad4701]

Originally Posted by AJ67

FYI AAA no long writes in Flroida, we we Dumped last yr by them.
what they do is underwrite, and the prices are alot higher then if you were to go else where..
Since you wife is a teacher Try Horace MAnn Ins. they are strictly for Educators and are very good , with their claims and competative prices

Thanks for the info we will check it out.