New York and Orlando are almost two completely different worlds! If you’re thinking about moving from New York to Orlando, where do you start? New York is one of the top states migrating to Orlando, and all of Florida for that matter. Still, if you’re thinking about moving down to Florida, it can be scary. I’ve lived in New York and I now live here in the Orlando area, so I’m familiar with many of the concerns that New Yorkers have about moving to the Sunshine State. As such, I’m going to take just a few minutes to answer a few questions that should make your move to Orlando just a bit easier. These aren’t listed in any particular order, but be sure to read through to #7 because that’s the one that I believe is one that is so often overlooked when thinking of moving to Orlando.

Overall Cost of living

First, let’s start with what some may say is the most obvious one, the cost of living. I know that the cost of living is much lower here in the Orlando area; however, I went online to provide a bit of data here, so here’s a link to the websites I use to help my customers when they’re moving to the Orlando area. According to one website, the cost of living is 72% lower in Orlando than it is in Brooklyn. Now I’ve never lived in Brooklyn, but there are a TON of people that moved from Brooklyn, so I thought it could be useful for our purposes here. This website also says that the cost of housing is 65% lower in Orlando and that other expenses like transportation and utilities are also significantly less expensive. I believe that data can be used to say just about anything, but if you ask around and find someone that’s lived in BOTH places, I’m betting that you’ll find that they’ll have the same thoughts.

Taxes

Next, let’s take a look at Florida’s taxes, which tend to be a good bit lower than those of New York. Florida’s Homestead Exemption for residents not only lowers the assessed amount of a resident’s home, but it also caps the amount that the taxes can be raised by each year. This means that if you spend 5 or 10 years in a home, it can really make a huge difference!

Florida’s state income tax is…well, ZERO! I believe New York has a graduated income tax structure, so I believe you’re punished for making more money. Florida tends to be tax-friendly towards business as well, encouraging businesses, their owners and employees to survive AND thrive.

Cost of housing

The median cost of homes sold back in 2022 was around $428,000 when you’re looking at nationwide numbers. The cost of the median home for the State of New York was just $325,00, so maybe you’re thinking that New York is actually inexpensive, right? No, the cost of housing in New York City, including Brooklyn, is WAY higher than the median for the state. Florida’s median sale price was just $232,000. To be clear, I it will cost you more than $232,000 for a home in the Orlando area, but less than the Brooklyn, New York example.

Thinking of renting? Rental prices in the Orlando area have risen quite a bit, especially since 2020 when home prices started skyrocketing; however, renting a home here in the Orlando area is still a good bit less expensive than in New York. I read that New York is among the list of states with the lowest level of home ownership in the country and I suspect that the COST of renting to be one of the reasons. I’m no economist, but LESS rentals available cannot do anything to help keep the cost of renting DOWN.

Weather

How about the weather? Although I probably sound like I’m selling Orlando based on the previous points here, this is where I’m a bit more unsure. Yes, the weather in Orlando is AMAZING! We don’t even OWN snow shovels in the Orlando area and ice, well… we can only find that in our freezers down here. However, the spring and fall season are something that I do miss each and every year here in Florida. The sight of actually GREEN grass and the beautiful flowers that just seem to pop up on their own every spring, combined with the smell of those fall leaves simply cannot be replaced. I will say that I don’t mind missing those blizzards though. The blizzard of 1993 will be forever etched on my mind!

Things to do

I’ve spent a good bit of time in New York City, so I’m a strong believer that there’s nothing like it. I mean, in Orlando if you want to go out for dinner after, like 10pm, you’re pretty much out of luck except for a few outliers and the bars. Orlando cannot compete with the nightlife, shopping, or restaurants. The Hudson River and those mountains are among the most beautiful I’ve seen, and Orlando cannot compete with these. However, Orlando has more attractions than New York will ever have. Want water activities like boating, fishing, crystal-clear springs, swimming, the beaches? We’ve got it. And, you can do most of those things year around down in Orlando.

Jobs

I remember when I moved to Florida I was told that there weren’t many jobs in Florida and that the pay rates didn’t compare with those in northern states, and maybe that was the case. However, one article I found noted that Florida was among the top ten states for employment, while New York was amongst the worst states in the nation. Perhaps its more about WHAT you’re doing than WHERE you’re doing it with the increase in remote employment, but this data says that things aren’t so bad down in Florida. Of course, some areas of the state will have varying types of jobs. Here in the Orlando area, the service industry accounts for a bunch of jobs for those working at the Disney, Universal Studios, Sea World, and I could go on and on. Lockheed Martin, AAA, Darden, Siemens, Deloitte and many others seem do being doing just fine down here in this sunshine.

If you’re thinking about moving to the Orlando area, or anywhere here in Florida, go ahead and give me a call and let’s see how I might be able to help YOU.

Insurance

Auto insurance

I’m always hearing northerners talk about how the drivers in Florida are SOO bad, and maybe that’s the case, but I recall driving in New York City and those drivers are CRAZY! I’ve also heard about how expensive auto insurance was here in Florida, but my research online did NOT support the concept that auto insurance is significantly more expensive in Florida.

Homeowner’s insurance

Although Florida’s hurricanes don’t come every year to Orlando, they HAVE created a mess for our insurance down here and homeowner insurance is very expensive. Many insurance companies have simply closed their doors in Florida, leaving remaining insurers to either rase their rates or simply decline coverage, so it’s tough to get affordable insurance, or in some cases even GET it at all. I suspect that with Orlando being inland, it’s not as bad as, say, over on the beaches, but my homeowner’s insurance rates have skyrocketed over the last several years. As such, if you’re thinking about moving from New York to Orlando and you have a house in mind, it may be wise to make a few phone calls to see how much that homeowner’s insurance premium will cost you BEFORE you sign on the dotted line. Of course, the cost of living in upstate New York is very different than down in the city. I did a quick look at Albany and found that Orlando was just 4% less than up there, and Syracuse was actually LESS expensive than Orlando, so if you’d like to know about actual costs and how they compare to YOUR city in New York, just give me a call.

Published on March 20. 2023 / Tags: Moving to Orlando, New York to Orlando, orlando real estate / no comments.