How much is wind/hurricane insurance? (Miami, Miami Beach: buying a house, buying, property tax)

[thebigdo]

I am trying to get a idea of prices for this.

Looking at houses around 1 million. All of them have either impact windows or shutters. Looking in the grove and mid beach.

Any idea what I can expect? Ive heard everything across the board, from 5k to 15k

[straight shooter]

5k is definitely too low. Homes around 500k pay roughly 8-10k a year including liability, fire and windstorm so I would imagine that a million dollar home would pay 20k a year and that is without flood insurance.

[thebigdo]

Isnt flood insurance relatively cheap, compared to windstorm? ( under 1k )

[straight shooter]

Flood insurance is a lot cheaper than Windstorm but it all adds up especially if your property is close to the coast or in a flood zone.

[doggiebus]

A 1m residence probably pays around 20k for wind insurance. Flood insurance is cheap if you live in the western parts of county. The closer you are to water (ocean, canal, lake, etc) the higher the cost is.

[thebigdo]

Originally Posted by doggiebus

A 1m residence probably pays around 20k for wind insurance. Flood insurance is cheap if you live in the western parts of county. The closer you are to water (ocean, canal, lake, etc) the higher the cost is.

Wind insurance is more than the property tax?!?

[tallrick]

the property tax will be more than 20K as far as I figure. It is simply nuts to pay double or more what a home is really worth to be robbed by the insurance companies every month and the county every November.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by thebigdo

Wind insurance is more than the property tax?!?

We've been through this dozens of times.

Conservatively calculate 2% of purchase price for each insurance and property tax, then around 6%-10% increase and 3% increase per year, respectively.

So, in both cases, the $20,000 figures each are good ballpark estimates, such that if the actual figures the first year come in any less it will be a pleasant surprise, while you are unlikely to face an ugly surprise on those estimates.

But, yes, it is possible for the insurance to be higher than the property tax, and if you homestead the property insurance will probably rise at a faster pace than property tax, while if you do not homestead it, then they could rise at about the same pace depending on market conditions.

Again, the insurance could be a deal-breaker, that's understandable, but the property tax is comparable to other areas at least in the northeast US, so whether it is a surprise depends on where you are coming from.

Look, mother nature did not intend for human beings to live in swampland vulnerable to hurricanes every single year. We live on this sliver of land between swamp and ocean by the dint of industrialization which is expensive to put into place, maintain, and replace, just ask Henry Flagler who lost some $50 million, and that about a century ago, on his railroad to the Keys.

And we do it for the warmth and water now, while it lasts, and because we like living on US soil which is still the best among a bunch of thorny alternatives, while it lasts.

And we're willing to pay the price now for the very reason that we know nothing lasts forever.

Good Luck!

[thebigdo]

I am really confused on the property tax front. I know it goes on assessed price, but does the assessed price change to the market value on a sale?

For instance, look at 5100 Lakeview Dr, Miami Beach, FL 33140 - Zillow which is a million bucks for simplicity

Their current taxes (well, for 2011) is 11,600 on a assessed value of 760k - Should I expect that number to instantly change when I buy it to assessed value of 1 million? Also, if it does, that is the highest property tax in the country if I have to pay 20k in taxes on a 1m house. ( 2% of market is even higher than new jersey )

[MadManofBethesda]

Originally Posted by thebigdo

Their current taxes (well, for 2011) is 11,600 on a assessed value of 760k - Should I expect that number to instantly change when I buy it to assessed value of 1 million? Also, if it does, that is the highest property tax in the country if I have to pay 20k in taxes on a 1m house. ( 2% of market is even higher than new jersey )

Your link is nowhere close to being correct for NJ because it doesn't include county and other local propoerty taxes in the overall rate. Here's the official info from the state of NJ itself: NJ Division of Taxation - General Tax Rates by County and Municipality

And here is Camden County as an example: http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxa...t/gtr12cam.pdf As you can see, the overal property tax rate is mostly between 3%-6% of assessed value. NJ is way higher than FL. Oh, and btw, I was house-hunting in TX (San Antonio) because we had considered buying a house near the Riverwalk and the property tax there averaged about 3%. So you're way off if you think that FL is among the highest in the country.