4 Things I Learned About Buying A Home in Florida

Let’s talk about buying a home in Florida!

As you may already know, my husband and I purchased our first home just a little over a year ago! We had lived in Mike’s college condo for many years before renting various houses and having kids so a home purchase was a long time coming. It was a condo with literally no store, no pantry, missing baseboards and old air conditioning unit, but that really was the place where the foundation of our relationship was born. 

But, with two kids, stable jobs and the desire for a piece of property to grow some food and have dogs run around on, we knew the time was right to start house hunting and, eventually, put pen to that big stack of mortgage paper.

Prior to buying this home and during our first year here, we learn a ton and now it’s time to share it with you! Here are some things to knowing about buying a home in Florida.

You’ll need an MLS search set up by a trusted realtor.

Realtors, like Florida favorite Erin King Jax Historic Realty, have access to backend information on houses for sale that the general public does not. Contact your realtor and have them set up an official search that is filtered for your interests in a home. You’ll get a digest of search results however often you’d like so you can go through and check them out. 

It’s important for your realtor to listen to you and understand what you’re looking for. Without that, you’ll end up with search results that take a lot longer to go through than it should. Nobody likes to waste time when it comes to the purchase of their greatest asset. Erin will form a relationship with you that is personal so he has a very thorough picture of the home you’re looking for while also knowing what you’ll bend on and are ‘absolute nots’ or ‘must-haves’. He will also employ “outside the box strategies” to help you find your perfect home.

Most home insurance companies do not specifically insure against sinkholes.

It’s true, and for a state with a lot of sinkholes, this was worrisome to us. However, we learned that there is some coverage in other parts of your policy. I’m sure if we ever found ourselves in that horrendous situation that we would be able to recover something, but I’m also sure that it is not the same as if we had a sinkhole-specific clause.

All kitchen islands must have electrical running to it.

This, I believe, is a requirement most everywhere, but it is definitely a hard and fast rule here in Florida. Before we moved into our home, we had the kitchen completely renovated. If you followed along on Instagram Stories, you know that we demolished and trashed the entire thing. There was no saving those cabinets. The appliances we donated to a shelter that needed them. 

The original kitchen was a long U-shape and we wanted to break that up by creating a 10-foot long island. We also wanted to open up a path that was not there previously. We routed the sink and dishwasher to another part of the kitchen — under the window rather than in the part of the cabinets that became the island. I really just wanted an island to do prep work for all the cooking I complete on a daily basis. I figured it would also be a great place to set up food for a small gathering. 

Then I learned that electricity is required, but it didn’t deter me all the way. Instead, we just had to budget in these changes because the electricity had to be rerouted under the tile that already existed. There are certain rules for how many outlets an island must have and the location of those outlets as well. While we were at it, we decided to get a pop-up outlet directly in the center of the island. 

Florida is a homestead state.

As a Florida resident, you can apply for a homestead exemption worth up to $50,000. The home must be your primary residence. This exemption is so useful because it reduces the amount of property taxes Florida homeowners must pay, and limits how much their taxes can increase each year. There are rules surrounding this exemption, and certain filing dates you want to make sure you don’t miss. Do your due diligence and get more information on your county’s website.

Buying a home in Florida, for us, was a dream. It was next-level excitement, knowing that this place is 100% our own. That we can raise our children here and on nearly two acres, they can run free as children should. The dogs love the back yard and we have plants and herbs growing that we use regularly in our meals. So grateful for this house we are making a home.