Moving To Florida? Three Costs That Surprise Everybody.
People move here for the obvious reasons. No state income tax, the weather, the water, and a house that costs less than the one they sold.
Then the first full year happens and the math is not what they planned for. It is almost never the mortgage that surprises them. It is the three things that sit on top of it.
I would rather you hear this from me now than find it out in month fourteen.
One: insurance is not a rounding error here
Wherever you are moving from, whatever you were paying, throw the number out.
Florida is the most expensive state in the country for homeowners insurance, and industry surveys published in 2026 put the average premium somewhere between two and three times the national average. That is a range on purpose. Anybody quoting you one statewide number is guessing, because it swings enormously by county, by distance from the coast, by the age of the roof, and by the construction.
Two things inside the policy catch people worse than the premium does. Your hurricane or wind deductible is usually a percentage of your dwelling coverage, not a flat dollar amount like the one on your car. On a named storm claim that is a very different number than people picture.
And flood is not in your homeowners policy. It never was, anywhere, but up north that rarely mattered. Here it does, and flood zones have been redrawn. Ask what zone the house is in before you are under contract, not after.
Get an actual insurance quote on the actual address early. Not a guess, not the seller's renewal. It is the fastest way to find out whether a house you love is a house you can afford.
Two: your property taxes are not the seller's property taxes
This is quietly the most expensive misunderstanding in Florida real estate, and out-of-state buyers walk into it almost every time.
You look at the listing, you see the annual taxes, and you budget off that figure. But that figure belongs to the person selling you the house. If they have owned it fifteen years with a homestead exemption, Florida's Save Our Homes cap has been holding their assessed value down the entire time, at three percent a year or the change in CPI, whichever is lower.
When the property sells, that cap comes off. The county reassesses at market value. Your tax bill can be dramatically higher than the number in the listing, and if it is escrowed, you feel it in year two, not at closing.
I wrote a whole piece on how that plays out: why your mortgage payment jumps in year two.
Florida does have portability, which carries your accumulated tax savings from one Florida home to the next. But it moves within Florida. If this is your first house here, you are starting that clock, not continuing it. File for homestead once you own and occupy, because the cap is the part that compounds.
Three: the fee that is not the HOA fee
You will ask about HOA dues. Everybody does. Ask a second question.
A lot of the newer communities around Sarasota and Manatee sit inside a Community Development District. A CDD is how the infrastructure got built, the roads and drainage and amenities, and the cost is assessed to the homes. It is separate from the HOA, and it usually shows up on your annual property tax bill rather than in the HOA statement someone emailed you. So a buyer compares two houses, sees similar dues, and never realizes one carries a CDD assessment the other does not.
If you are looking at a condo, ask a different second question: whether a special assessment is in place or being discussed, and whether the reserve study is current. Florida tightened those rules considerably after Surfside, and a building's finances are now part of your loan approval.
None of this is a reason not to come
I am not trying to talk you out of Florida. I live here on purpose. But the buyers who do well priced the whole payment before they fell in love with a house, not just the loan. An insurance quote on the real address, a tax estimate based on what you will pay rather than what the seller pays, and a straight answer on CDD and association costs. Do that and the first year is boring, which is the goal.
If you are planning a move, start at 1rmtg.com/moving-to-florida, or call or text (941) 941-5150 and we will build the real number before you get on a plane.
Tony Fitzgerald, The Mortgage Jedi. NMLS #1284924.
Sources: industry homeowners-insurance cost surveys published 2026, which vary in methodology, hence the range; Florida's Save Our Homes assessment limitation, capped at 3 percent or the change in CPI, whichever is lower; Florida homestead exemption and portability provisions. Insurance, tax, and district assessment figures vary by property and change over time, so verify current numbers for the specific address. This is general education, not tax or legal advice, and not an offer of credit.
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Tony Fitzgerald, NMLS #1284924. 1st Response Mortgage, powered by Mpire Financial Group LLC, NMLS #2108504, Florida Mortgage Lender License #MLD2467. Equal Housing Lender. NMLS Consumer Access: nmlsconsumeraccess.org. This article is general education, not financial, tax, or legal advice, and not an offer of credit or a commitment to lend. Terms vary by borrower, property, and transaction, and program guidelines change over time.
