BreakThru Realty

Buying a Winter Home in South Florida as a Snowbird

A second home that is easy to leave in May and easy to come back to in November

A winter home is judged by the months you are not in it.

A waterfront terrace and pool looking across the bay to the skyline

BreakThru Realty · Founder and Broker of Record: Tyson E. Sam, Florida License 3565210

Published October 24, 2026 · Reviewed by Tyson E. Sam, Founder and Broker of Record

Create My Florida Winter Home Plan

Find My Florida Home

Find Your Florida Lifestyle

Tell us where in your state 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 Winter Home Plan

Before You Buy a Winter Home, Know Which Buildings Allow Your Plans and What the Months Away Will Cost

A winter home is judged by the months you are not in it. Can the association stop you renting it out? Who checks it after a storm? What does it cost to carry without a homestead exemption? The plan starts with how you want to use the home and how long you will be here each year, and ends with a short list of condos, villas or houses whose rules fit, what each would cost to own all year, and a way to see them without flying down for every showing.

What you receive

  • A consultation about how many months you will spend here, who will use the home and whether it will ever be rented
  • A comparison of the South Florida areas that suit a seasonal owner, with the cost and the convenience of each
  • A shortlist of homes whose association rules allow your plans: lease terms, guests, pets and approvals checked before you tour
  • A carrying cost review for the homes you like: tax without homestead, insurance, flood, association dues and the utilities that run while you are away
  • Introductions to home watch, storm preparation and management services for the months you are not here
  • A tour plan: live video tours now, and one visit scheduled so it covers the finalists

What happens next

  1. Tell us where you live now, how long you would stay each year, your budget and whether the home will be rented when you are away.
  2. A local agent replies within one business day to schedule your consultation.
  3. Your agent prepares the area comparison, the shortlist with each building's rules, and the carrying cost review.
  4. 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.

Create My Florida Winter Home Plan · Find My Florida Home

What should a snowbird know before buying a winter home in South Florida? That a second home gets no homestead exemption and is taxed on its full assessed value; that the association decides whether you can rent it out; that insurers expect an owner away for months to take specific steps; and that Canadians count days under United States and provincial rules. The plan checks each building's rules before you tour.

A winter home is judged by the months you are not in it. The association has to allow the way you plan to use it, someone has to check on it after a storm, and the bills have to make sense without a homestead exemption. This page covers what snowbirds, second home buyers and seasonal residents from other states and from Canada ask before buying here, and what their agent checks before they tour.

Winter Home or Permanent Move: Decide the Use First

Everything else follows from one question: will this be your permanent residence or a home you use part of the year? A permanent residence can qualify for the homestead exemption, which removes up to $51,411 of assessed value in 2026 (the first $25,000 against every tax, and an additional $26,411 that does not apply to school taxes) and brings the Save Our Homes cap that holds the yearly rise in assessed value to 3% or the change in CPI, whichever is lower. A second home gets none of that. It is taxed on its full assessed value, which resets to market when you buy, and the yearly increase in that value is capped by a separate rule for property that is not a homestead. Some snowbirds make Florida their domicile and keep the northern house as the second home; others do the reverse. The choice touches income tax in your home state, estate planning and health coverage, so settle it with a CPA or tax adviser before you shop, not after.

Condo, Villa or House: What Each Asks of an Absent Owner

A condominium is the easiest home to lock and leave. The association insures the building, maintains the roof and the grounds, and a neighbor or the front desk notices a problem. In return you live under its documents: minimum lease terms, limits on guests, pet rules, approval of every tenant and sometimes a waiting period before a new owner may rent at all. Buildings of three stories or more are also subject to Florida's milestone inspection and structural reserve rules, which can mean higher dues or a special assessment that arrives while you are away. A villa or townhome in a managed community sits in the middle: the association handles the exterior and the lawn, and you own the walls. A single family house gives you the most freedom and the most to arrange, from the lawn service to the roof. Your agent reads the documents of every finalist with you before you tour, so the rules fit the way you will live.

