Hoping to Retire to Florida

[christinejo]

Hi both of you, thats a relief with the property tax, which is like our Council Tax, I assume, but I have just read a very alarming article in The archives of the Wall Street Journal, Last year there was a protest to the central federal court in Florida of Snowbirders, who were having to pay a much higher tax than permenant residents, for the same plot/ value properties, because Florida runs a two tier system. The judgement was not granted in favour of the snowbirders, and the comments were quite alarming saying that because they had a place in FL they could obviously afford to pay a higher tax!!! This is fraught with confusion!!! But am learning fast. As for no nice Trailer parks, and can imagine there are some terrible ones out there aswell,again I was looking at the mobile homes in the gated communities, although again it seems the inland ones are more established , but I guess a visit in the future and actually visiting some sites to get the feel would be best. Also it seems that value is calculated after an allowance of around 25K, but the thought also occured was surely a property of a mobile depreciates in value over the years, and a manufactured home increases? Oh, we will buy cash payment, not seeking a mortgage, as I can imagine that will be another complication!! If I find out anything concrete, as everything seems a bit wooley, on the pitfalls etc, I will post on here, and hope others can add to any info aswell.

Many thanks to you all for the postings

Christine

[twostep]

You are not eligible for Homestead Excemption which is a tax reduction program for primary residences.

[synthia]

Florida, and most states, have what is called a homestead exemption, a set value that is deducted from the appraised value of your home. Taxes are set on the resulting number. As in other states, the exemption only applies to your primary residence. So, if you are a Floridian living in Orlando with a beach property in Clearwater Beach, you get no exemption on the beach property. If you are a snowbirder who has not made Florida your primary residence, the assumption is that it is a second home and not eligible. The same thing would happen if someone wanted to live most of the year in West Virginia, but maintained an apartment in Washington DC that they only used four months a year. And it would hurt more up there, too.

[Fatbrit]

Originally Posted by synthia

Florida, and most states, have what is called a homestead exemption....

And Florida will not give the homestead exemption to VWP, B2 or even E2 holders. The difference in what you pay can be quite considerable.

[christinejo]

Thank you for the info all, its building up quite a picture now. You know, I had a feeling the exception bit was just a little optomistic !! LOL, but I suppose understandable as mainly they are dealing with US citizens and its the same in England you either get an allowance on one or the other! I am going to have to do some serious figures, and probing into purchase tax on a mobile, and look into what seems to be called 'closing costs', and if like in Spain, debts can be hidden on a property not the person, (is that something that happens on the states?) which you don't know about till after purchase. This is a minefield! Maybe I should say learning curve!!!LOL!!

[twostep]

As far as "hidden debts" are concerned every decent attorney will require title search and title insurance on the property at closing.

[synthia]

As twostep says, before you settle (become the legal owner after signing and initialing papers for hours), your settlement agent or attorney should conduct a title search to determine if there are any liens on the property, so that shouldn't be an issue for you.

I assume you are going to visit Florida first to figure out where you want to live and to visit various sites.

[Bevdeforges]

You know, you might want to consider sitting down with a real estate agent next time you're in Florida and asking all your questions there. In the US, the real estate people handle quite a bit of the legal side of the sale, and they are trained to understand the taxes and legal side of property transactions.

Obviously, their advice comes with a view toward making a sale, but you might be able to get most of your questions answered at no cost to you.
Cheers,
Bev

[AllThatJazz]

Hi. As far as rentals go, note that even those who live permanently are often renters. The land is often owned by the mobile home park, an each unit is rented. That being said, the 'snowbirds' who spend 6 months in, 6 months out would generally want to be in the home during the same 6 months as you would want to be there. Although perhaps preferred, it might be difficult to rent from an individual owner for those 6 months. It might be more probably that you would be renting from the mobile home park. The reality is this: most of the parks have senior age requirements, whereas the other parks without age requirements you probably wouldn't want to live in because they are low rent districts. I highly recommend targeting an age restricted park such 55+, 65+, etc. Well, in those parks there is some turnover as the older people pass on. If the family owns the mobile home, then that might be even better news. It is amazing how inexpensive some of these are. Assume a price range of $10K to $30K in general. So it is an option to buy at relatively affordable prices. Regardless, making contact with a few of those parks can at minimum get one on a type of interest list/waiting list for renting. Some parks rent the homes it owns, and also work with the owner of individual ones to fill them with renters. In the end, because there are so many of these parks, you should not have that much difficulty getting into one. Just curious, do you have any idea where in Florida you might be interested?