This dream began about one to two years before I retired. We had been traveling to Florida for about the past 26 years as of this writing. With that much experience in Florida, I would need a pool to endure the summer heat. This page was written three months after my move. It is like I am still on vacation. I am enjoying every day and not thinking about my next camping trip or cruise. I am at the destination to which I used to camp. This page is preliminary. A further analysis will be written in a year. Retirement experts recommend that retirees not relocate for at least two years into retirement. “Relocation is not just a financial decision it is also an emotional decision.” I understand why. There is the sale of one’s existing house, the purchase of a new house and the coordination of the move. This is complicated by having to manage the purchase of the new house remotely. Due to conflict of interest laws in Florida, the Florida Real Estate Agent is very limited compared to my home state. Real Estate agents are not allowed to coordinate home inspections whereas in my home state, the agents are present during the inspection. This had to be managed remotely.
I cut my relocation timetable short by one month to the day. In other words, I relocated exactly 23 months after my retirement. The relocation required coordinating the sale of my existing house with the purchase of my new house in Florida with a moving company.
Major issues to moving to Florida are the location of sinkholes and the availability of homeowners insurance. My present insurance company had a moratorium on the sales of new home owner’s policies in Florida.
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| Day One June 18, 2010 Watching the Rain | A Life of Grilling and Swimming | Backyard Palm Tree |
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| Backyard Butterfly | Backyard Orange Tree | Backyard Key Lime Tree |
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| 2.9 Miles Away | 20 Miles Away | Do I Want to Go Back? |
My retirement days in Florida consists of exploring, meeting new friends, reading, grilling, creating new recipes, learning new things, lawn work encapsulated by a morning bicycle ride and an evening swim. It has only been three months and I have not started items 3-5, 9-11, 13, 16-18, 20, 22 ,24 ,26-28, 31, 36-37,39, 41-52,54. I have to leave some dreams to remain as dreams.
Click to play. You may need to download a plugin with FireFox. Works in IE. The Ferrous Oxide that you see on the sidewalks is from shallow well lawn watering. |
Selecting a moving company.
I used the website as my primary source of information
http://moving.about.com/od/hiringamovingcompan1/a/dos_donts_move.htm
Verify your selected mover with the DOT using their USDOT number.
http://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/CompanySnapshot.aspx
Be aware of companies that subcontract. Our furniture was moved to a warehouse and then picked up by a subcontractor for the interstate move. There was a lot of damage. The insurance company wants receipts for antiques that were passed on from generation to generation.
Becoming a Florida Resident.
I recommend getting a copy of Florida Residency Guide
http://www.stateofflorida.com/Portal/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=132
Open a bank account to minimize the complications of using out of state personal checks
To establish formal residency, complete the Declaration of Domicile for the appropriate county. The forms by county can be found at
http://www.stateofflorida.com/Portal/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=51
Change of Address
The United States Postal Service provides the ability to change address online
with the ability to hold mail until the new address is active.
Yes, it is possible to submit a Hold Mail request with an active COA:
Home Owners Insurance
Obtaining homeowners insurance is a major challenge. Many of the major insurance companies are not selling new policies in the State of Florida including the incumbent that I have had for the past 27 years. What they are doing is selling Citizens Property Insurance policies. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is the State's homeowners' insurance safety net. It was created by the Legislature in 2002 to offer property coverage to Floridians without private insurance options. Citizens Property Insurance. I did manage to find a competitively priced insurance company but it required that I also purchase auto insurance from them. Windstorm Insurance rates are reduced substantially with a Wind Mitigation Wind Inspection. A wind mitigation inspection verifies construction methods that create wind mitigation discounts based on those methods providing greater protection from wind hurricane damage.
POST MOVE ECONOMIC EVALUATION
Property values in Florida are depressed.
Homeowners insurance is almost triple what I used to pay on a more expensive house.
Property taxes are less if one applies for the Homeowners Exemption
http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/property/taxpayers/exemptions.html#1
Water is 17 times what I used to pay, partly because sewage and trash removal are attached to the water bill.
The attached chart was created after a one year observation. I will update this again after two years. In the Florida, the peak load is during the summer, whereas in snow areas, the peak is during the winter. Notice that the summer peak in Florida has not exceeded the winter peak in snow areas. To figures are for comparison only.
MOVING VEHICLES FROM "UP NORTH" TO COASTAL FLORIDA
The combination of road salt from the snow country and the salt air in coastal Florida really accelerates the rusting. After only 21 months, my truck was starting to rust out. I caught it in time. When I left my home in the snow belt, it snowed 82 inches that year. If you brought your car from "Up North", consider this. If you don't have severe rusting, the power wash is probably sufficient. In my case, I
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| Differential 2 Before | Differential After | |
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| Frame Before | Frame After | |
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| Front Axle Before | Front Axle After |
SUMMARY
*The State of Florida does not accept VISA credit cards
#Vehicle registration is an address certification document when obtaining a driver’s license.
PRECAUTIONS
Every area has them. In Florida, there are alligators, poisonous snakes and hurricanes.
Here are a couple of sites that may help. This is not to scare you but to inform you. These are considerations that I had to include in my decision to move.
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How to survive a poisonous snake bite
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