[TrudyM]

Originally Posted by skyguy79

I'm not absolutely sure of this, but based on my prior Motor Vehicle experience I believe that Florida registration fees are higher than some other states is because Florida is an Ad Valorem (value added) state. What that means is that taxes are collected on initial registrations and upon renewals in addition to the regular registration fees. In a non-AV state, like NYS where I'm currently a resident, full taxes on a vehicle are collected on initial registration of a motor vehicle and the renewals only have the regular fee without added tax. I believe that most states are not ad valorem!

Most states I have lived in that are without income tax charge Ad Valorem or personal property taxes on cars usually collected when you renew or register the car that are based on the cars value. I believe Florida has no income tax thus inorder to get money they tax what you own real estate and cars I don't know if they have a similar tax on boats and RV trailers but some non income tax states do.

[HawkeyeBarb]

Thanks again, all, for your input. Sounds like we 'gonnabees' really have a lot to look forward to!

[Jerseygirl08]

Great thread. Have been here for two years.

LOVE: sunsets, Lighthouse Point Cafe Restaurant, sand cranes and other tropical birds here, beautiful landscaping, ice cream at Ambrosia (LSL), Disney, friendliness of most people, always eager to help out. Friends here, pot lucks, day trips to Tavares, Mt. Dora, Winter Garden, the beaches, KathieI (let's see if she reads all posts!!)

DON'T LOVE: Gates and gate passes, humidity mid summer, crowds during high season, salaries here.

Overall, so glad I moved here. sometimes, I can't believe going to the squares and dancing has become "boring" so I make myself go at least every few weeks (I do work fulltime though). Hard to work when all your friends are having so much fun. Can't wait to retire.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Originally Posted by Jerseygirl08

.......Hard to work when all your friends are having so much fun. Can't wait to retire.

Ah, but at least you're in TV!!!!!

Bill

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by K9-Lovers

My surprises:

The beautiful clouds -- every day. And the wonderful breeze/wind. Mr. K9 and I just finished up two meteorology classes through the Lifelong Learning College, and we learned that both the clouds and wind are caused by the wind direction from the opposing coasts. Breeze comes from one direction for the gulf side, and from the other direction on the ocean side. They meet halfway -- which is where we are in TV! So when they two air masses meet each other you get wind and beautiful clouds.

Another surprise was how much it cost to register your cars for the first time! Wow!

The best surprise was there are no mosquitos or fleas. I've only seen two mosquitos and we've lived here a year now. The payback is the palmetto bugs -- ugh. But as long as you spray, no problems.

And, I'm still surprised every day at how beautifully landscaped TV stays -- flowers in every nook and cranny. Such a beautiful place to live.

We've only scratched the surface when it comes to restaurants. No, I don't think that discovering new places to eat "gets old."

And not having been to the movies in about a hundred years, I was surprised at how much I am enjoying TV's theaters (and popcorn).

Finally, I'm surprised that I still love posting and reading TOTV. I thought that once we got here, that TOTV would be something I no longer needed or wanted to do -- WRONG. I still love TOTV . . can you tell?

I could have written every word of this if I could write as well as you. (Isn't the theatre popcorn amazingly good???)

I love that everyone has 80,000 new friends who want to invite you to their party.

I love that when you look at people, they see you and look back and smile. I thought maybe I had disappeared up north when seeing YOUNG people.

Other not nice surprises. Lemons cost more than in Ohio and the tomatoes aren't as good as in Ohio and Helene and I are suffering terribly from allergies.

I blame the developer and his family for all of these bad things.

[rblammon]

Is there a web site that one can figure out what the cost of getting your car registered for the 1st time in Florida?

[chuckinca]

Originally Posted by rblammon

Is there a web site that one can figure out what the cost of getting your car registered for the 1st time in Florida?

Look thru the thread titled car registration - in the "today's posts"


.

[Ohiogirl]

Originally Posted by TrudyM

Most states I have lived in that are without income tax charge Ad Valorem or personal property taxes on cars usually collected when you renew or register the car that are based on the cars value. I believe Florida has no income tax thus inorder to get money they tax what you own real estate and cars I don't know if they have a similar tax on boats and RV trailers but some non income tax states do.

The high initial registration fee is just that - initial (they changed it - upwards - about 2-3 yrs ago). The renewal is cheap - about $55 per car - not ad valorem. Florida really is cheaper to live in than MOST other states, probably more expensive than some of the southern states such as Alabama, Mississippi and maybe Arkansas. Florida really does want to attract retirees - FL makes their money from the tourists.

[HawkeyeBarb]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl

The high initial registration fee is just that - initial (they changed it - upwards - about 2-3 yrs ago). The renewal is cheap - about $55 per car - not ad valorem. Florida really is cheaper to live in than MOST other states, probably more expensive than some of the southern states such as Alabama, Mississippi and maybe Arkansas. Florida really does want to attract retirees - FL makes their money from the tourists.

Ohiogirl...having been a FL tourist many times, I don't know if FL making it's money from me is really an "Unexpected Surprise"!
Thanks for the info...and I would agree that the cost of living in FL would be less than many Northern states.

[Ohiogirl]

Guess your thread kind of got hijacked - by me and many others. It is a good one - getting back to "Surprises."

Would have to say that I have been surprised by how much time I spend on the lanai - either reading the paper from cover to cover with my coffee most mornings, checking email and computer websites like this one, having a glass of wine and reading a good book before or after dinner. We literally spend hours every day out here. When mornings and evenings are cool, or it's raining without lightening, I come out here with a nice thick throw and enjoy it even then. Isn't retirement great?

[kofficer]

Originally Posted by ajbrown;3***45

This is our fourth winter of snowbirding. We love it here, none of the things we love about being here were a surprise. What surprised me was how cold it can he here in the winter. When I was up north, I would laugh at folks who said it was cold in FL when the temp was 58, but it really can be, especially with a nice 15 mph north breeze. Last winter there were many days where it was too cold to want to golf. Of course there is other stuff to do and I am not moving, but it caught me off guard how cold it could be.

This winter has been everything we could have hoped out of our FL home weather wise. Lets hope the previous winter was the anomaly.

I have been in Florida since 1986, and yes, last year is definitely not the norm for winter weather. I would say in all that time, we only had a couple winters like last year.

Lee and Richard in Tampa, for now . . .

[texasfal]

The biggest surprise to me because I'm still working full time is how low the pay is in Florida. I'm a paralegal with 25 years trial experience and I was offered top pay of $10.00 an hour. Still a shock to the system everytime I open my pay stub.

[MikeH]

If you run into a lot of, or high, "unexpected expenses", you didn't do your homework. It's up to you to ask questions and not just in "Talk of the Villages", but also verify with your salesperson. No one is going to spoon feed you all you may want or need to know. It's like buying a house anywhere---up to you to do the research to know in advance what you're buying. In my experience, those who are unhappy here are those who didn't do there homework.

[Megan]

we used mandmservices for our gutters and attic stairs 352 307 5972 after getting three ests exl company to deal with