What owning a Florida home actually costs

The same home held for different lengths of time

A $400,000 home in Miami-Dade, 20% down at 6.75%, $194 a month of HOA, 4% a year appreciation, 0.5% a year maintenance, and 8% to sell at the end:

Why three years and ten years are different decisions

Nearly all of the cost sits at the two ends: the 3% you spend buying and the 8% you spend selling. Spread over three years that is punishing; spread over fifteen it is close to irrelevant. Nothing else in this calculation moves the answer as much as the number of years you enter — and it is the input people are least willing to be honest about.

What is in the calculation, and what is not

• In: down payment, 3% closing costs, every mortgage payment, property tax and insurance recalculated on that year's value, HOA, maintenance at 0.5% of value a year, and 8% to sell.
• Not in: the mortgage interest and property tax deductions, which lower the real cost for people who itemize, and any refinance if rates fall. Both work in owning's favour — so this figure is deliberately the pessimistic one.
• Not in either: a special assessment. Since Surfside, Florida condominium associations have been required to fund reserves properly, and assessments that used to be rare are not.

Where these numbers come from

Millage: Florida Department of Revenue, 2025. Insurance scaled from the standardized $300,000 dwelling policy priced at $8,471 for Florida by Quadrant Information Services, recalculated each year on that year's value. Maintenance at 0.5% of value a year, which is the low end of the usual range. Closing costs at 3% of price for the buyer and 8% for the seller — commission, documentary stamps, title and settlement fees. Appreciation is your assumption, not a forecast: no source can supply it.

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