Moving to South Florida? Get a native on your side
You can pick the right city, tour every home, and close, all before your plane lands. I do this with out-of-state buyers year-round. Ready?
Calls returned within 1 hour. Texts, usually minutes.
No state income tax. Now let's talk about the rest.
You've heard the pitch. Florida takes zero state income tax. For a family moving from New York, New Jersey, or California, that's a real raise. Thousands of dollars a year, back in your pocket, without changing jobs.
That part is true. I'm a native Floridian and I'll happily brag about it. But I'd rather you hear the whole budget from me than discover it at closing.
Two other lines do the heavy lifting here. First, property taxes. Florida's longtime owners enjoy capped assessments, but those caps don't transfer to you. When you buy, your taxable value resets near your purchase price. Budget from the sale price, not from what the seller paid last year.
Second, homeowners insurance. Florida premiums rank among the highest in the country as of mid-2026. Wind coverage, roof age, and distance from the coast all move your quote. This is the single line that surprises out-of-state buyers most, so we price it before you fall in love with a house, not after.
And yes, let's say the quiet part out loud. When people ask why some residents are leaving Florida in 2026, insurance is the answer. Owners who didn't plan for it feel squeezed. Buyers who plan for it from day one do fine. That's the whole difference, and it's why this page exists.
Budget lines to write down before anything else.
- The income tax win. Compare your current state's bite to zero. That's your cushion. Spend it on the next four lines.
- Property taxes at reset. Estimate from your purchase price, then file for the homestead exemption once you live here. It trims the bill and caps future increases.
- Homeowners insurance quotes. Get them per house, before offering. Roof age and wind mitigation reports change quotes by thousands.
- HOA dues and rules. Many South Florida communities charge monthly dues and require board approval. More on that below.
- Move-in cash. Renters here often need first, last, and security up front. Buyers need closing costs plus reserves.
Five lines. One evening of homework. I'll walk you through every one on our first call.
The migration is real. Here's what the data says.
You're not imagining the moving trucks. Out-of-state driver license exchanges ran 16% higher in the first half of 2026 than the year before, per MIAMI Realtors data, as of mid-2026. And the origins are exactly who you'd guess: New York, New Jersey, and California together made up 38% of those exchanges, per the same MIAMI Realtors data, as of mid-2026.
The other engine is international. South Florida has drawn steady demand from Latin American buyers for decades, and it hasn't slowed. Weston is the clearest example. The city has a large Venezuelan, Colombian, and Brazilian community, and buyers from those countries keep arriving because their networks are already here. Spanish-speaking schools staff, Spanish-speaking doctors, direct flights home. That demand is durable, and it keeps Weston's market steady even when other cities wobble.
What does this mean for you as a relocating buyer? Competition, mostly. Homes in the most-wanted west Broward cities draw multiple offers, and active listings countywide sat 18.6% below the prior year as of mid-2026. You won't out-shop locals by refreshing a portal from another time zone. You need someone here who hears about homes early and answers fast. Hi. That's me.
Five cities, one honest comparison.
These are the five Broward cities I know best, side by side. Every city name links to my full guide for that place, with named communities, current stats, and the stuff only locals know.
| City | Median sale | Schools | The vibe | Commute |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davie | $520K | Mixed A and B ratings. Nova Southeastern University anchors the town. | Western-style downtown, a rodeo arena, horse trails beside college campuses. | About 20 min to Fort Lauderdale, 35 to 50 to downtown Miami. |
| Southwest Ranches | $1.5M | Broward district. Zoning varies street by street, so check the exact address. | Two-acre lots, barns, dark skies. Rural on purpose since 2000. | About 30 min to Fort Lauderdale, 45 to 60 to Miami. |
| Weston | $750K | Cypress Bay HS ranks near #44 in Florida. A-rated elementaries. | Master-planned villages, manicured parks, HOA-kept everything. | About 35 min to Fort Lauderdale, 45 to 60 to Miami via I-75. |
| Cooper City | $601K | A-rated schools that rival Weston's, at a lower buy-in. | Small-town events calendar, ballfields, quiet cul-de-sacs. | About 25 to 30 min to Fort Lauderdale, 40 to 55 to Miami. |
| Hollywood | $486K | Ratings vary by zone. Judge the address, not the city. | The beach Broadwalk on one side of I-95, 1960s ranch homes on the other. | About 20 min to Fort Lauderdale, 30 to 45 to downtown Miami. |
Median sale prices and school rankings as of mid-2026. Commute times are typical drive ranges outside rush hour. Deep dives live on each city page.
A few honest footnotes. Southwest Ranches homes take longer to sell because acreage buyers are rare and picky, and that's normal there, not a red flag. Cooper City moves fastest of the five, so decide quickly when you like something. Hollywood is really two markets in one city, condos east and houses west, and the difference matters more than the median suggests. Davie gives you horse country at half the price of the Ranches. And Weston costs the most for a reason: its builders planned the whole city down to the tree line.
Buying from 1,200 miles away actually works.
Here's the part that surprises people. You don't need to be in Florida to buy in Florida. You need eyes here that you trust.
My remote process runs on three tools. Live video tours, where I walk every home with my phone up and my opinions on. You see the water stain the listing photos cropped out. You hear the highway noise the description skipped. I open closets, flush toilets, and stand in the backyard at rush hour.
Digital signing handles the paperwork. You sign offers, disclosures, and closing documents from your couch in any state. Florida allows remote online notarization, so even the closing table can be a laptop.
And a fly-down weekend, if you want one. Most of my relocating buyers visit once, see only the short list, and spend the rest of the weekend testing commutes and eating well. Some never visit at all before closing. That's not a stunt. It's a process that works when someone local does the legwork honestly.
The military family who bought sight unseen.
