Florida Snowbird Guide: Taxes, Insurance, and the House Care

Snowbirds are part of Florida’s calendar. University of Florida researchers estimated roughly 800,000 to 900,000 seasonal residents in Florida at the winter peak in the mid-2000s, and New Yorkers were the largest group. Splitting the year between two homes sounds simple, but it means living under two states’ tax rules, insuring a house that sits empty half the year, and making sure the Florida home is still dry and standing when you come back in November.

Short version: The first decision is which state is legally home. If it stays up north, your Florida house is a second home: no homestead exemption, higher property tax increases, and your home state can keep taxing your income. If you make Florida home, you get homestead and no state income tax, but you have to truly leave your old state, and New York in particular can still tax you as a resident if you keep a home there and spend 184 or more days a year in the state. You can’t claim both: a residency-based tax break up north disqualifies you from Florida homestead. Beyond taxes, tell your insurer the house will be empty, set the AC no higher than 85°F, shut off the water, and have someone check the house, since you’ll be gone for most of hurricane season.

The first decision: which state is home

Every snowbird has one legal home, called a domicile, no matter how the calendar splits. That choice decides your taxes, your property tax bill, where you vote, which driver license you carry, and sometimes which health plan works for you. There are two paths.

Path 1: Keep your northern home, with Florida as a second home. This is the default if you change nothing.

You keep your home state’s driver license, plates, and voter registration.
Your home state taxes all your income.
Your Florida house is taxed as a non-homestead property: no homestead exemption, and assessments can rise up to 10% a year (see below).
This makes sense if you spend most of the year up north, keep working there, or your home state’s taxes aren’t much higher than Florida’s total costs.

Path 2: Make Florida home, with summers up north.

You get a Florida license, register your car and vote in Florida, file a Declaration of Domicile, and claim the homestead exemption.
Florida has no state income tax on individuals and no estate tax.
The catch is that your old state doesn’t have to accept the move, especially if you keep a house there and spend summers in it. The next section covers how New York decides.

The moving from New York to Florida guide walks through Path 2 step by step for someone moving full time.

You can’t have it both ways. Under F.S. 196.031(6), anyone “receiving or claiming the benefit of” a property tax exemption or credit in another state that requires permanent residency can’t get Florida homestead. New York’s STAR program, for example, applies only to your primary residence, and you can have only one. Getting this wrong is expensive. Under F.S. 196.161, a county that finds an improper homestead can collect up to 10 years of back taxes, plus a 50% penalty and 15% interest a year, and file a lien on the house.

The New York side: domicile and the 184-day rule

If New York is where you’re coming from, two separate tests decide whether it can still tax you as a resident.

Domicile. New York looks at where your life really is, using five factors from its Nonresident Audit Guidelines:

your home
active business involvement
where you spend your time
where your “near and dear” items are kept
where your family lives

The person claiming a change of domicile has the burden of proving it, and New York requires clear and convincing evidence. Snowbirds who keep the bigger house, the doctors, the club memberships, and the family heirlooms in New York have a weak case, even with a Florida license in their wallet.

Statutory residency. Even if Florida is truly your domicile, New York can tax you as a statutory resident if you keep a permanent place to live in New York for substantially all of the year and spend 184 or more days in the state. Any part of a day counts as a full day, so a morning drive-through on the way to the airport counts. The day doesn’t even have to be spent at your New York home.

Keep records. In an audit, New York’s guidelines say auditors look at credit card receipts, phone bills, diaries or appointment logs, expense records, and statements from third parties to figure out where you were. Keep a simple day log, and keep receipts and travel records from both states. Other high-tax states, like New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, have their own residency rules, so check with your state if you’re not coming from New York. If your income or estate is large, a tax professional who handles residency audits is worth paying before you change anything, not after.

Property taxes on the Florida house

How Florida taxes your home depends on that first decision.

