THESE Hidden FLORIDA EXPENSES Left Me BROKE!

I moved to Florida and now I'm broke. I thought I'd be living here when I moved down here. Turns out, I can barely afford this. Everyone told me, move to Florida, life's good. Now, I knew the cost of housing was high, but nobody warned me about all the hidden little expenses that hit me when I got here. And those hidden expenses, they're the reason I'm eating bologna sandwiches at Publix instead of eating steak at Outback every night. It's my favorite. I'm gonna break down all those surprise costs that we learned about the hard way and how, compared to living in Michigan, we're now officially broke. We moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, and for the first year, we wanted to live downtown in a bad-ass apartment, and that's exactly what we did. We lived in a class A building, and we paid $4,800 a month for a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment. Now, this was on us, and we knew the expense we were taking there, so I'm not gonna put this one on the list. But we also knew we were gonna have to buy a house soon because we couldn't live there and pay that expense forever. So here came our first dilemma. It's housing prices. Now, our home in Michigan was valued at $250,000, and to buy a similar one down here, it costs us $450,000. That's a $200,000 increase, which means our monthly mortgage payment went from $1,200 a month to $3,000 a month. That's an increase of $1,800 a month. Now, when we lived in downtown St. Pete, my wife and I couldn't eat lunch for less than $50. Because there's really no fast food down there, it's all sit-down restaurants, which is nice. But back in Michigan, you could get a decent meal for around $30. This added $240 to our monthly expenses. Now, we haven't gone to any theme parks yet, but we did hit the Tampa Zoo, and that costs $50 a person. But they do run a special for $269 where you can get unlimited visits for four people. Luckily, my buddy had that, and we got in for free. Score. If you've been to Disney, let me know what you paid in the comments so I can prepare myself. Again, this isn't required spending, so I'm gonna leave this off the list. It's just more of an FYI. The third hidden expense is insurance. Now, premiums are high down here because of the risk of hurricanes. Back in Michigan, we paid $1,200 a year, which even back then I thought was high. But now we pay $2,200 a year. And yes, you can still get homeowners insurance in Florida. Stop watching the news. We also made sure not to buy in a flood zone so we don't need flood insurance. Insurance costs us an extra $83 a month. The fourth hidden expense is utilities. And down here in Florida, you've gotta run your AC about eight months out of the year, which can add to a higher electric bill compared to other states. Now, this one's hard to gauge because in Michigan, you're also running your furnace about eight months out of the year just trying to stay warm. So this one I'm gonna say is a wash, and I'm gonna leave it off the list. This brings us to water and sewer. Now, this is a crazy one. It's gonna depend on what city you live in, but back in Michigan, we paid around $180 every three months. Down here in Florida, we pay $180 every month. That's an extra $120 a month on our expenses. The fifth hidden expense is taxes. Now, down here, you're just gonna pay more for a house. So your taxes are gonna be higher. We paid $3,500 a year back in Michigan, and here we pay $6,100. That's an extra increase of $216 per month. So that's a grand total of an additional $2,459 a month. All right, so with all these higher costs, you're probably thinking, why the heck would you live there? Well, let me tell you, there's some seriously awesome positives that make this well worth it. Here's just a few of the many reasons I wouldn't trade Florida for anything. My house is on a well, so I can water my lawn as much as I want completely free. Florida doesn't have an income tax, which means I get to keep more of my hard-earned money, which is the way it should be. No more shoveling snow, freezing my ass off, and dealing with cold, gray winters. I'm done with that life. I get to live in a place where people save up all year just to vacation. And for me, it's just another day in paradise. My wife and I live off the income from our apartment buildings, and yeah, Florida is definitely more expensive than Michigan. And we're not down here driving flashy Benzos or living in waterfront property on the beach. So sure, you could say we're broke when you compare our expenses to Michigan. Now, we're not struggling to make payments by any means, but we're also not living that flashy life you see on social media. Yeah, for me, that's just the cost of upgrading to a better environment and a better life. My focus now is finding new ways to make more money, cover those extra costs, and take things to the next level. Florida can be very pricey. I call it the sunshine tax, but it all depends on where you live. Sure, I could save money by moving to a cheaper city closer to the center of the state, but I wanna live in St. Pete, closer to the beaches and all the downtown action. That's a pricey lifestyle, but it's the one I choose. And for me, it's completely worth it. If you're broke and thinking of making a move, a big city in Florida might not be your best choice. But if you're in a spot that you can handle the extra expenses, it's truly paradise. I've loved every minute of living here. Seeing the sunshine every day is a total game changer. It just makes life better. Still thinking about moving to Florida? Wanna know where the real deals are? Check out this next video to see why some homeowners are abandoning their waterfront properties, and you can score a great deal for yourself.