Moving From Hawaii to Florida? Find a Mainland Home That Still Puts You on the Water.
The beach within reach. Family a direct flight away. A condo or house checked before you commit from the islands.
A mainland home with the ocean still close and family a direct flight away. Compare South Florida beach towns, know the yearly cost of owning, and buy with a licensed agent here working for you.
Find Your Florida Lifestyle
Tell us where in Hawaii you are moving from, your budget, what matters most (beach access, walkability, a larger home, luxury living or retirement) and when you plan to move. The page recommends the communities and the homes for sale that fit, and the same answers start your plan.
Homes Matching Your Criteria
Live listings from the MLS for each community, by the kind of home: waterfront, condominiums, houses and new construction.
Your first step: BreakThru Florida Home Buying Plan
Before You Book a Flight, Know Where to Buy, What Your Money Buys and What to Look Out For
You are not simply buying a home in Florida. You are making a decision about the life you want next, from a place where you cannot drive past the house. The plan starts with a conversation about what the move has to do for you, and ends with a short list of communities and homes worth your time, what each would cost to own, and a tour schedule built around you.
What you receive
- A buying consultation about what you want the move to do, what worries you and what must be true for it to make sense
- A side-by-side comparison of the South Florida communities that fit, with the trade-offs of each
- A first shortlist of homes for sale that match, chosen by an agent rather than a filter
- An ownership-cost review for the homes you like: property tax, insurance, flood and association fees
- A tour plan: live video tours now, and an in-person trip scheduled so one visit covers what matters
- How buyer representation and compensation work in Florida, in writing, before any tour
What happens next
- Tell us where you live now, where you are looking, your budget and your timing.
- A local agent replies within one business day to schedule your buying consultation.
- After the consultation, your agent prepares the community comparison, the shortlist and the cost review.
- You tour by video or in person when you are ready, and decide what happens next.
Free and without obligation. Nothing you tell us is shared with a seller, and you sign a buyer agreement only when you are ready to tour.
Can I buy a home in Florida while living in Hawaii? Yes. A local buyer’s agent tours homes on live video at hours that fit the time difference, reads condo documents with you, joins you to the inspection by phone and collects wind and flood insurance quotes for each address. Most South Florida homes are sold fee simple rather than on leased land. Ask a CPA how Hawaii treats a sale after you leave, and plan to sign closing papers remotely where the title company allows.
Leaving the islands usually means wanting something closer: parents on the East Coast, a duty station, meetings that no longer begin before dawn. BreakThru Realty represents Hawaii buyers in South Florida. We compare the beach towns and condo buildings that give the water back, price what each costs to carry, and read the association file before you offer. Hiring an agent on this coast who works only for you is what turns a purchase made five time zones away into a decision you can trust.
What Will Moving From Hawaii to Florida Cost You?
The shipping is the predictable part and the ownership is not. Nobody drives from Hawaii: household goods cross by container to a West Coast port and continue overland, a car follows by ocean freight, and service members have the transportation office arrange the lot. Quote all of it early, then look hard at what repeats. Owning here means a mortgage, property tax figured on what you paid, a windstorm policy with its own hurricane deductible, flood coverage where the zone or your judgment calls for it, and condo or association dues in most buildings. Island owners are used to expensive housing, so the price itself rarely shocks; the carrying costs are where the surprises hide. This page carries no figures, because the answer turns on the building and the county. Instead, your agent collects real quotes on every finalist, and the Florida Home Cost Calculator lines them up against what you pay on Oahu or Maui now.
Is Florida Cheaper Than Hawaii Once You Own a Home?
On most lines, yes; on insurance, no. Hawaii taxes personal income and Florida does not, Hawaii charges its general excise tax on nearly everything while Florida charges sales tax on goods with county additions, and electricity, groceries and fuel generally cost less on the mainland. Against that, South Florida wind coverage is priced on hurricane risk and carries a separate hurricane deductible, flood is its own policy, and condo dues fund reserves and milestone repairs that many island buildings have not had to face yet. Property tax is reassessed at market value after the sale and stays there until the homestead exemption applies. Choose an aging beachfront tower on the strength of the tax change alone, and the monthly total can end up above what a Honolulu condo cost. Set your island home against a particular Florida address, cost by cost, and have a CPA check the tax side of the sheet.
Which South Florida Towns Give an Island Household the Water Back?
