Is Florida still such a great place to retire? I’ve lived here in Central Florida for many years, and I’ve helped many people relocate to the Central Florida area to retire, so I’ve got plenty of experience in this area. Today, I’ll be taking just a few minutes to address some of the PROS and then, towards the end, I’ll be addressing a few of the CONS of retiring in Florida that you may not have considered.

PROS

1. The Weather – First, let’s start with the most obvious reason someone would want to retire in Florida, the weather. Here in Central Florida, we’ve got great weather. The sun shines here year around. Average lows in the winters run in the low 50’s and the average highs in the summer are the mid 90’s. The winters in Florida are amazing. I think the high today is right around 73 degrees with blue skies. We don’t shovel snow here and icy roads aren’t even a thing here. Stick around a bit though as I’ll be addressing something about Florida’s weather that you may not know.
2. No State Income Tax – Next, Florida doesn’t tax retirement income. In fact, Florida doesn’t tax any of your income, regardless of its source. As such, other sources of income including income from a 401k, investments, or even wages if you went back to work after retirement, aren’t taxed. Heck, I don’t even think they tax lottery winnings, for all TWO of you that that matters to! Plus, Florida’s average combined state and local sales tax rate is right around 7% as I record this today, so… Florida is a great state to retire in regarding taxes. One study I found stated that Florida was the top overall state for older adults based on Taxes & Finances, Health & Medicine, and Culture and Lifestyle. Of course, like so much on the web, you can find all sorts of information that contradicts other information, like another article I found that said that Florida was the 23^rd best state for elderly healthcare.
3. Retirement Communities – Retirees have been flocking to Florida for decades, so it isn’t like retiring in Florida is some new fad. As such, developers in Florida have been building retirement communities for decades. Right here in Central Florida, there are scores of retirement communities. There are some big ones like The Villages and Del Webb, and there are tons of smaller ones like Victoria Gardens and Margaritaville here in Central Florida. The point here isn’t to list them all, it’s to point out that this is what Florida DOES, it’s what Florida specializes in, and that shouldn’t be overlooked.
4. Low Cost of Living – The next one I’m going to look at used to be a pro, but it may be more of a con these days, and that is the overall cost of living. While here in Central Florida, especially up on the north side of Orlando, it’s less expensive, the beaches and south Florida can get real pricey, REAL FAST! Florida used to be known as the best state to buy cheap land for retirement; however, if you haven’t bought land yet, you can forget about that cheap part! If you ARE looking to buy or sell real estate anywhere here in Florida, simply give me a call.

Cons

1. High Housing Costs – The cost of housing has risen significantly in recent years, and one Forbes article I read showed Florida as having the 7^th HIGHEST rental costs in the country. The cost of purchasing real estate has risen quite a bit here, too. While we’re comparatively somewhere in the middle range when comparing other states in the US, if you’re coming from somewhere like Cleveland or Columbus , you could be in for some sticker shock.
2. High Property Taxes – I know I said that taxes were a pro of retiring to Florida, and maybe that’s still the case compared to other states, but taxes here in Central Florida just seem to be skyrocketing. Just yesterday I spoke with another Realtor® that was preparing an offer for one of my listings that ended up cancelling that offer before it ever got to me. Why? You guessed it. Taxes. The taxes for this home were over $12,000 for the year, without a homestead exemption. It should be said that this home was priced at nearly $800,000, which is pretty high for this area, but the taxes for other, more moderately priced homes have also skyrocketed. Taxes like that have always been in OTHER places like New Jersey, Illinois, and Connecticut. I think that as of today, Florida is right in the middle of the road when it comes to rankings of property tax rates, which, to me, isn’t so much of a pro anymore.
3. Homeowners Insurance – Another con of retiring to Florida is another cost, and that is homeowner’s insurance. If you’re thinking of renting, you might think it won’t matter to you, but rest assured, you’re paying for the landlord’s high insurance rates. Although hurricanes don’t play a huge role for those of us in Central Florida, our insurance rates are rising dramatically as we help to fund our neighbors over on the beaches. Florida is facing a homeowner’s insurance crisis, but that’s the subject for a whole other video.
4. Summer Heat – Earlier I mentioned Florida’s weather, and this is why so many retirees move to Florida. Yes, Florida’s weather is amazing…in the winter months. That’s why we have SOOO many what we call Snowbirds that live up north in the summer and move to Florida in the winter. However, retiring to Florida and facing the summer heat isn’t so much fun. We’ll spend much of the summer with highs in the mid-90’s, and that’s just miserable, especially if you want to play pickleball outside. It’s not just the heat, it’s the humidity. Yes, we’ve got air conditioning and plenty of swimming pools, but if you retire to Florida, don’t say nobody told you.

Published on January 23. 2024 / Tags: Central Florida Real estate, Florida Living, Moving to Central FL, moving to Deland, Retirement living, Retiring in Florida / no comments.