Moving to Florida from New York

New York residency rules you need to respect

New York taxes residents on all their income, and it has two ways to treat you as a resident. One is domicile, meaning your true permanent home. The other is statutory residency: keeping a permanent place to live in New York and spending more than 183 days in the state during the year can make you a resident for tax purposes even if you say you live in Florida.

• Count your days in the transition years. Any part of a day in New York usually counts.
• Move what matters to you: family items, pets, doctors, safe deposit box, club memberships, primary business activity. Auditors look at where your life actually is.
• Keeping a New York apartment is a common audit trigger. If you keep one, keep the day count well under the line and document it.
• Florida side: driver's license, vehicle registration, voter registration, homestead filing and a Declaration of Domicile with the clerk of court.

This isn't legal or tax advice. A New York residency specialist is worth the fee if your income is high or you keep property in the state.

Taxes after the move: what goes away and what stays

• Gone: state income tax, New York City income tax, and New York's estate tax exposure for a Florida domiciliary's Florida assets. Florida has no state income, estate or inheritance tax.
• Still there: federal income and estate tax, and New York tax on income sourced to New York, such as rent from New York property you keep or wages for days worked there.
• Property tax: Florida taxes real estate by local millage. A primary residence gets homestead (up to $51,411 off assessed value in 2026) and a 3% or CPI cap on yearly assessment growth. If you keep New York as home and use Florida as a winter place, that condo is taxed without an exemption, and only non-school levies have a cap, set at 10% a year.

The assessment resets to market value after you buy, so plan the tax line from your price. Amendment 3, which would revise homestead and non-homestead rules, is before voters on November 3, 2026 and needs 60%; its fate was unknown at writing.

Co-op habits, Florida condo reality

New York buyers are used to co-op boards, financial disclosure and flip taxes. Most Florida apartment buildings are condominiums, where you own your unit outright and share the common elements. Some still require association approval of buyers, usually lighter than a Manhattan board package, and some older buildings are co-ops.

• Approval: ask how long it takes and what it requires, and make the contract contingent on it.
• 7-day review: resale condo buyers can cancel within 7 days, excluding weekends and legal holidays, after getting the association documents.
• Building safety law: buildings three stories or taller need milestone inspections (by the year they turn 30, or 25 if local officials require) and a Structural Integrity Reserve Study every 10 years. Required reserves can no longer be waived for budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024.
• Special assessments are common in older towers catching up on concrete, roof and elevator work. Read the SIRS, inspection report and minutes.
• Financing: some buildings are non-warrantable, which narrows loan options. Ask a lender about the building before you write an offer.

Best places in Florida for New Yorkers, by what you want to keep

New Yorkers usually want one of a few things: walkability, a real city, water, or easy trips back north. Matching that to a region works better than any list of the best towns.

• City life and high-rise living: Miami ($583,705 all homes, $383,531 condos), Miami Beach ($460,054 condos) and Fort Lauderdale ($403,495 condos).
• Quieter coastal suburbs: Boca Raton ($580,267 all homes, $285,174 condos), Boynton Beach ($404,476) and West Palm Beach ($404,711).
• Gulf coast with a lower price: St. Petersburg ($351,862) and Clearwater ($340,654), both with older downtown condo stock.
• More house for the money: Jacksonville ($284,832) and Central Florida.

Brightline trains connect Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Orlando, which matters to buyers who do not want to drive everywhere. South Florida's three big counties (Miami-Dade at $523,240, Broward at $422,344 and Palm Beach at $475,754) are the most car-optional part of the state, though still far from New York standards.

Buying a house after years in an apartment

Many New Yorkers buy their first single-family home in Florida. The statewide single-family value is $396,809. What is new:

• Roof age controls insurance. Ask for the roof permit date before anything else.
• Wind mitigation inspection documents features that lower the wind premium; 4-point inspection checks roof, electrical, plumbing and HVAC on older homes.
• Hurricane deductible: 2%, 5% or 10% of dwelling coverage, applied once per calendar year.
• Flood: a separate policy, required in FEMA A and V zones and worth pricing near the water anywhere.
• HOA and CDD: newer subdivisions often have both. The CDD repays infrastructure bonds through your tax bill.

Closing costs a New York seller will find modest

Florida has no mansion tax. The deed stamp tax is $0.70 per $100 in most counties, usually paid by the seller, and $0.60 in Miami-Dade with a $0.45 surtax on property other than single-family homes. Buyers with a mortgage pay $0.35 per $100 on the note and 0.2% intangible tax on the loan. The owner's title insurance premium is set by the state; buyers customarily pay it in Miami-Dade and Broward, sellers in many other counties. Closings are usually handled by a title company, and an attorney is optional. Prices are down 0.9% statewide over the past year and up 18.6% over five years, so negotiate on the facts of each building or street.

First steps

Start by deciding whether you want a tower, a low-rise or a house, and which coast. Then decide how often you will fly back. Frequent trips favor a short drive to a large airport, and South Florida, Tampa and Orlando all have big ones with many daily flights to the New York area. If grandchildren or work will pull you north several times a year, that convenience is worth paying for, and it narrows the map quickly. Finally, think about summer: a lock-and-leave condo suits buyers who will spend July and August up north, while a house needs someone to check on it. A shortlist built on those two answers, with fees and insurance estimated for each option, saves weeks of scrolling.