The ones where the beach is part of the daily routine rather than a weekend drive. Key Biscayne, Lauderdale By The Sea and Singer Island put a condo or a small house within a walk of the sand, each with a bridge or a causeway between you and the mainland and prices that reflect the water. Hutchinson Island trades the activity for quiet midrise buildings between the ocean and the lagoon. A Navy or Marine household reassigned from Pearl Harbor or Kaneohe Bay to a South Florida command usually wants a house within a sensible drive of the gate, which points at Palmetto Bay and the suburbs south of Miami. A household heading home to the East Coast after years on Maui often wants a yard for visiting relatives and an easy run to a major airport. Tell your agent which island life you are leaving and the first list begins in the right place.
What Keeps a Hawaii Buyer Up at Night, and What Does the Plan Deliver for It?
Five worries come up on nearly every first call from the islands: choosing a beach town from photos and regretting it in August, a condo whose dues and assessments outrun the budget, missing the right unit because no one was here to see it, an agent who sets a buyer an ocean away aside for local clients, and not knowing which brokerage deserves that much trust. Each worry has a deliverable inside the Florida Home Buying Plan, and you hold the plan as a written document rather than hearing it as a pitch.
- The wrong town: a comparison of the beach towns and inland neighborhoods that fit your week, written from your commute, budget and habits before any listing is sent
- Dues and assessments: a cost review for each home you like that includes the association budget, the reserve position and any assessment already approved
- Missing the right unit: an agent’s shortlist from the live market, updated as units appear, with video tours timed for your morning
- Being set aside: one named agent and a calendar of dated next steps, with every tour and document review a buyer on the mainland would receive
- Trusting the brokerage: a broker of record licensed in Florida, the buyer agreement signed before the first tour, and your position kept from the seller
Should the Hawaii Sale Close Before You Buy in Florida?
If orders or a start date fix your arrival, no, buy first; if you have time and need the equity, yes, sell first. Buying first secures the Florida home and means a single move, with two sets of payments until the island sale closes, so ask a mortgage lender whether that overlap works before you offer. Selling first settles the budget and often means renting here for a season. A rent back on your island sale, or a Florida contract that depends on that sale closing, can cover a short gap when a seller agrees. One island specific point: Hawaii can require withholding from a nonresident seller’s proceeds under the rule known as HARPTA, so the timing of your move against your sale is a CPA question worth asking early. If you need a listing agent on Oahu, Maui, Kauai or the Big Island, our broker can refer you to one there under a written broker to broker agreement, and your Florida agent lines up both calendars.
Lease First on the Mainland, or Buy Straight Away?
Buy straight away if the duty station or the family fixes the county and you have been through an East Coast summer; lease first if every visit so far came in the dry season. Island residents often assume the climate will feel familiar, and the heat does, but the humidity without trade winds and the afternoon storms are a different experience, and a lease lets you learn them before you own. It also lets you compare a barrier island condo with a mainland house at the hours you will actually drive. Renting first costs a year of rent and a second move, and pushes the homestead exemption back, since the exemption needs you owning and occupying the home on a January 1. The rental search gets the same attention from your agent that a purchase would, association approval included, and the purchase is scheduled to land as the lease ends.
Can You Buy a Florida Home Without Flying In From Hawaii?
Yes; nearly every step works from the islands once the schedule respects the clock. Hawaii does not change its clocks, so Florida runs five hours ahead in winter and six when the mainland is on daylight time, which makes an early afternoon tour here land around your breakfast. The written buyer agreement has come before any showing since August 2024, and a tour your agent streams to you counts as one, so we review that agreement with you first, compensation and termination included. Your agent then films the unit, the halls, the parking and the street at night, drives the route to the base or office, reads the condo file with you, keeps you on the phone through the inspection and requests quotes for the exact address. Closing documents usually travel by courier or are signed with an online notary where the title company permits. Before the wire, you place a call to the title office on a number from its own website and hear the instructions confirmed.
Does Hawaii Still Collect Income Tax From You on the Mainland?
Only as long as your domicile or your income stays there, and both are decided by facts. Hawaii reaches a resident’s income from everywhere and a nonresident’s income from Hawaii sources, so a rental you keep on Maui or a sale closed after you leave can still produce a Hawaii return, and the nonresident withholding on a sale is applied at closing. Moving your domicile takes evidence: Florida gives a new resident 30 days to swap the driver license, vehicles and voter registration follow, you may also record a declaration of domicile with the clerk, and homestead goes to the home you hold and live in on January 1, provided the application reaches the property appraiser by March 1. Active duty families are covered by separate federal domicile protections, so a tax adviser who works with military households should confirm where you stand. A CPA who handles both states should see the plan before you set a move date; both the Hawaii Department of Taxation and Florida’s Department of Revenue appear under Sources.
