Tell me why I shouldn't move to Florida (Tampa, Sarasota: spring break, real estate market)

[Cardiff by the Sea]

Originally Posted by Old Gal

Who Dat, when my husband decided to retire I told him we were moving somewhere with a more temperate climate. His response was, no state income tax - he used to live in SoCal. Well, the Texas coast is out because a) property anywhere near the coast is a lot more expensive than Florida and then you still have to contend with high property taxes and high cost of insurance here in Texas. So Florida kind of made it by default - no offense because I have absolutely no doubt that there are a lot of really nice people in Florida particularly if this forum in any indication. I know that you also have what are referred to in Texas terms as rednecks - we have a lot of those too - and some of them are really nice people. At least it appears that Florida and the Venice area have the vast majority of what we are looking for. We have stayed in N. Texas because of family and good jobs.

I used to live in SoCal. Income tax there was high but property taxes were low and insurance was low. People who come from the northeast think property taxes here are low, but I do not. And insurance is obscene because of the potential for hurricanes.

States that don't have income tax have to get them money from somewhere and here it is through property tax.

I just read an article about how the state plans to get more money for schools by increasing the property valuations. They don't have to increase the rate. They just arbitrarily increase the assessed value. The assessments here are not like California where it is based on the purchase price. They have assessors here who decide what your property is worth based on all the sales in your neighborhood.

The tax bills have two parts. One of the parts goes to the schools. On our apartment building, the school funding assessment went up 10% last year. Of course an apartment building would not qualify for the homestead exemption which limits the increase to 3% a year. I am not sure if the school portion of the taxes has the limit on increases. Can anyone clarify that?

BTW I think your thread must be popping up on the Florida forum as the hot thread for Sarasota. People are posting to this that I have never seen post here before.

[Old Gal]

Cardiff, Texas is the same way when it comes to property taxes, our property taxes are based on sales prices like Florida, except the tax rate is more than 2x what the Florida rates are. It's crazy. I have also compared homeowners insurance in an X zone in Florida with that in Texas which would be considered an X zone here and Florida is only a tad higher for the same priced property. This does not include flood insurance for Florida. Of course, we are considered to be in tornado alley here. I've tried to compare anything and everything to what the costs are in Texas to Florida and you guys win, not by a whole lot, but it is less expensive in Florida from what I have been able to figure. Weather wise, in July and August, I think we are about the same - not quite as much humidity (80% here) as Florida however, you can bet money it will be 100 degrees+ here for most of July and August. I consider that to be pretty much comparable. If you go down to Houston it gets worse because the property values are higher, the temperature is higher and the humidity is higher. Don't get me wrong, I love Texas, it is my home state, but like every other place we have our issues too. Oh, don't forget, anymore we get ice storms, not pretty snow, which we are very ill prepared to deal with.

[Cardiff by the Sea]

Originally Posted by Old Gal

Cardiff, Texas is the same way when it comes to property taxes, our property taxes are based on sales prices like Florida, except the tax rate is more than 2x what the Florida rates are.

In Florida, property taxes ARE NOT based on sales price. They are based on assessed value determined by government employees by some unknown method.

[03bluecoupe]

Originally Posted by Cardiff by the Sea

In Florida, property taxes ARE NOT based on sales price. They are based on assessed value determined by government employees by some unknown method.

Same as NY. It's on assessed value by some unknown wizard...

[Old Gal]

I would like to add that we see many Florida license plates. I know the reason, we have jobs that pay pretty well. Considering the job market in Florida, I can totally understand why a Floridian would come here, particularly if they have a family to feed. That and the weather are about the main differences I see other than beaches and pretty terrain, which Florida has and we definitely do not. There are parts of Texas that have pretty terrain, but Dallas isn't one of them. Just a big ole sprawled out city. OK, now you've heard the bad parts about the Dallas area. Like I said, I love Texas, it isn't what is used to be by any means but at this point in my life Florida looks a lot more appealing. I do have a question though, when you turn 65 you property taxes are frozen, is that true in Florida? I ask because, I have no doubt, that your property values will most likely skyrocket with the baby boomers retiring and look for some place nice, warm and hospitable.

