[fromcenFL]

5 years out of high school with no college I was still making more than most of my buddies at 26K a year, but trying to keep my wife at home with our son, even in just a 2 bedroom apartment wasn't working. We were frugal but still not enough to save anything toward a house. Even routine medical expenses were making us put car repairs (both our vehicles were over 8 years old) on credit cards. It would have taken every dime of my take home pay just to pay the mortgage on the only new homes they were building in my town at 290K and up!!
It didnt make sense anymore, so I left.

[jmc]

Good luck to you, Backtofla.

Maybe this will make you all feel a tiny bit better, or at least shake your head and wonder how people make it out here in Cali....one reason my husband and I are leaving California and going to Florida is the high cost of living here in SoCal. Median house price in San Diego is over $500,000 these days. Friends of mine paid a million for their San Diego home about 2 years ago. Other friends paid about $600,000 for theirs (and they aren't even close to the beach). We're like, we can actually buy a house if we move to Florida!

[pmichaelmd]

Originally Posted by backtofla

i know i have read where ppl are moving to tenn., sc/nc, because they can sell their house in fla and make a lot of money... okay, i can see why that may be tempting to cash out.

i do have a question for you all, moving out of fla or staying, what are the income brackets that will not allow one to enjoy living in florida???

i know it's expensive, i came from nc after living in fla yrs ago, where a nice home was less than $100k. my wife and i make pretty good money for being in our early to mid twenties, but we worked hard and went to college to get there. our income is approximately $90k between the two of us. isn't this enough??? to those of you that have a home, kids and car payments, are we making enough??? we want to stay in fla, but i do realize we cant afford to live in jupiter or wellington. thanks for the replies guys and in no way am i trying to brag about our income or make anyone older than us who are making less feel bad. please don't take it that way.

Depends on where you choose to live. I live in Jacksonville and we do just fine on just about what you guys make. My wife works and we have a 4-year old child who is in daycare and that does run $169/week. Point is, expenses add up. Add 2 car payments, a mortgage, insurances, etc. and you can see that money goes scat very quickly. That said, you can do it. The real estate market has ballooned here and is showing evidence of plateauing. A decent 1900 sq ft home 3BDRM/2BA will run close to $200k on my side of the river, closer to $250k on the side closer to the beaches. If you live within your means, you'll do fine.

Cheers,
PMMD

[backtofla]

clarification: we already live in fla now, we moved "back to fla" we live in oviedo and we really like it. rent and tolls are expensive, but 90 k is still a good chunk of change for two mid-twenties kids.

also, i brought up s fla b/c i really like parts of s fla (not miami or ft lauderdale though). we like northern fla a little better than central fla i think, but we are here for now. who knows, it 7 yrs we might be in st augustine or jax bch. or we may be in sarasota. who knows? we will make it work regardless of income (within reason of course) b/c we want to stay in fla.

[ready2move]

My husband makes with salary, bonuses and car allowance a little over 100,000. We live in a 4/3 house since 1992 and are now empty nesters. We are ready to downsize, but can't because the taxes, insurance and mortgage payment would be more than what we pay now. We pay around 3400 for our taxes and if we sold tomorrow, the new owners would pay around 10,000. The tax situation is absolutely ridiculous and is keeping people prisoners in their own homes.

[mich2fla]

Originally Posted by ready2move

The tax situation is absolutely ridiculous and is keeping people prisoners in their own homes.

Is the Florida legislature doing anything about it? Just curious.

[Zfan]

FYI on property Taxes.

Just some information that anyone might want to know about real estate taxes.

In 1996 Amendment 10 was voted on and passed by FL voters. This amendment set in place a cap on the increase of property tax increases in a tax year to the CPI which is usually about 3%. This is only effective on properties that have homestead exemption (FL resident 25,000 off assessed value for full time FL residents).

The intention of the bill was to help people who were in or near high demand desirable locations where commercial developers (speculators) would drive the cost of the property up to astronomical levels and literally tax you out of your home.

The local property appraiser by law has to keep assessed values at 80% of the current market, so if everybody that's moving here is overpaying for property the result is higher assessed values which means higher taxes.

Those who have had the FL resident exemption since 1996 are only being assessed on a 3% per year increase which could mean very reasonable yearly taxes. The appraiser still knows what the current market value is and if your home is sold or changes owners you loose all of those years capped values and the new owner gets the increase.

At the same time if you sell your home and move to a new location because you got a good selling price on your home, your taxable value starts over at the current market value. Depending on your homes sq feet size you might go from paying 1,000 per year to something like 7500- 10000 per year in taxes.

One of the main reasons I held off on building a new home, by the time I pay taxes and impact fees it would cost almost 7500 - 10000 per year in addition to the mortgage payment.

[mich2fla]

Zfan - thanks for the clarification. Michigan is pretty similar to FL on taxes with the 3% max cap per year.

[Rosario]

90k is fine for Central FL - Ocala area if that helps...

[glenkool]

Originally Posted by mich2fla

Is the Florida legislature doing anything about it? Just curious.

• Bush creates property tax reform committee
• Orlando Business Journal - June 23, 2006

Citing rising insurance costs and larger property tax costs as reasons why some people may resist buying a new home, Gov. Jeb Bush signed an executive order Thursday that would create a committee to see how property taxes are assessed and later used throughout the state.

The committee will consist of 15 people appointed by the state Legislature and will look at the consequences of current property tax exemptions and assessment differentials; the appropriateness, affordability and economic consequences of property taxation levels in the state; alternative means of taxation including split-rate and land value taxation; replacement alternatives to property taxation; and limitations on local government revenue and expenditures.

In his order, Bush said Florida's population is expected to grow from 18 million today to nearly 25 million by 2025, one of the most rapid growth rates in the nation. But local property tax statewide has far exceeded growth in total personal income, he said.

Bush wants the committee to meet as early as Aug. 15 and file its first report by December. He expects a final report to be issued at the end of 2007.