What Changes From a Hawaii Condo to a Florida Condo?
Mostly the land, the law and the reserves. Many island buyers know to ask who owns the ground beneath a building, because some Hawaii condos sit on leasehold land. Nearly every South Florida condo is sold fee simple, so you own the unit and its share of the common property outright, though a few older buildings carry land or recreation leases that your agent and the title company check in the title commitment. The questions you asked of your AOAO still apply here, with Florida rules on top. Since its 2022 law, Florida requires buildings of three or more stories to pass milestone structural inspections and to fund reserves according to a structural integrity reserve study, and a building that falls short can raise dues or levy an assessment on current owners. Ask for the inspection report, the reserve study, the budget, the minutes and the rules on rentals and pets before you offer, and expect the association to approve you as a buyer.
- The title commitment, checked for any land or recreation lease
- The milestone inspection report for any building of three or more stories
- The structural integrity reserve study and the budget that funds it
- Assessments already approved, which stay with the unit when it sells
- Leasing, pet and renovation rules, read before you assume anything
How Does a Florida House Differ From an Island House?
It seals the air out instead of letting it through. Island homes often rely on jalousie windows, open lanais, high ceilings and in older houses single wall construction on posts, with no central air at all. South Florida houses are concrete block on a slab, with windows that are impact rated or covered by shutters, and central air conditioning that runs most of the year to pull moisture from the air as it cools; leave it off through a summer and mold follows. Some things transfer. Termites live in both places and tenting is routine here too, and the screened patio behind a Florida house is even called a lanai. The roof matters more than you are used to, because insurers price wind coverage on its age and shape, so your agent pulls the permit year of every roof on your list before you grow attached. Flood is a separate policy, and a new NFIP policy generally takes 30 days to start.
How Do You Get Back to Hawaii, and to the Family You Moved For?
Hawaii is a planned trip and the East Coast is a short hop. Flying back to the islands means a West Coast connection and one of the longest domestic routes there is, so visits fit a week rather than a weekend. The family you moved for is a different story: direct flights from Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Palm Beach reach most major cities in a few hours, and the five or six hour gap with Hawaii is replaced by no gap at all with New York or Boston. Calls to the islands work best in your evening, when it is afternoon there. If a parent or a rental keeps part of your life in Hawaii, a tax adviser should say how that affects residency before you settle how the year is split.
Where in South Florida Should a Buyer From Hawaii Live?
- Key Biscayne: An island village off Miami reached by one causeway, mostly condos with some single family streets, priced for the water and with flood exposure to check on every block.
- Lauderdale By The Sea: A low rise beach town north of Fort Lauderdale where older condos and cottages sit a short walk from the sand and the fishing pier, with building age to weigh.
- Singer Island: Oceanfront condo towers and a few single family streets on a Palm Beach County barrier island at the inlet, with substantial dues and most errands across a bridge.
- Hutchinson Island: A long barrier island on the Treasure Coast, mostly midrise condos between the ocean and the Indian River Lagoon, quiet, with the shops over on the mainland.
- Palmetto Bay: Ranch houses on larger lots near Biscayne Bay in south Miami-Dade, on the way to the air reserve base, with older roofs to review before an insurer will quote.
Each link opens that community’s page, with the homes for sale there now. Your agent adds the streets, the buildings and the trade-offs a listing does not show.
Before You Fall in Love With a Florida Home, Understand What It Costs to Own
The price is one number. The mortgage, property tax, homeowners insurance, flood insurance and association fees are the ones you pay every month. Put your own figures into the calculator, mark which ones are real quotes and which are still estimates, and compare the total with what you pay where you live now.
Why Work With BreakThru Realty Instead of Searching for Homes Yourself?
Anyone with an internet connection can search Florida homes. When you are buying from another state, the information you do not have matters as much as the listings you can see: the insurance that costs more than you expected, the special assessment the condominium has pending, the street that does not fit your daily routine. Our role is to help you understand what you are buying before you commit.
- Find Your Community. An area comparison built from your commute, budget, schools and the way you live, before any listing is sent, so you choose between real neighborhoods rather than reputations.
- Explore Homes Remotely. Your agent tours each home live on video, walks the street and the building, and attends the inspection with you on the line, so distance stops being the reason you miss the right home.
- Understand Ownership Costs. Property tax at the reset value, homeowners and flood insurance, association fees and reserves, set beside the price of every home you like, so the monthly number is real before you offer.
