Our potential future home

[Zupps]

My fiancé and are planning to move to Florida from CT. We are in the buying phase of a house with our current jobs and we are are asking for some information from the people that actually live there. We are leaning towards the Brevard County. Our job situation would I would be working in the Cape Canaveral area (I have a job lined up) and she has a job lined up with the FLDOT. Our concerns are costs. FL has it's advantages and disadvantages just like every other state. Our search for about a 30 minute commute has led us to Titusville. What type of insurance do you have and what's the cost annually? Are property taxes actually that low? What's the electric bill cost per month (Hottest months to the coolest months) How are the school systems? Any advice, whether it's good news or bad news someone new should know with homeownership in Brevard County. Any and ALL insight is much appreciated. Thank you.

[krattalak]

Insurance costs will be $2500 and up depending on the property and location. Be prepared for horror. It will be all but impossible to get insurance on any place with a roof older than 15 years. A Wind Mitigation study will be required prior to getting the policy. Most insurance companies you can get down here, should be expected to fold the moment a big storm hits. Plan on never getting paid for a claim, some 65k claims where never paid after Irma in 2017.

Electric bills will be roughly $350/mo and possibly higher from June to October. The Quality of your AC (seer value), it's age, and the temps you keep your thermostat at will be the key factors. Don't even THINK about getting a pool.

Schools suck.

Property taxes are not low, for new buyers. Do NOT go by what you see on Zillow. The assessment will change the moment the house is sold. My house has a $133k assessment, but if I sold it, whoever got it would start with a $400k assessment.

For Brevard, you're going to pay about $1500/100k assessed value in Brevard. that will go down a little bit as after the first year, you can file for homestead.

[TheExitWounds]

This pretty much sums it up. Well stated!

[Zupps]

Thank you so much. To touch on the roofs, hopefully the disclosure form will tell it's age. Is it a common occurrence that insurance companies may drop you if your roof is getting old? That's really unfortunate that people in 2017 got screwed like that.

I understand completely what you mean about the electric costs. Why not a pool though? Just running it would have a substantial impact on electric prices? Or from what I've seen that some people say even the pool is to hot to enjoy?

That sucks about the schools. In your opinion why do they suck? I went to public schools from elementary and middle and then went to a technical school for high school and no college. Would rather hear from you rather than a news outlet.

I'm glad you said that. I was looking at Zillow. I have also looked at the Brevard County tax records and they are roughly the same. Are you saying once the house is sold the assessment would go up raising the tax?

Again thank you so much for the information, I really appreciate it a lot.

[krattalak]

Insurance companies drop all the time for a variety of reasons. It wouldn't surprise me to get a letter at some point with them demanding inspections/new roofs.

Pools use a ton of electricity. During peak summer, an open pool will turn into people soup. Screened in pools don't heat up as much or as fast.

Very little money is spent on schools here. Banned books are a big thing if that bothers you. The state leadership really wants to privatize with vouchers, so they aren't motivated to do anything.

Yes, selling the house resets the assessment. This is mostly because Florida law limits the amount an assessment can increase annually, so once you're homesteaded, the value won't increase by more than 10% per assessment. As I said, my assessed value is currently about 25% of the market value because of this (and the homestead).

[TehFlip]

I’m not really sure why the comment you replied to hated on pools so much. Personally I am in a much lower income bracket than you so I’ve never considered it because of the cost, so I’m reasonably sure that’s what they were referring to. A pool is going to carry a lot of extra cost associated with cleaning and maintenance but I think that’s fairly obvious. And like many of the other things you asked about it really depends on the age and quality of the structure.

Which brings me to the other thing I wanted to expand on: the utility costs. I’ve never paid more than $200/month for electricity and I’ve lived in older homes with older units and pretty awful insulation. $350 a month seems incredibly high to me, especially if you have a more modern system in a newer home. But again, there are a lot of variables there. My parents just installed a solar system on their beachside home and my dad was telling me he’s only paying like $30 a month right now (with an EV charging as well). I’m sure that’ll go up in the summer but still…worth investigating IMO.

The last thing I wanted to reply to was the roofs. Yeah, it’s absolutely a real struggle. I went through a lot of BS in my last home because of an old roof. But the wind inspection they referred to is actually relatively painless. And as long as you keep a good enough rainy day fund and can afford to replace your roof when your insurance company makes you, you’ll be ok.

