Florida Homestead Property Tax Exemptions At Risk if You Are Renting Rooms

If you are renting out part of your home or run a small business from your home, you could lose your Homestead Property Tax Exemption and be charged with penalties and back taxes. View here for more information!

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Who's Moving to Florida?

More than half a million people (583K) traded in their out-of-state driver's license for Florida driver's license in 2022. That's 28% higher than the average over the last six years. This is 36,200 more than the pandemic migration in 2021. Florida has great weather, no state income tax, freedom and is the most small business friendly state in the country. Trading in your driver's license means you are planning to stay and not just here for the winter. Remember, this does not include children who aren't old enough to drive. People from foreign countries were the largest category with 115,465. There was a steep decline during the pandemic as traveling was at a standstill. New York was the top state for the most people surrendering licenses with 61,205. New Jersey was runner-up with 30,837. California ranked thoird with 28,957. The top six Florida counties that gained the most people last year based on the driver’s license data were Miami-Dade (59,113), Broward (40,212), Hillsborough (38,330), Palm Beach (37,637), Orange (37,146) and Lee (30,713). New Florida Driver's License in 2022 by state: Foreign country, 115,465 New York, 61,205 New Jersey, 30,837 California, 28,957 Pennsylvania, 24,438 Illinois, 24,311 Georgia, 23,232 Texas, 20,502 Ohio, 18,667 Massachusetts, 17,623 A report issued this month by the non-profit Tax Foundation based on data from the Census Bureau, U-Haul and United Van Lines found states with no individual income tax gained the most people between July 2021 and July 2022. Those include Florida, Texas, South Dakota, Tennessee and Nevada. States that lost the most people, including California, Hawaii, New York and Oregon, have double-digit income tax rates. Love Your Neighbor!

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Florida County by County Property Insurance

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation issued its first Property Insurance Stability Report for 2023. On a county by county basis, it found Sumter County (West of Orlando) has the lowest average cost for single-family home property insurance at $1,533, while Monroe County (Key West) had the highest average cost at $7,162.  Counties of Interest: Single Family/Condos Okaloosa County (Destin, Ft. Walton Beach, Niceville, Crestview) - $3014/$1,418 Walton County (Santa Rosa Beach, 30A, Freeport, DeFuniak Springs) - $4,337/$1,619 Bay County (Panama City, Panama City Beach) - $2,737/$1,921 Gulf County (Port St. Joe) - $3,020/$1,338 Santa Rosa County (Narvarre, Milton, Pace) - $2,745/$1,477  Escambia County (Pensacola, Perdio Key) -  $2,929/$1,471 Miami Dade County (Miami, Homestead) - $5,391/$2,440 Palm Beach County (West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Jupiter) - $5,247/$1,923 Collier County (Naples) - $4,230/$1,795 Hillsborough County (Tampa) - $2,513/$1,073 Orange County (Orlando) - $2,629/$960        

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