- Negotiate With Confidence. Local market information, an offer strategy talked through with you, and the contract deadlines worked through to closing, with the Florida specifics explained before they cost you.
- Close With Local Representation. A licensed Florida broker of record, a written buyer agreement before any tour, and a closing you can usually sign from where you live, with wiring instructions confirmed by phone.
You are not simply buying a home in Florida. You are making a decision about the life you want next. We will help you make an informed one.
Questions you may be asking
- I am months away from moving.
- That is the right time to start. The plan tells you which areas to watch, what homes there cost to own and what a realistic offer looks like, so the trip you eventually book is spent on the right streets.
- Can I really buy without being there?
- People do, and it takes more care, not less. Your agent tours live on video, walks the street and the building, attends the inspection with you watching, and coordinates a closing you can sign remotely where the title company and your lender allow it.
- Does a buyer's agent cost me anything?
- Buyer-agent compensation is negotiable and set out in the written buyer agreement you sign before touring. In many South Florida sales the seller or listing broker offers to pay some or all of it, but that is never certain, so we explain the position on each home before you tour it.
- I can search listings myself.
- You can, and you should keep looking. What a listing cannot tell you is what the insurance will cost, whether the building has an assessment coming, or how the street feels at eight in the morning. That is the part the plan covers.
- I have a home to sell first.
- Most out-of-state buyers do. The plan works through the order: selling first and renting, buying first, or a contingency where the market allows it. We can introduce an agent where you live now, and for anything about bridging the two, consult a lender.
Plan My Move
Tell us where you live now, where you are looking and what the move has to do for you. A local BreakThru agent replies within one business day to schedule your buying consultation, then prepares your communities, your shortlist and what each home would cost to own.
Call or email the brokerage directly: (786) 914-1017 · sales@breakthrurealty.com
Questions People Ask Before Moving
- What does the Florida Home Buying Plan include, and what does it cost?
- You pay nothing, and you are never obliged to buy through us. You get the consultation, then a comparison of the beach towns and buildings that suit you, a shortlist drawn by an agent, a review of what the ones you like cost each year, a tour schedule fitted to the island clock, and the terms of representation written down. Send the form and a South Florida agent writes back within one business day with times for the consultation.
- Does leaving Hawaii end my Hawaii income tax?
- Not automatically. Hawaii keeps taxing income that comes from Hawaii sources even after you leave, so a kept rental or a sale after you leave can still require a return, and a nonresident seller faces withholding at closing. The change depends on when your domicile genuinely moves. A CPA or tax adviser who handles both states should review the dates before you commit.
- Are Florida condos sold on leasehold land like some in Hawaii?
- Rarely. Almost every South Florida condo is fee simple, so you own the unit and its share of the common property. A few older buildings carry land or recreation leases, which is why the title commitment is read closely. Florida adds its own requirements, including milestone inspections and reserve studies for buildings of three or more stories.
- What is the time difference between Hawaii and Florida for video tours?
- Five hours in winter and six in summer, because Hawaii stays on standard time. An early afternoon tour here reaches you around breakfast. Your agent can record walkthroughs, return to a favorite home at a different hour so you see it in more than one light, and film the street after dark, when the noise and the parking tell you the most.
To request a tour, call (786) 914-1017 or email sales@breakthrurealty.com.
- Which South Florida towns keep the beach part of daily life?
- Key Biscayne, Lauderdale By The Sea and Singer Island put a condo or small house within a walk of the sand, each priced for it. Hutchinson Island offers quieter midrise living between the ocean and the lagoon. Military households usually look at Palmetto Bay and south Miami-Dade for the drive to the base. Your agent compares what each costs to own and insure.
- Can I sell my Hawaii home and buy in Florida at the same time?
- Yes, once the order is settled. Some owners sell, rent briefly and then buy; others buy here first and carry both for a time. A rent back on the island sale or a Florida contract that waits on it can bridge a short gap. Ask a CPA about the nonresident withholding on your sale, and a mortgage lender about any loan that touches both homes.
Sources
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Related on BreakThru Realty
- Buying a Florida home from out of state
- Moving with a remote job
- Florida home cost calculator
- Search South Florida homes for sale
- How BreakThru represents buyers
- Miami-Dade County real estate
- Broward County real estate
- Palm Beach County real estate
- Martin County real estate
- St. Lucie County real estate
- Indian River County real estate
- South Florida rentals
- Florida homebuyer programs
- Housing market reports by city and county
- Tyson E. Sam, Founder and Broker of Record
- Agents: refer a client moving to Florida