Homestead vs. second home. A homestead in Florida gets the homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes cap, which limits yearly assessment increases to 3% or inflation, whichever is lower. That was 2.7% for 2026. A snowbird’s second home gets no exemption, and its assessment can rise up to 10% a year for non-school taxes, with school taxes not capped at all. Over a decade, that gap adds up to real money on the same house.

Amendment 3. On November 3, 2026, Florida voters decide Amendment 3, which needs 60% to pass. For homesteads, it would exempt $150,000 from non-school taxes in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with a smaller $50,000 exemption for the first four years for people who become residents after December 31, 2026. For second homes, the Pinellas County Property Appraiser notes it would cut the non-school assessment cap from 10% to 5%. Snowbirds thinking about switching to Path 2 should know that cutoff date. The property tax and Amendment 3 article has the full picture.

The calendar works against snowbirds. Florida’s property tax deadlines fall mostly while snowbirds are up north. According to the Florida Department of Revenue’s tax calendar:

Late August: your TRIM notice (the proposed tax notice) is mailed.
25 days after the TRIM notice: the deadline to challenge your assessed value with the county’s Value Adjustment Board (F.S. 194.011).
November 1: tax bills go out.
The discount: paying early saves 4% in November, 3% in December, 2% in January, and 1% in February.
March 31: the bill must be paid. It’s delinquent on April 1.

If your TRIM notice sits in a Florida mailbox until you get back in November, the appeal window is long gone. Give the county property appraiser and tax collector your northern mailing address for the summer, or check their websites in late August.

Insurance on a house that sits empty

This is where snowbirds get hurt the most, because an empty house with an unnoticed leak can mean months of water damage before anyone walks in.

Make sure the policy fits how you use the house. Citizens Property Insurance, Florida’s state-backed insurer, requires its HO-3 homeowners policy to cover a home the owner lives in as a primary residence, and uses its DP-3 dwelling policy for homes that don’t qualify. Private insurers have their own rules for seasonal and secondary homes. If your Florida house is a second home, tell your insurer and make sure the policy type matches. A claim on a policy written for the wrong occupancy is a claim waiting to be denied.

Watch the vacancy clauses. In the standard HO-3 policy form, vandalism and glass breakage aren’t covered if the home has been vacant for more than 60 days in a row before the loss. The Insurance Information Institute notes that many policies limit coverage once a home is unoccupied for 30 to 60 days, and recommends telling your insurer whenever a home will be empty for a long stretch. Read your own policy for its exact wording, and ask your agent what counts as “vacant” versus “unoccupied” when your furniture stays behind.

You’re away for hurricane season. Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, almost exactly the months snowbirds are gone. If a storm hits, you need someone who can get into the house quickly, photograph damage, and stop further water damage, because policies expect owners to protect the property from further loss. Florida’s claim deadline is 1 year from the date of loss for a new or reopened claim and 18 months for a supplemental claim. That’s long enough to report a claim, but water damage found months late is much harder to prove and to fix. The homeowners insurance guide and flood insurance guide cover the policies themselves.

Closing up the house for summer

UF/IFAS’s guide to closing a seasonal home, updated in April 2026, is the best single checklist for Florida. The key steps:

Air conditioning and humidity.

Leave the AC on, set no higher than 85°F. UF/IFAS warns that above 85°F, indoor humidity rises past 55 to 60%, which is enough to grow mold.
Have your AC company calibrate the humidistat if your system has one.
A dehumidifier set to drain into a sink or floor drain helps, though not as much as the AC.
Get the AC serviced and change the filter before you leave, since it’ll run all summer with no one around to notice a problem.
The mold prevention guide and AC and humidity guide explain why this matters so much in Florida.

Water.

Shut off the water heater if you’ll be gone more than a month.
Shut off the water at the main, unless it also feeds the irrigation system. In that case, shut off the house supply and leave irrigation on its own valve if your plumbing allows it.
A burst supply line under a sink is the classic snowbird disaster, so turning off the water is the single most valuable step.

Kitchen and drains.

