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we are thinking about moving to florida...husband is retiring from his job

we are thinking about moving to florida...husband is retiring from his job

Old Sep 9th, 2013, 09:52 AM
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we are thinking about moving to florida...husband is retiring from his job

hello i am trying to found some info from people that live in florida.....husband is retiring from his job here in ct.....and let face we are tied of the snow.........i love not to far from disney and place that the taxes are resonable...........i know there no taxes every year on my suv and that good and there no income taxes......i was thinking of a place for couple of months and look around for place to live......i like to know if there taxes on clothes as well.....as for job i love to take photos and i love to get into the type of field down there......our houses taxes are very high here in ct....i am thinking i love about 45 min from disney. area.....my husband is thinking about having his own bussiness but not sure what it will be yet......so if anyone can help me out that would be great............
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Old Sep 9th, 2013, 09:57 AM
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Rent a place for a year and then decide. The heat and humidity was too much for us. Property insurance tends to be very high for obvious reasons. There was/is a tax on assets - stock holdings, etc.as I remember. You still pay taxes. Just in different ways. I thought the sales tax was on everything. Maybe food is excluded.
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Old Sep 9th, 2013, 10:23 AM
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ok that could be plan as well.....thank you for info....
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Old Sep 9th, 2013, 10:45 AM
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I moved here from the east years ago and haven't looked back yet! I absolutely love it! Please feel free to email me. I a in South Florida in the Boca Raton area and sell Real Estate and would be happy to answer any questions. I am not sure if I am allowed to leave you an email... but if you answer back I will answer. However I am going out of town tomorrow for a week.
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Old Sep 9th, 2013, 11:06 AM
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hello Jennifer111 thankyou very much....i love you to email me......but i am not sure if i can just leave my email up on a reply.....
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Old Sep 9th, 2013, 11:15 AM
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I have friends that have lived on the east coast all their lives, from Boston to Florida.

When they retired a couple of years ago, they chose Beaufort, SC, for their retirement home.

They told me that Beaufort is the best of all worlds. Inexpensive, mild weather and near/on the ocean.

Check that out.
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Old Sep 9th, 2013, 12:00 PM
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"but i am not sure if i can just leave my email up on a reply....."

You can but you might not want to. There is also the option of posting it and then later hitting the triangle and asking for it to be removed.
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Old Sep 9th, 2013, 12:41 PM
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Property taxes are probably considerably higher here in Florida than what you may be used to in Connecticut. Also, your auto insurance rates MAY be higher and I can almost guarantee your hazard insurance (assuming you buy a house) including the wind coverage will be higher. Then there is the strong possibility of needing flood insurance.

Sales taxes in Florida vary by county.

Utility rates may or may not be higher than what you are used to. Because of the weather you may not be using as much electricity or gas as you do in Connecticut. Be aware that the Central Florida (around Orlando) area does not necessarily have the same weather conditions as we have here in South Florida; it can get colder in the winter in Central Florida than it does in the more southern parts of the state. Also, if you live along the coast it can be much more pleasant despite high humidity levels because of more prevalent ocean breezes.
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Old Sep 9th, 2013, 01:01 PM
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Yes, clothes are taxed. Food is not taxed - plain unprepared grocery store food items - but if it doesn't qualify as "food," or if it's prepared (takeout, restaurants, etc.), it is taxed.

There are a lot of quirks as to where sales tax is applied in Florida. Some things may not be taxed that you currently pay taxes on, and there are other things that you are not accustomed to being taxed that Florida does.

The minimum state rate is, I believe, 6%. From there, locales may add more - I pay a 7% tax here in Central Florida (+1% over minimum).

There is a lot to compare between Florida and Connecticut taxes and cost of living, as others have mentioned. Here is one place where you can begin to compare:

http://www.moneycrashers.com/state-t...es-comparison/
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Old Sep 9th, 2013, 01:46 PM
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Do not buy anything without renting and living there for a year.

While escaping snow may sound good the summer in FL can be truly horrendous and AC costs can be astronomical.

I had 2 sets of aunts/uncles decide to retire to FL. One left after 3 years - and ended up settling in VA - with milder winters than Boston but a shorter, less vicious summer than FL.

The other kept their house in FL - but came north every year from June through Sept to stay with their kids here - since they just could not stand the heat in FL. (Both were in the clearwater area.)
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Old Sep 9th, 2013, 02:08 PM
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The tax on intangibles mentioned above was repealed in '07.
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Old Sep 9th, 2013, 03:22 PM
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i pay allot of my taxes....way to much for our home and land we have....that way we trying to move out of ct....ct is very pricey to live here....
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Old Sep 9th, 2013, 03:32 PM
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OK, here's a little down and dirty for the OP regarding property taxes: as a GENERAL rule in Florida you can figure your yearly property tax is going to run you about TWO PERCENT of the purchase price of your property.

Now just how does THAT compare to what you are paying now?

Frankly, you do not HAVE to rent somewhere for a year to know a LOT about an area IF you do your homework first.
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Old Sep 9th, 2013, 05:36 PM
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Retiree's moving to Florida? What a novel idea!
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Old Sep 9th, 2013, 07:51 PM
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Depending on your town, CT can be pretty cheap as far as taxes. We moved there to avoid the far more onerous taxes of New Jersey and Westchester. Now we live in Manhattan, so go figure. Florida is terrible, and the closer to Orlando, the worse it gets. I would consider assisted suicide before Florida. JMHO.
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Old Sep 10th, 2013, 06:09 AM
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we live middle of ct ...and our home taxes are like 3000 for our home and just heat and cool our home is high....we have electic home....our idea is to build a solar type of home.....land here in for what we want is high as well....one thing he wants to do is year round farming......and unless you have special greenhouse in ct you really cant do that.....gas here is out of world....plus the taxes i pay on my suv is crazy as well....he really does not like ct....florida for me is something i through about about....az and nv we were talking about as well....we know they have great solar as well......even tx we talk about .....it is tough choice for us....i am doing my homework on these states....just florida seem better idea....
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Old Sep 10th, 2013, 06:39 AM
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That doesn't sound all that high to me...Why do you type with...between sentences and no capitalization...?
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Old Sep 10th, 2013, 06:52 AM
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Lazy, probably. Now you have thrown out a lot of disconnected ideas. Land in and around Orlando is damn expensive so the idea of a farm might not be to do able. Claiming 3000 is high doesn't mean anything. $3000 on a million dollar house is cheap but $3000 on a $50,000 house is high. How do we really know that your taxes on your SUV is crazy without some context? Have you checked the solar index for Florida? Far higher in the SW if that is important to you.
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Old Sep 10th, 2013, 07:15 AM
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Property taxes vary by town in CT. The formula is the same everywhere: Mill rate x assessment= tax.
As everyone knows, assessments don't reflect exact sales price. The mill rate went down .5% in my affluent CT suburb and the property assessments went up the next time around. New construction here is built with full basements and that's expensive too. Most homes here have full basements. Gas heat is cheap in Ct, oil is not. Electricity is expensive. Food is expensive. There are some perks being near at least 4 major airports and being proximal to NYC and Boston. I'm happy if I can get away for a few weeks in Jan. Feb. or March to someplace warm and sunny. Car taxes are less expensive in some towns than others.
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Old Sep 10th, 2013, 07:48 AM
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We live in town that says our home is worth 75000 and we pay over 3000 we were paying over 3700 but our home when down in value. Personal reasons our home is kept nice and warm and every month i pay around 500 a month as a budget.
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