[Caleb Longstreet]

Originally Posted by Cardiff by the Sea

Sketchy people are everywhere here. Sketchy is a kind word. I typically refer to them as trashy. The high percentage of trashy people really got to me last summer and early fall. Then the large influx of snowbirds diluted them down and it stopped bothering me.

I notice it in the number of missing teeth and the high levels of petty crime and the junky houses. Last night I found the wicker coffee table of my dreams on craigslist. I made arrangements to pick it up at 11 am this morning after the sellers got home from church. While they were at church, someone stole it out of their driveway. That is the kind of petty crime you get here.

I moved here from California and the lower class in Florida are much lower than in California and they are much more widely dispersed. In CA there were nice neighborhoods and not so nice neighborhoods. Here everything is much more inter-mixed. Really upscale houses next to shacks with junk filled yards. That is the reason that people like deed restricted neighborhoods. A couple months ago, I drove by to look at a property we might have been interested in as a rental. It was a great house for the money, but next door there were 5 18-20 year old men playing basketball. One found a way to work mother-f into the conversation 5 times before I could even get out of the car and another 3 times as I walked around the out side of the house. Thought to myself, I don't think this would make a good family rental unless the tenants were deaf.

My mother lived in Arkansas which is one of the poorer states in the nation. I would say that the lower class in Florida is lower and trashier than the lower class in Arkansas. There people were poor but not vulgar.

You can be poor and have class. There is a definite lack of class here. It is almost like there is an additional class that is above homeless but below the working class that I am familiar with other places.

They seem to survive by scamming. There was an article in the paper about one woman's scam. She claimed to be locked out of her car and needed money to call a locksmith. She attributed her forgetfulness to her recent surgery and she pulled up her shirt to show her marks her bandages from this surgery. She would hit people for $80-90. In one case mentioned in the article, she actually scammed both a husband and his wife separately on different days at the same location.

Hubby and I are landlords. One of our tenants referred a friend of a friend to us as we have a unit coming open. Hubby asked this person about her criminal record. "It's nothing. Just a few felonies. Petty theft. About three years ago." When we do background checks, we insist on looking at the drivers license. People will misspell their names or transpose numbers so that they don't come up in the background checks.

And there are so many unlicensed contractors here that the police do stings. Even the sales pitches you get from reputable firms have the PT Barnum feel to them.

There are lots and lots of wonderful people here. In fact, the quality of the people is why we moved here from CA--people are more warm and sincere. But you have to be prepared for the other side of it.

Pardner, you are spot on. The lazy and inane love good weather. It's the place for gold chains and Camero's some of which inevitably live on blocks in the front yard, at a angle. Nice. Florida draws bums like barrack draws illegals. Plenty ofbthem too. Scammer cities loaded with boiler rooms and scams. A place where "volcano" insurance might be sold.

North Dallas has nothing on this area as it relates to the nefarious characters in which you speak. Second only to Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach. The true home of the scammer. Makes tjose in Vegas blush if that's possible. You just have to keep your doors locked, live in a NICE area, eyes open, and spend years developing good contractors.

[Old Gal]

Question, do you have property tax arbitration available in Florida?

[Old Gal]

Caleb, you haven't seen some of the contractors I've interviewed. You can see the $$$ signs in their eyes literally and my house isn't that expensive. It truly floored me when we decided to do some things to this house. I've found one contractor in the 15 years we have lived here that was actually honest and fairly priced.

[Cardiff by the Sea]

Originally Posted by Old Gal

I do have a question though, when you turn 65 you property taxes are frozen, is that true in Florida? I ask because, I have no doubt, that your property values will most likely skyrocket with the baby boomers retiring and look for some place nice, warm and hospitable.

I haven't heard of this. Anyone?

[Florida or Bust....]

This is for Sarasota County. Some of the exemptions are based on your age and yearly income.

http://www.sc-pa.com/media/139448/ex...s-brochure.pdf

https://www.sc-pa.com/homestead/overview/