[Niels]

I agree with Ohiogirl. Everyone talks about things being much cheaper in Florida that in Northern states. Well, my experience has been that many things are not cheaper. In fact, I am estimating that expenses will probably be about equal to Albany but even that may be optimistic.

I came from Albany, New York. New York is known as a high tax, high cost of living state. Well, I just got my auto insurance bill and it's only slightly less than what I paid in New York (although like Ohiogirl said apples to apples comparison is difficult due to slightly different insurance requirements). House insurance is more than I paid in New York even after my wind insurance discount. With the maintenance fees, my taxes are estimated to be almost as much as I was paying in New York. If you include my bond assessment itself, I'll be paying much more than in New York. Even lawn care is more expensive than what I paid in Albany. And then there's the pesticide expense. Unless you want to do it yourself, this can be a significant expense.

So what is less? Yes, electric rates may be less but in Albany I used gas for heating and hot water which was very economical. And my gas furnace needed less maintenance than my heat pump probably will.

And then we get to getting a Florida car title and registering my car. Are you sitting down for this one? $483.55. That's several times what I ever paid in Albany. That does include about $90+ dollars in title fees and $225 which is charged as a one time fee if you have never registered a car in Florida before.

Yes, your wages will be much less but you may not see a big difference in cost of living.