Empty and clean the refrigerator, or leave it running with only things that keep. Prop the doors open on any appliance you unplug, so it doesn’t grow mold.
Pour water into seldom-used drains and toilets before you leave so the traps don’t dry out and let sewer gas in.

Hurricane prep.

Since you’ll be gone for the whole season, decide before you leave who will put up shutters if a storm threatens, or install them before you go.
Bring in patio furniture, grills, and anything else wind could throw.
The hurricane preparedness guide covers the full list.

Outside.

Arrange lawn care, and make sure the irrigation timer follows your area’s watering restrictions and has a working rain sensor, which Florida law requires. A sprinkler running in the rain all summer earns citations you won’t see until fall.
If you have a pool, keep the pump running on a timer and arrange regular service, since a neglected pool turns green fast. The pool ownership guide covers upkeep.
Keep pest control on schedule. Termites and insects don’t take the summer off, and the termite inspection guide explains what to watch for.

Mail and paperwork.

USPS temporary forwarding can run from 15 days up to a year. Premium Forwarding Service ships all your mail weekly instead.
Update your mailing address with the county property appraiser, tax collector, insurer, and HOA so you don’t miss deadlines.

Security and check-ins.

Tell your HOA or condo association your dates and emergency contacts.
Leave a key with a trusted neighbor, or hire a home watch service to check the house regularly. Florida doesn’t license home watch businesses as a separate profession, so ask any service for proof of insurance and bonding, references, and a written report after each visit with photos.
Smart water-leak sensors, a smart thermostat, and cameras let you check the house from up north.

Opening the house in the fall

When you get back, walk through before you unpack:

Look and smell for moisture. Check under sinks, around the water heater, the AC closet, and ceilings for stains or musty smells.
Check the AC drain line. It clogs over the summer, and a clogged line leaks.
Turn the water back on slowly and check for leaks. Then turn on the water heater, after the tank is full.
Check the roof and screens for storm damage. If anything happened over the summer, document it and call your insurer right away.
Look for pest activity, especially termite swarmers or wings near windowsills.
Watch the mailbox for your property tax bill, which arrives around November 1. Paying in November gets the 4% discount.

Print the checklist

Want this as a list to keep by the door? Download and print Closing Up Your Florida Home. It covers the paperwork, AC and water, hurricane season, what to watch for while you’re up north, and the fall walkthrough, in the order you’d do them.

Your car

Keeping northern plates. Under F.S. 320.37, nonresidents can drive in Florida on their home state’s registration. That changes if you take a job in Florida or enroll your children in Florida public schools: F.S. 320.38 then requires Florida registration within 10 days. There’s also an insurance rule. Under F.S. 627.733, a nonresident whose car has been in Florida more than 90 days in the past year has to carry Florida-required insurance, including PIP, while the car stays in the state.

Keeping a Florida-registered car that stays here all summer. Florida requires PIP and property damage coverage to stay in force continuously, even when the car isn’t being driven. Dropping the insurance without first surrendering the plate can lead to a license suspension of up to 3 years and a reinstatement fee of up to $500. Many insurers offer storage or comprehensive-only options for a parked car, but in Florida you have to surrender the plate before you reduce coverage below the legal minimum. For the car itself, use a battery tender, fill the tank and add stabilizer, and consider a dehumidifier bag or two in the cabin.

Health care in two states

Original Medicare works with any doctor or hospital that takes Medicare anywhere in the country, which makes it the simplest choice for people who split their year.

Medicare Advantage is trickier. According to Medicare’s guide to Advantage plans, HMO plans generally cover only emergency care, urgent care, and dialysis outside their service area. Routine visits to a Florida doctor on a New York HMO may not be covered. Some plans offer “visitor” or “traveler” programs for members who are away for extended stretches, so ask before you enroll.

Part D drug plans use pharmacy networks, and out-of-network pharmacies usually cost more. Using your plan’s mail-order pharmacy, which can send up to a three-month supply, solves most of that.

