The taxes are too high; the insurance premiums are out of sight.  Welcome to Florida.  It seems like these are the only things that the residents are talking about, at least that is what the media wants you to believe.  Everyday, or so it seems, there is an article in either the Tampa Tribune or the St. Pete Times or sometimes both, spreading the word about taxes, insurance and the down turn in the real estate market.  If you beat the market down enough in the press, that alone will further depress the housing market and with it the local economy.

Forecasters are saying that the real estate market adjustments are complete and that  2007 will see the market turn around.  The homes currently on the market will sell or be withdrawn from the market by their owners.  As fewer homes are listed for sale in the area and the demand for housing maintains its current level, the competition among buyers for homes will begin pushing prices up, though not at the rate we were experiencing in 2005.

Property Taxes in Florida are slightly higher than the national average  How Florida Ranks On Property Taxes   but Florida does not have a State Income Tax.  The Florida Sales Tax is on the low side and many necessities such as food and medicines are exempt.  New residents moving to Florida from the Northeast will probably not find the taxes to be out of line.  Retirees moving from the Deep South may find them higher than they are used to paying.  It will just depend on where you are moving from as to whether you think taxes are too high.

Insurance on the other hand is out of line but the Florida Legislature has offered some relief for Floridians. Florida Insurance Relief  Higher preimums are due to the lack of competition in the insurance industry in Florida.  Insurance companies that do business in Florida, should be made to offer Floridians the same insurance policies that they offer in other states in which they do business, instead of just writing policies for the very lucrative auto and life insurance.  If they sell homeowners in other they states, they must also write policies in Florida.  The increased competition should serve to bring premiums back in line.  In other words if they don’t want sell it all; they won’t do business in Florida.

The insurance lobby is very powerful, but not as powerful as the right to vote out those in the Florida Legislature, who believe the insurance lobby is more important than their constituents