Hubby wants to us move from NY to FL! (Oviedo: for sale, home)

[Cathte]

Bellamouse...no. he had to go out for health reasons.

[minniemom1225]

I love how everyone is so concerned with why her husband is retired so young. LOL They all want the secret.


Cathte, my oldest is starting 9th grade and we've gone to an open house at Hagerty. My husband spoke to the counselors and they didn't mention anything about having to possibly bus kids elsewhere. I'm going to have to call now. Thanks for the heads up. We've only been looking in that school zone for somewhere to live for that specific purpose. It would really stink if that's the case.

[Joey Falcon]

There is someone called Jo48 who moved here from NY because her husband wanted it. Now she hates it down here.

[VTGal]

Originally Posted by Cathte

kyle19125... husband is set on FL because of it's nontaxable income and that works for our set income.

I sure hope that's not his only reason for moving here. It is HOT here in the summer, which lasts from April- October.
You mentioned you work PT, will you have a job before you move?

Isn't retirement income non taxable in SC? You might want to check things out on that forum.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by Cathte

kyle19125... husband is set on FL because of it's nontaxable income and that works for our set income.

Georgia is competitive with Florida in terms of taxes and South Carolina isn't far behind. There's more to cost of living with other incidentals such as insurance (car and home) plus grocery costs, gas and utilities. You would do well to research those differences before assuming it's cheaper here.

State-by-State Guide to Taxes on Retirees - Georgia -Kiplinger

State-by-State Guide to Taxes on Retirees - South_Carolina -Kiplinger

[VTGal]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Georgia is competitive with Florida in terms of taxes and South Carolina isn't far behind. There's more to cost of living with other incidentals such as insurance (car and home) plus grocery costs, gas and utilities. You would do well to research those differences before assuming it's cheaper here.

I agree. So many people assume it's cheaper in FL simply because of the lack of an income tax.

Registering a car in FL is NOT cheap, car insurance isn't cheap either especially in Orange County
Then there's sales tax, some food items are taxed here that were not taxed in my home state, like chocolate bars.

Rents are not cheap here either. A 1 BR downtown in one of the newer complexes starts at $1300
that can be a huge chunk out of some folks budget and it's only getting more expensive.

The only think I found to be cheaper here is electricity, per KWH that is.

[Bellamouse]

Originally Posted by VTGal

I agree. So many people assume it's cheaper in FL simply because of the lack of an income tax.

Registering a car in FL is NOT cheap, car insurance isn't cheap either especially in Orange County
Then there's sales tax, some food items are taxed here that were not taxed in my home state, like chocolate bars.

Rents are not cheap here either. A 1 BR downtown in one of the newer complexes starts at $1300
that can be a huge chunk out of some folks budget and it's only getting more expensive.

The only think I found to be cheaper here is electricity, per KWH that is.

I guess it all depends on where you came from. Where we came from, sales tax is 10.25%, car insurance was the same as down here, and while it's true that registering your car in FL for the first time does cost a fair bit, the renewal each year is a laughable $36.20 or something like that. Back home, it cost EVERY YEAR, $110 (for EACH car) to renew the plates, and another $125-ish (EACH car) for the Chicago City sticker. So it was close to $500 a EVERY year to renew our registrations.

I don't know offhand if the electric is cheaper here - we had electric and gas back home, and the gas bill was outrageous. Down here everything is electric. So it's hard to say but I think it's cheaper here overall if we were to compare total utilities back home to total utilities here, per sq ft. (our home back in Chicago was much smaller than our new home here, so it's hard to compare apples to apples base on the monthly bill and I don't remember what we paid per Kwh for electric back there).

And until gasoline prices dropped recently, we were saving as much as $2.00/gal just for gas. So that was a huge savings as well. Property taxes are also significantly less here. Like 1/2 or even more. And state income tax back home is 3.75% (it used to be 5%!!). So again, big savings. We can breathe so much easier here with regard to our budget.

I suppose if you came from somewhere where it was already not very expensive then it wouldn't be much of a savings and might even be more to live in FL.

[Spring Hillian]

Originally Posted by Bellamouse

I guess it all depends on where you came from. snip................

I suppose if you came from somewhere where it was already not very expensive then it wouldn't be much of a savings and might even be more to live in FL.

You have that right. I wonder why someone would leave a less expensive area to go to a more expensive area.

[Bellamouse]

Originally Posted by Spring Hillian

You have that right. I wonder why someone would leave a less expensive area to go to a more expensive area.

People move to Chicago, New York, San Francisco, the PNW all the time? For some people it's the amenities, being near family, the weather, a whole host of reasons. It's not always about living the most inexpensively. Otherwise we'd all live in backwoods Arkansas or something....

[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by Spring Hillian

You have that right. I wonder why someone would leave a less expensive area to go to a more expensive area.

I'd live in NYC if I were single and had no kids. I've always been a city kid, and for me, not having to rely on cars, having everything within walking distance, surrounded by a concrete jungle does things to me... At almost 30 yrs of age, I can appreciate the rapid lifestyle despite the high costs.

With a family, however, I have to make adjustments. So it's definitely not a COL issue for me. Lots of other factors helped me make small town Florida our permanent home.