how can people afford this?

Ok, first, let me preface this entire post with the fact that I am not basing anything that I write with pure facts. This is all based on my life, Facebook rants, and what I’ve heard from people in the housing industry. 

If you live in Florida, you might have said this yourself in the past year or so: “How are people going to afford to live here?” Our housing market has been absolutely insane since 2020. COVID caused an avalanche of people from out of state to move to our area. Sure, folks move to Florida all the time. But it’s been crazy the amount of people that have flocked to this state since COVID. And I think there are two reasons for this:

1. Freedom

Whatever your thoughts were on the pandemic, I think we can all agree that a lot of folks were fucking pissed off about being holed up in their homes. It was like your freedom was ripped away. But, here in Florida, we didn’t really experience that level of stay-at-home mandate. Plus, at the height of COVID, Florida’s sunshine kept most of us from getting too depressed. People up north were ordered to stay at home longer than us AND they couldn’t even really go outside their houses because it was winter/cold. Post pandemic, people wanted to get out of the states that might impose that level of restrictions again. So, they came here.

2. Remote Work Options

So many folks can work remotely now.  Which brings up two factors that people consider when moving where your job is not a factor: cost and weather. Why not move and work from the sunshine state where there’s no income tax? The weather is arguably better than most places in the US. Bring your NY/CA money, sell your tiny ass house, and get a mini mansion here. The median price for a two-bedroom house in my area is $440K. A god-damn 2 bedroom! Where we used to live in Pennsylvania, it is $158K.

Too Much Money

This influx of people (and money) has made the cost of housing unaffordable for the general population. Along with the purchase price being hirer, we are also getting punched in the gut with insurance and taxes.

Insurance

Property insurance is stupidly priced here. Especially if you are coastal (luckily, we are not). A lot of companies have even stopped offering coverage to our state because of liability. And, when you do find a company, it’s not cheap. Oh, while we are talking about insurance, please try getting reasonable car insurance in Florida. It’s ridiculous. Florida is a no-fault state so even if you get hit by someone else, your insurance must pay it out. Your insurance company will then go after the other person’s insurance to pay if they are at fault, but a lot of people in Florida are uninsured (i.e. cost) so it’s risky. Premiums are stupid. My insurance went up over $150 a month between this year and last for no reason. I had no claims. Been with the company for years. They just increased my premium because of “Florida.”

Then, try adding a teenager to your policy. We added Gianna to our policy last year and that increased our premium by another $150 a month. Car insurance here will make you want to resent ever having offspring.

I. HAVE. FOUR. CHILDREN.

Taxes

While we don’t have income tax, our property taxes are now certifiably ridiculous. For folks who bought their houses pre-pandemic, you might be fine in this area. As long as you didn’t refinance of course to get out the equity in your now overpriced home to build a pool or remodel your house. Because your property tax is based on the assessed value of your home. Having the value of your home go up is only good if you SELL YOUR HOME AND GTFO OF FLORIDA. If you stay in that home or buy a house that is now also overpriced, your property tax is going to be stupid. I now pay over $1K a month in property taxes/insurance. And as long as people keep moving here, it’s just going to increase. The county needs money to support the stupid amount of growth. 

People Won’t Stop Moving to Florida

Even though people need to stop, I know they won’t. Compared to the high cost of living states, Florida is still less expensive, and the weather is pretty awesome if you like the sun. Florida won’t get any more reasonable for folks that already live here though. Vince and I have had a discussion more than once over the past couple of months about moving away. We love it here…but the cost is becoming too much. Especially because my income isn’t adjusted for the cost-of-living increases we are seeing here. I’m still making Pennsylvania money while living with Florida costs.

We would move now if it wasn’t for the older kids. We can’t uproot their lives now. At best, we have to stay in Florida for the next 5 years until Scarlett graduates from high school. At that point, Evie will be finishing 3rd grade…which is the same age Gianna was when we moved down here from Pittsburgh. She acclimated just fine to the change.

So maybe 2030 means a new chapter for us. Especially if the economic climate here continues this trajectory. I feel like we are hemorrhaging money right now and it sucks. We will make it work because we always do. We will scrounge money from all the crevices we have. I have two ovaries I could sell. Vince doesn’t need his liver….

Joking aside, we can stay until the time comes when it’s right for our kids to make a change. But I don’t know how other people will afford life here for much longer. It’s just too much.