[USAcafe]

Hello There! I was not sure which specific Florida forum to place our inquiry, so here goes....
We are a retired couple looking to move to Florida or Georgia. Compared to our California housing prices/taxes, the Eastern Coastal parts of Florida & Canton GA look very appealing. Apparently both GA and FL are considered Senior friendly. We are looking for information on what makes these 2 states desirable for retirement and advice on the cities/areas we should focus our search for a nice home with a view. The greater Miami area (very expensive for anything nice with a view!). For affordability, it looks like we need to target North of Deerfield Beach, because we want to buy a newer house with lower prices/golf course or water view/lower HOA dues/and gated. We would like to get more information on nice preferred, affordable, gated communities in Florida, to see if we would feel comfortable spending our retirement years there. In essence, we know very little about where we should or should not live in the Florida East Coast areas. We are seeking information & direction from those who might direct us where we should be looking - nice, gated, views, safe, favorable weather, excellent healthcare & hospitals, shopping, activities, affordable, and hopefully Senior incentives. Thank you so much for any information you may have, facts or opinions appreciated, so we can decide whether to relocate to the beautiful East Coast of Florida or N. Georgia!

[wizrap]

You didn't list your budget but generally speaking, homes in Port St. Lucie, which is about an hour north of Deerfield, are more budget-friendly. PSL is a safe, sleepy city. Good luck with your search.

[kyle19125]

Budget is an important consideration and would note that typically gated, golf course community homes aren't in the lower tier of home prices anywhere in the state.

[USAcafe]

Thanks for your replies. Budget would be about $500k or less, with a nice golf course and/or water view, in a nice safe gated community. Of course, in California, one can double that amount just to find a decent home to live in - and then pay high taxes on the high amount you paid for a small house (i.e. $1 million sales price = $12,500/yr in property taxes alone). Additional question about buying a home in Florida: Would we be paying the property tax onward based on the price we buy the home for, or would it be based on the previously assessed value (lower than the purchase price)?

[wizrap]

Port St Lucie is in your price range. There is a realtor who posts often in that section of the forum, FlaLadyB. I would pose your questions to her if/ when you settle on Florida. I did' vote in your poll because I just don't know enough about Georgia to compare the two. I used to visit the area north of Atlanta quite often as a kid, but that was decades ago. I have a friend who moved to Atlanta about 10 years ago from South Florida and loves it. Good luck in your search.

[Restrain]

Why not look over in SW Florida? Prices are lower. Now you can overpay for a new home in a new golf course development, but you can buy a home on a golf course in a gated development that is 10 years old for well under your price range.

[sware2cod]

Some GA counties have extremely good property tax exemptions for seniors.

Here is a brief overview for counties surrounding Atlanta. If you are considering other counties outside of Atlanta, you should check into the property tax exemptions in that county.

Senior Property Tax Exemptions in Many Georgia Counties

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by USAcafe

Hello There! I was not sure which specific Florida forum to place our inquiry, so here goes....
We are a retired couple looking to move to Florida or Georgia. Compared to our California housing prices/taxes, the Eastern Coastal parts of Florida & Canton GA look very appealing. Apparently both GA and FL are considered Senior friendly. We are looking for information on what makes these 2 states desirable for retirement and advice on the cities/areas we should focus our search for a nice home with a view. The greater Miami area (very expensive for anything nice with a view!). For affordability, it looks like we need to target North of Deerfield Beach, because we want to buy a newer house with lower prices/golf course or water view/lower HOA dues/and gated. We would like to get more information on nice preferred, affordable, gated communities in Florida, to see if we would feel comfortable spending our retirement years there. In essence, we know very little about where we should or should not live in the Florida East Coast areas. We are seeking information & direction from those who might direct us where we should be looking - nice, gated, views, safe, favorable weather, excellent healthcare & hospitals, shopping, activities, affordable, and hopefully Senior incentives. Thank you so much for any information you may have, facts or opinions appreciated, so we can decide whether to relocate to the beautiful East Coast of Florida or N. Georgia!

I am an ex CA resident, born and raised there as was my wife (SoCal), and while we now live in East TN, we are planning a move to FL. Miss the beaches in CA and FL has great ones, miss all that there is to do, and FL has a LOT to do and Golf is everywhere and GA while nice is either crowded with traffic like SoCal or rural. Now if you want Rural, No GA near the Smokies can be nice.

[USAcafe]

Thank you all for all of your great information and suggestions! We will research those options. So far, even though we have read online that both FL and GA are considered Senior friendly, we have only been able to establish the very nice Senior tax property tax exemptions offered in some counties in Georgia. We've been trying to determine if the main reason Florida is popular for retirees is because of the weather/golf courses/other activities/cruise ports/beaches, but haven't found significant tax breaks in FL yet. Also, in N. Georgia there are some excellent medical facilities. Does anyone know about the quality of healthcare, plans, hospital facilities available in Florida? BTW it is very true that the traffic around Atlanta resembles S. California - our trip to/from ATL by car was very stressful. If moving to a city North of Atlanta, I think we would just take a shuttle and let someone else do the driving

[Majami]

Florida does offer 50k Homestead exception. Obviously this is a bigger deal for cheaper homes, you mentioned your budget is "up to" 500k, well then the first 10% of your home is not taxable. If your tax rate was 2%, then your overall tax rate would be 1.8%. Now if you bought even a cheaper house, such as 250k (common everywhere in Florida but Southern Florida), your tax burden would be 1.6%. I'm not sure what property taxes are like in Georgia, but keep in mind Georgia won't offer you those nice beaches/views of the water or the nice weather of peninsular Florida. In fact, Georgia is quite cold about half the year.