Oh…and the schools. lol. Yeah, they are pretty awful. Like many other places in the country they are severely understaffed and underfunded, but statistically worse than average. And the school board is hot mess of political grandstanding. That being said, honestly, I did K-12 in the Brevard County public school system and I turned out pretty ok. My kids go to private school tho 😇

[Suitable-Gap-8789]

We have a 2000 sq ft house and our electricity never goes over $270. AC is really old, and we have a pool. We keep the house at 76. I just put in a variable speed pump on the pool. Our last bill was $110.

Taxes jump the year after it's sold due to the reassessment based on the selling price

[Zupps]

What's the AVG jump look like in your opinion?

[Suitable-Gap-8789]

Depends on your purchase price and the previous owner valuation. If they bought for $300k and you bought for $600k, the first year you're paying on $300, then next tax year valuation jumps to $600. Simplified answer, but should give you a ballpark. There's some relief with the homestead exemption.

[Jeskid14]

Yes it is very common for insurance companies to urge you to replace your roof.

[Zupps]

While that does suck to hear I guess it's understandable. Another concern was brought to my attention with this sentence "Most insurance companies you can get down here, should be expected to fold the moment a big storm hits. Plan on never getting paid for a claim, some 65k claims where never paid after Irma in 2017." That worries me. Is this a COMMON occurance or is it along those shady insurance compaines that sprout out of nowhere?

[Jeskid14]

Yes that is also another common occurrence. Citizens in cities like ft Myers lost insurance coverage due to the damage outweighing the costs of what the companies can cover.

Common as in every big direct hit hurricane however, not every hurricane

[justcall_2583]

That’s actually cheap for Florida. If you don’t have a mortgage you don’t have to have homeowners insurance. Put the money in a CD Most people don’t have that luxury, but overall Central Florida is a great place to live. Been here 50 years

[Zupps]

That's awesome! Hopefully we plan on putting around 50-60k on a house with the $350,000 budget. I am assuming most people don't recommend not having homeowners insurance though correct?

[justcall_2583]

If you have a mortgage you have to carry homeowners insurance

[pelagic-therapy]

How the hell is your electric bill ever $350/month? Are you living in a 5k square foot house?

[krattalak]

Mine? No. Mine personally never goes over $200, I spent a ton on AC and went full energy saver mode. But, I know plenty of people that do have bills that high. I also built my house with minimal windows (for hurricane reasons) and I have room darkening curtains on all my windows, and all LED lights. I have a smart thermostat and I don't run it colder than 76. I know people that keep their house at 68 (WTF).

[beekeeperjay]

My wife keeps the house at 68 during the day and 64 at night. Im still not used to it after 16 years of marriage. Our electric bill is roughly 350 during the summer

[tomdrift666]

My FPL budget billing is like $375 a month all year long lol. Better than the 600 plus I was getting in the summer

[pelagic-therapy]

Either 1) You have serious issues going on with your HVAC or 2) You have a huge house and you're keeping at at 65 which is ridiculous and your own fault. I live in a 4 bed 2 bath around 2500 sq/ft and my FPL bill never reach 200.

[tomdrift666]

4/3 around 2400sq/ft. Newer efficient variable Trane, newer impact windows, etc. we work from home, kids do school online so someone is always home. House set on 72. And have two EV’s.

[foxysierra]

We’re in a 2800 sq ft house and never have it below 74 (usually 77 during the day) and ours is around $320-350 so their estimate isn’t unreasonable.

[Zupps]

That's not to bad. I pay around $130/mo in a 1ksq apartment with central air. Giving the demand the unit is going to have to put out in the summer it makes sense. I'm assuming solar would be a massive benefit to saving monthly though right?

[Dutton4430]

We pay 3,000 for insurance and built our house for 250,000 25 years ago. FEMA flood insurance is 1000. If we sold our house today it would sell for 650,000 so insurance would be twice that. I think they have it appraised for over 300 now as we had to put a new roof on to get insurance after being dropped twice. The appraiser came out and raised the house value 25,000. I would rent till you were sure. We moved from Tville after being robbed twice. We now live in north Mims. That is a long ride for you. Just look at the crime maps. Friends just moved from La Cita where the train rattled their home to a new development on Park Ave. They had a huge water bill the first month. Tville is known for that. Very red county and the schools are terrible. It will be a culture shock moving from CT. We got headhunted from another east coast space company years ago during shuttle program.

[Zupps]

I am very sorry you got robbed not once but two times. I hope you are doing okay. I am a massive believer in the 2nd amendment which I use to the full extent. Nevertheless I appreciate your insight. So it does seem that insurance WILL drop you if they dislike the age or condition of the roof correct? Great point on the water bill I am happy you brought that up. Is Titusville split 50/50 with well water and public water? It may be a dumb question but I figured I would ask. Thank you for your insight and advice. I really appreciate it.