A military family got orders to move from Virginia to Miami. No house-hunting trips. No time. Every showing happened through my phone camera.
I video-toured every home on their list, room by room, and told them the truth about each one. We wrote the offer remotely and signed everything digitally.
They closed before they landed. Their keys were waiting when the plane touched down. That's the whole promise of this page, done for real.
The remote purchase, start to keys.
Six steps. You can do all of them from your current zip code. I'm on the ground for every one.
East or west of I-95? Learn this one road first.
If you learn one piece of South Florida geography before you move, make it this. Interstate 95 runs north to south, a few miles inland from the ocean, and it splits the whole region into two ways of living.
East of I-95 means closer to the water. Beach access, older buildings, condo towers, walkable pockets, and the Broadwalk in Hollywood. It also means higher insurance quotes, because wind and flood risk climb as you approach the coast. Condo life east of the highway comes with its own budget lines too, like association dues and building assessments.
West of I-95 means more land and newer construction. Yards, garages, gated communities, and the master-planned cities in this guide. Davie, Southwest Ranches, Weston, and Cooper City all sit well west of the highway. Insurance usually quotes lower inland, and your dollar buys more square footage. The trade: the beach becomes a drive, not a walk.
Neither side is the right answer. They're different products. Tell me how you actually spend your Saturdays and I'll tell you which side of the highway fits.
Hurricane insurance, minus the drama.
Hurricanes are a season here, not a surprise. June through November, we watch the forecasts, and most years nothing comes close. The houses know the drill too. Post-1992 building codes made South Florida construction some of the strongest in the country.
What you're really budgeting for is the insurance side. Three things drive your quote. Roof age, because insurers price old roofs hard and some won't write policies on them at all. Wind mitigation features, like impact windows and roof straps, which earn real discounts. And location, because coastal wind zones and flood zones cost more to cover.
So when I tour a home for you on video, I'm not just showing you countertops. I'm reading roof age off the permit history and flagging which houses will quote well. A pretty house with a 20-year-old roof isn't a deal. It's a pending expense with landscaping.
HOA culture: read this before you're shocked.
South Florida runs on associations. A huge share of homes in west Broward sit inside HOA communities, and the rules here are stricter than most states' by a wide margin.
What that means in practice. Monthly dues that belong in your budget from day one. Approval processes, where the association reviews buyers and renters before move-in, which can add weeks. And rules with teeth: lawn standards, paint palettes, parking limits, pet policies.
Here's the flip side. Those same rules are why the master-planned cities still look sharp 30 years on. You're not just paying dues. You're buying the neighborhood staying the neighborhood.
My job is reading the association documents before you commit, so the rules fit your life. Boat in the driveway? Big dog? Home business with client visits? Tell me early. It changes the list.
Not sure which city yet? Rent first. Seriously.
Some agents push every relocator to buy immediately. I don't. Renting for a year is a legitimate strategy, and for plenty of movers it's the smart one.
Here's the case for it. You test your real commute, not the map's optimistic version. You live through a summer and a hurricane season before committing. You learn which city fits your actual week, not the one you imagined from another state. And you shop for a house calmly instead of buying from a hotel room on a deadline.
I handle rentals for exactly this reason. Same video tours, same honest read, and I'll flag the association approval timelines that catch out-of-state renters off guard. Then, when you're ready to buy, we already know each other and we already know your list.
One heads-up: renters here rarely pay my fee. The landlord typically does. So renting first doesn't cost you an agent. It gains you one, a year early.
Bringing a business with you? Let's find it a home too.
A lot of relocating households move a company, not just furniture. A practice, a shop, a warehouse operation, a studio. Florida's tax picture pulls businesses the same way it pulls households.
I spent seven years as a small business owner here before real estate, so I've stood on the tenant's side of a commercial lease. I know what a fair listing discloses and what a bad one hides.
My commercial leasing page covers the ground: retail in Hollywood, warehouse and flex space in Davie, storefronts in Cooper City, and how the lease math actually works. Home search and space search can run side by side. One move, both solved.
Questions every relocating buyer asks me.
Is South Florida a good place to live?
It depends on what you want from a place. You get outdoor living all twelve months, ocean beaches, big-league sports, huge parks, and airports with direct flights almost anywhere. You trade that for hot humid summers, hurricane season, rising insurance bills, and real traffic. Most of my relocating buyers decide the trade is worth it. Some decide it isn't. One video call with someone who grew up here beats a hundred listicles.
Is $70,000 enough to live in Miami?
It can be, and housing decides it. Rent takes the biggest bite of any Miami budget. With a roommate, or a modest place away from the waterfront towers, $70K works. Living solo in a new high-rise near the urban core, it gets tight fast. That's exactly why I point many relocators to west Broward, where the same paycheck buys more space and a calmer commute. There's no magic number. There's your budget and an honest read on it.
How much money do you need to move to Florida?
Plan around three buckets. Move-in money: South Florida landlords often want first month, last month, and a security deposit up front, and buyers need their down payment plus closing costs. Moving costs: a long-distance move runs real money, so get three quotes before you trust one. Reserves: keep three to six months of expenses, because insurance, deposits, and setup costs stack up in month one. Text me your situation and we'll build your actual number together.
Why are people leaving Florida in 2026?
Mostly insurance. Florida homeowners pay some of the highest premiums in the country as of mid-2026, and some longtime owners are cashing out rather than absorbing the increases. That's the honest answer. Here's the counterweight: out-of-state license exchanges here ran 16% higher in the first half of 2026 than the year before, per MIAMI Realtors data. More people arrive than leave. The ones who stay planned for the insurance line. The ones who leave got surprised by it. My job is making you the first kind.
Planning the move? Start with one video call.
Text me where you're coming from and when. You'll hear back in minutes, not days.