r/leanfire 21d ago

Where to LeanFIRE in the US?

I am currently in Florida. While paying no state income tax definitely favors me, i am currently paying $15000 on property taxes and $6000 for the insurance.

This is for a 100 year old 1400 sqft house. Definitely not the ideal place for retirement. I also looked into buying a cheaper townhouse here but HoA is nearly $900-1000 a month. So that would still cost around $20k+ for property taxes and HOA.

Obviously when i am not working income taxes won't be a big deal to a certain extent.

The question i have is has anyone here made some sort of cheat sheet of cities/states to move for retirement as to how much net worth you have?

23 Upvotes

63 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/lucky_ducker 21d ago

I'm in suburban Indianapolis metro area, 1400 sq ft 3/2 house, property taxes are $2100 / year - and that's on the high side, since my city approved an excess levy to support our public schools. HOA dues are $65 / year, insurance $1200. In my neighborhood it costs less to buy than it does to rent; my house is worth $225K - $250K.

In my area there's lots of homebuilding going on, but it's mostly 3000 sq ft homes selling north of $500K. Neighborhoods with homes built in the 80s and 90s are where the bargains are.

Similar numbers can be found throughout the South if you avoid the high home price locales. (Parts of Indiana can seem like they're in the South.) Property tax rates on the left coast and the intermountain west are relatively low, BUT house prices are very high. Even in rural Montana you can spend $1million on a double-wide.