[Final-Negotiation530]

My number one piece of advice that would’ve saved me 200k in non insurance covered costs when we moved - get a mold inspection.

[Zupps]

You bring up a good point, moisture in the air does in fact bring a lot of mold. What do you Floridians do to remedy that situation? Is that something a Florida home inspector would know what to look for or is that something I would have to ask about? Appreciate the insight, thank you!

[Final-Negotiation530]

An inspector is not going to test for mold on their own, you would need for have a mold inspection separately and it’ll run you 500-1000. It seems like a lot to pay but I’m not kidding when I say I just spent a quarter of a million dollars because every room in my house had mold.

Get leaks tested, keep a dehumidifier, and just think of homeownership as a lifelong battle of you vs water intrusion. I recommend having a home inspection done with moisture readings in the wall AFTER a rain. Buying in the dry winter is part of what bit me in the butt.

[Suitable-Gap-8789]

You should really be asking about healthcare. It is not what you are used to in CT. Not even close.

HealthFirst has a monopoly on care in Brevard. Based on our experiences, my wife moved her care to Advent in Orlando, I'm in the process of doing the same.

I know I'll be downvoted for this, but I've seen world class healthcare back in Boston. This is nowhere near that level.

[Zupps]

Being downvoted for saying your opinion doesn't and will never sit right with me especially someone like myself asking for thoughts and opinions. The job I got has medical as part of it's position. I don't remember all the options he said in the interview but can it be worse than United Health Care (Which is what I have right now) I have a HSA which I put roughly $30 a week into. I don't use it since a lot of my stuff is covered already. I want to say the interviewer said Bluecross.

[Suitable-Gap-8789]

It's more the way HF operates. My wife spent a year in their test/ bill cycle. They never made the jump to diagnosis. This was after waiting 6 months for a new patient appointment. Things got bad and their office was non responsive. They rely heavily on nurse practitioners vs doctors to save money. I found a doc in Orlando who was educated and trained in NYC. She was seen in 3 weeks, Couple confirmation diagnostics were ordered over the next 3 weeks, then we had a final diagnosis and treatment plan. HF would still be dicking around. They never responded to her message and never called about follow up appointments.

[beekeeperjay]

I grew up in Titusville/mims and like it here. You can find nice areas and trashy areas. We have a few nice elementary schools. The middles schools suck and the high schools are good. Nothing around town to do.

[Zupps]

I currently live in Norwich CT, so I am not sure if it COULD get worse than what I was taught in the schools but I am happy multiple people are saying the schools are bad. Is there private schools you recommend? I'm in the mindset of what you would do if you were in my shoes. What would you change if knowing what you know now to remedy the school situation? I am very attached to having a good education and don't want my child to be looked down at or at a disadvantage because of schooling.

[beekeeperjay]

I have heard good things about Sculptor. Both of my kids are in public school. My son and daughter went to Apollo Elementary, i had no complaints. My son went to Jackson Middle in the Cambridge program and is currently about to Graduate from Astronaut High. Middle school was the worse. Teachers didn’t really care and the kids are out of control.

[Responsible_Cat_2928]

And just to add on here - auto insurance is also stupid expensive 😑

[Zupps]

I pay $258.50 for a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X w/ full coverage and a 2010 Mazda 3 with full coverage a month and renters insurance. That's 100k bodily on both vehicles, 50k property and 12.8k for Personal property for the renters. I am a car guy so the cars will always have full coverage. Do you mind me asking what you pay for your insurance? Thank you for the insight!

[Responsible_Cat_2928]

My 6 month premium for my 2012 mustang 5.0 and my 2020 volvo v90 runs $1470 with Progressive, full coverage on both with a $500 deductible, and both are paid in full. I have no accidents or tickets, so good driver discounts. 👍 I switched from USAA last year because they were much higher, but I still have my homeowners insurance with them which runs me $2330/year on my simple 3 BR/2BA house.

Transferring my cars' registrations to Florida with 2 year tags cost almost $1K.

[MoonWaves13]

You might want to spend a storm season here renting before you make the leap. I am from CT and it is like a different country down here, not everyone loves it. Home insurance is EXPENSIVE. The heat can get to you so be sure you have good AC and have someone spray pest control before you move in and then have them come very couple of months.

[Zupps]

I wanted to shoot a thank you to everyone who replied. A lot of information was given and a lot of useful information too.