Buying a House in Florida From Out of State

Decide what kind of Florida move this is

The rest of the plan depends on whether the house will be your permanent home or a second home.

• Moving to Florida full time. You can claim the homestead exemption, worth up to $51,411 off assessed value in 2026, and Save Our Homes then caps assessment increases at 3 percent or inflation, whichever is lower. Florida has no state income tax, which is often the reason for the move.
• Keeping your main home elsewhere. The house is non-homestead. You get no exemption, and assessments can still rise up to 10 percent a year on non-school levies. Budget for the full tax bill.

Your lender will also ask how you plan to use the house, because loan terms differ for primary and second homes. Answer honestly; occupancy is a signed statement on the loan.

Narrow the map with numbers before you fly down

Out-of-state buyers often arrive with one city in mind and leave with another. Typical values from Zillow for all home types show how wide the range is:

• Under $300,000: Daytona Beach $251,316, Ocala $263,895, Jacksonville $284,832.
• $300,000 to $400,000: Fort Myers $304,566, Cape Coral $334,660, Punta Gorda $334,685, Clearwater $340,654, St. Petersburg $351,862, Melbourne $357,832, Orlando $372,775, Tampa $375,619, Port St. Lucie $384,099.
• Over $400,000: Sarasota $410,998, Fort Lauderdale $509,743, Coral Springs $521,975, Naples $545,587, Boca Raton $580,267, Miami $583,705.

Statewide prices are down 0.9 percent over the past year after rising 18.6 percent over five years, so buyers coming from expensive metros often find more negotiating room than they expected. Pick two or three cities, then compare commute, flood exposure and insurance cost street by street.

How remote house hunting works in practice

When I work with buyers in other states, the routine looks like this:

• Live video tours. I walk the house on a call, open closets, run water, point the camera at the roof line, the electrical panel and the water heater, and show the street and the neighbors' yards.
• Pre-checks before an offer. Flood zone, roof age from permits where available, the HOA or CDD fees, and the current tax bill, with a note on how it will change after the sale.
• One trip, well used. Many buyers fly in once to see a short list in two days, then make offers remotely after that.

A house that looks fine on video can still have water intrusion or an old roof. Remote buying works because the inspection period catches what a camera misses.

Florida-specific checks out-of-state buyers miss

• Insurance before everything else. Get a real quote on the address during the inspection period. Premiums depend on roof age, construction year, wind mitigation features and distance from the coast, and they can change the monthly payment more than a few thousand dollars of price.
• Wind mitigation and 4-point inspections. The wind report records roof shape, how the roof is attached to the walls and whether windows and doors are protected. A 4-point inspection on an older home covers the roof, plumbing, electrical and HVAC, and many insurers require it.
• Flood is separate. Standard homeowners policies exclude it. Lenders require flood coverage in high-risk A and V zones, and Citizens, the state-backed insurer, has been phasing in a flood requirement for its homeowners policies.
• HOA and CDD. Many newer Florida subdivisions carry a Community Development District assessment on the tax bill along with an HOA fee. Ask for both numbers.
• The tax reset. The assessment resets to market value after a sale, so the seller's tax bill understates yours.

Timing the purchase against selling your current home

Most people moving to Florida are also selling a house somewhere else, and the order matters.

• Sell first, then buy. You know exactly how much cash you have and you avoid two mortgages. The cost is a gap, which may mean short-term housing in Florida while you shop in person.
• Buy first, then sell. You move once, straight into the new house. You need the down payment without your current equity, or a lender willing to count both payments for a while.
• Buy with a sale contingency. Some Florida sellers accept an offer that depends on your home selling, usually when the house has been on the market a while. Expect them to keep showing it and to want a deadline.

Moving trucks, school calendars and hurricane season from June through November all affect timing. A closing in late summer can leave you buying insurance while a storm is in the forecast, when insurers sometimes pause new policies, so give that part of the calendar extra room.

Closing without being in the room

Florida closings are handled by title companies or closing attorneys, and nearly all of them offer mail-away signing or remote online notarization. Your lender may require an in-person notary for some loan documents, so ask early which method they accept.

Closing costs follow state rules. Deed stamps are usually the seller's at $0.70 per $100 outside Miami-Dade. If you finance, the note carries $0.35 per $100 and the intangible tax adds 0.2 percent of the loan, which on a $320,000 mortgage is $1,120 plus $640. Whether the buyer or seller pays for the owner's title policy depends on county custom, and the premium itself is set by the state.

Wire fraud is the one risk that grows with distance. Call the title company at a number from its website before sending funds, and never act on changed wiring instructions sent by email.

After closing: becoming a Florida resident

If Florida will be your permanent home, the paperwork after closing matters as much as the purchase. This isn't legal or tax advice, and your former state may have its own rules about when you stop being a resident there.

• Homestead. You must own and live in the home as your permanent residence on January 1, and apply with the county property appraiser by March 1 of that year.
• Driver license and vehicle. Florida expects new residents to switch both within a short window after moving.
• Declaration of domicile. Optional, filed with the county clerk, and useful if you need to show the move is permanent.
• Voter registration and mailing address. These help support your residency for the homestead application.

Send me your price range, the cities on your list and your move date, and I can put together a shortlist sorted by what the insurance and taxes will actually cost.