Bring copies of your medical records, medication list, and doctors’ contact information to both homes. A primary care doctor in each state, or one who offers telehealth, makes the split much easier.

Renting the house while you’re gone

Renting out the Florida house for the summer can offset costs, but it brings tax and licensing rules.

Rental tax. Rentals of six months or less are taxed, according to the Florida Department of Revenue:

The 6% state sales tax, plus your county’s discretionary sales surtax and tourist development tax.
You have to register with the Department of Revenue before collecting it.
A written lease for continuous residence longer than six months is exempt, but that also means you can’t come back for the winter.

Licensing. If you rent more than three times a year for stays shorter than 30 days, the home counts as a transient public lodging establishment and needs a vacation rental license from the state.

HOA and condo rules. Your association may limit rentals or ban them entirely, and many insurers need to know about rentals too. The short-term rental guide and STR host guide cover the full rules, and the landlord basics guide covers longer leases.

Voting

You vote where your domicile is, and only there. Florida residents who spend summers up north can vote by mail. A Florida vote-by-mail request covers every election through the end of the year of the next regularly scheduled general election, then has to be renewed. Make sure your county elections office has your summer mailing address.

Choosing a snowbird home in Central Florida

What makes a good snowbird home is different from what makes a good full-time home:

Lock and leave. Condos and HOA communities that handle the lawn and exterior maintenance make leaving for six months much easier. Older condos come with their own risks under Florida’s post-Surfside safety laws, which the condo buying guide explains.
Close to healthcare and an airport. The house needs to be easy to get to and easy to live in during the months you’re there.
Insurance cost. Inland homes usually cost less to insure than barrier-island homes, and that matters more on a house you’re in only half the year.

The best places to retire in Central Florida guide compares cities and 55+ communities, many of which are built around seasonal residents. The regions comparison guide covers the rest of the state.

Frequently Asked Questions

Only if Florida is your permanent home. You must own and live in the house as your permanent residence on January 1 and apply by March 1. Under F.S. 196.031(6), anyone receiving a residency-based property tax exemption or credit in another state, like New York’s STAR, can’t get Florida homestead.

If you keep a permanent place to live in New York for substantially all of the year and spend 184 or more days in the state, New York can tax you as a statutory resident even if Florida is your domicile. Any part of a day counts as a full day, so keep a day log and records from both states.

The Florida county can take back the homestead exemption and collect up to 10 years of back taxes, plus a 50% penalty and 15% interest a year, and file a lien on the property. Your home state may have its own penalties.

UF/IFAS recommends setting the AC no higher than 85°F. Above that, indoor humidity can rise past 55 to 60%, enough to grow mold. Have the humidistat calibrated, and consider a dehumidifier that drains on its own.

It depends on the policy. The standard HO-3 form excludes vandalism and glass breakage once the home has been vacant more than 60 days in a row, and Citizens’ HO-3 policy is meant for primary residences. Tell your insurer the home is seasonal and make sure the policy type matches how you use it.

TRIM notices with your proposed taxes go out in late August, and you have 25 days to challenge your assessed value. Tax bills go out November 1, with a 4% discount for paying in November. Give the property appraiser and tax collector your summer mailing address so you don’t miss either.

Possibly. Nonresidents can drive on their home state’s registration, but if the car has been in Florida more than 90 days in the past year, Florida law requires Florida-mandated coverage, including PIP, while it stays in the state. Taking a job in Florida or enrolling children in Florida schools requires Florida registration within 10 days.

Original Medicare works with any provider that accepts Medicare anywhere in the country. Medicare Advantage HMO plans generally cover only emergency and urgent care outside their service area, though some offer visitor or traveler programs. Ask before you enroll.

Sources

This article is for general informational purposes only and isn’t financial, legal, insurance, or tax advice – for guidance specific to your situation, talk to a licensed professional.

Florida Snowbird Guide: Two Homes, Two States, and Everything in Between