[sammyandralph]

Hi everyone! my husband and i are trying to relocate to florida w/ our children. we dont know what part yet but know it will probably be central florida. can anyone give me any leads on affordable apts or homes? we are moving from pennsylvania. thanks!!!

[bamboosmom]

How funny! We want to move to Pa! We are in Charlotte County and the homes here are still lower than the two cities around us which are Tampa and Ft. Myers. Sarasota is also higher.

[Rebecca in Tampa]

Do you know if you want on the east or west coast? What are the factors you need? Schools (if so there is a website you will need to check out) Work, city life, rural life?

I think we need more info on what you are wanting. If it is Just sun and sand, then any city along either coast,

[sammyandralph]

not just sun and sand...my husbands grandfather is not in the best of health and he wants very much to get us settled down there to be able to spend time with him with our kids. He is a cdl driver and has researched quite a few companies with locations around jacksonville and orlando...his family is in frostproof, lakeland and sarasota...what part of pa are you looking at?

[kimmyp2]

The house building boom is over now because they are talking about $10,000 impact tax on new building so it is best to look for resale housing. There are plenty. The area around Inverness. Fl. 34450 is nice but don't expect a lot of shopping malls and stores and not a overly amount of restaurants. WE do have a nice size Lowes and Walmarts super store and a few shopping centers (small). We shop in either Crystal River, Route I19 or go to Ocala for the day. You are 80 miles from Gainesville and there is a hugh Mall called the Oaks mall there. Ocala had a Paddock Malll but much smaller. Traffic is not overly congested and that is a biggy!!!!

[sammyandralph]

well we are not looking to buy just yet...we are actually wanting to rent an apt or house until we can get settled down. As of the moment job leads are pointing to the jacksonville area...does anyone know of available rentals? (3 bdrm) Let me know if anyone can help out with this! Thanks

[bamboosmom]

Hi Sammy, we are going to be looking in Wayne County or Susquehanna County in Pa.

[michigangolfer]

Hi Kimmyp2

I have a question, what is a impact tax ? Please excuse my lack of knowledge. My wife and 3 kids are looking to relocate to the Georgetown Florida area. We have a lot to build on and plan to build. I have never heard of such a thing.

[HammockDreamer]

Hi Sammy!

We're moving to the Orlando area next week. We are renting a home---found via removed We were able to rent a lovely home for hundreds less than an apartment. We are going to be int he Davenport/Four Corners area. Wishing you the best!

[pslOldTimer]

Originally Posted by michigangolfer

Hi Kimmyp2

I have a question, what is a impact tax ? Please excuse my lack of knowledge. My wife and 3 kids are looking to relocate to the Georgetown Florida area. We have a lot to build on and plan to build. I have never heard of such a thing.

Impact fees are fees charged by the local taxing authorities in order to build a new house (or commerical building). You can think of them as really high building permit fees, but for legal reasons, they aren't called that (permit fees are usually limited to the amount it costs to operate the building department, including inspections, etc.). Impact fees are intended to cover the costs associated with new residents. More people mean more schools, more police, more fire stations and firement, more equipment for the public works department, more roads (or wider roads), etc. etc. etc.

In areas of slow growth, those impacts are handled by the increased amount of property taxes collected on the new construction. However, when there is a real influx, the demand for services comes too quickly for taxes to keep up. Thus, the impact has to be covered immediately in some way. The fees are the answer.

Not all communities charge them. It's a local matter. For example, we're planning to build in rural Okeechobee, and there are no impact fees, yet. The county commision is talking about them, however, and have hired consultants to set them up. I'm hopoing to get my plans completed and the permit pulled before they pass them.

Each area's fees add up to a different total, but the figure of about $10,000 is probably a good working average. The communities which have impact fees tend to keep up with each other and if one raises their fees, all the ones around follow suit. Of course, there are exceptions, but that seems to be the general case.

There is not usually one overall fee, but a fee from the various taxing bodies. For example, in Port St. Lucie, the city has a fee, the county has a separate fee, the school department has a fee (school departments in Florida are all county-wide but separate from county government), the sheriff's department has a fee, and the fire department has a fee (the fire department in St. Lucie County is county-wide and operates under a separate Fire Board).

The fees are pretty much necessary. For example, plans are being made for a new development in Okeechobee County. The existing population is about 35,000 people. The plans are for a new "city" of 15,000 homes in northern Okeechobee County. This will nearly double the population in a very few years. There will be immediate demands for wider roads, more fire stations, additional schools, more sheriff deputies, etc. etc. and it would be years before the property taxes could accumulate that much. The options are to borrow the money (and have all of the existing residents pay the interest, which isn't fair), or have the new residents pay an impact fee on their dwelling.

Of course, there is no way to single out only new residents, so the impact fees are collected on new construction, regardless of whether the new owner is an immigrant or an existing resident. The rationale behind this is that when an existing resident builds a new house, his old house is available for a new immigrant to more in, thus creating the impact from the new reisdents. Also, new construction is often bunched into places where there had previously been few services such as a nearby school or a fire station.

Finally, the fees have an impact (pun intended) on the prices of existing houses and rental rates, as well. People here are perfectly aware of the impact fees and tend to raise the price of existing houses enough to cover the fees, especially if they are planning to build somewhere else in Florida, like I am. Of course, in my case, if I get in before the fees are passed in my new location, I'll make out because I'll still get a higher price for my existing house.

Of such small touches are good decisions made...