The Months You Are Away: Home Watch, Insurance and Storms

Hurricane season runs from June through November, which is exactly when most seasonal owners are elsewhere. Plan for it before you close. A home watch service visits on a schedule, checks for leaks, power loss and pests, runs the water, and installs shutters or confirms the impact glass when a storm is named. Many insurers also expect an owner who is away for months to take specific steps, such as turning off the water supply and keeping the air conditioning running to control humidity, and some policies have conditions about homes left unoccupied. Read the policy for those terms before you buy, and ask the insurance agent to quote the actual address with windstorm coverage. Flood insurance is a separate policy, and a new policy through the National Flood Insurance Program usually has a 30 day waiting period, so it has to be arranged during the inspection period rather than the week of closing.

Renting It Out While You Are Up North

Many seasonal owners want the home to earn something during the summer, or to pay for itself with a winter lease in the years they stay home. Whether that is possible depends on the association first. Declarations commonly set a minimum lease length, such as three or six months, limit the number of leases in a year, require approval of each tenant and sometimes bar leasing for the first year or two of ownership. Cities and counties add their own rules for short rentals, and leases of six months or less carry state and local transient rental taxes that an owner must register for and collect. Furnished seasonal leases in the winter months are a different market from annual leases, with different rents and different tenants. We read the rules with you, show you what comparable homes nearby actually leased for, and connect you with management if you want someone else to handle it. Rental income is taxable here and often at home too; a CPA sorts out how it is reported.

Carrying Costs for a Home You Use Part of the Year

The purchase price is the number you negotiate once. The carrying cost is the number you pay every month, in the months you are here and the months you are not. Property tax without a homestead exemption is the first line, and the bill on the listing belongs to the seller, so ask for an estimate based on what you will pay. Homeowners insurance with windstorm coverage is the second, and in South Florida it can exceed the tax. Then come association dues, a flood policy if the lender or your own judgment calls for one, the electricity to keep the home cool and dry all summer, internet, the home watch service and, in a house, the lawn and pool contracts. Our Florida home cost calculator lets you put real quotes beside your own estimates and see the total, and your agent gathers the actual figures for each home on your list before you offer.

Canadian and Other Cross Border Snowbirds

A buyer from Canada, the United Kingdom or anywhere else can own a Florida home outright; citizenship is not required. The differences come in three places. Financing is usually through a lender that offers foreign national loans, with a larger down payment and documents from home; consult a mortgage lender early, since many seasonal buyers pay cash to avoid the process. Taxes have two sides: the United States counts the days you spend here under the substantial presence test, and a Canadian who exceeds the threshold may need to file a closer connection statement to avoid being treated as a United States resident for tax, while Canadian provinces have their own limits on time abroad before health coverage is affected. When you eventually sell, FIRPTA withholding applies to a foreign seller. None of this stops the purchase, but all of it belongs in a conversation with a cross border tax adviser before you sign. Our foreign buyer guide covers the rules in more detail.

Rent a Season First, Then Buy

If you have never spent a winter in South Florida, the most useful thing you can do is spend one before you buy. A furnished seasonal rental for a few months in the area you are considering tells you what no tour can: whether the beach is the one you want, how long the airport run takes on a January Friday, what the building sounds like when every unit is occupied, and whether you prefer the coast or the golf communities inland. Seasonal rentals are a market of their own here, with leases that commonly run from January through March or April and furnished homes that book well ahead of the season. Our luxury rentals page lists furnished and seasonal homes, and the plan can start with a rental rather than a purchase. When you are ready to buy, the season you spent here becomes the brief for the shortlist.

How the Florida Winter Home Plan Works

The plan begins with a conversation about how you will use the home: how many months, who will be in it, whether it will ever be rented, and whether you want to lock the door in May and not think about it until November. From that, your agent compares the areas that fit and prepares a shortlist of homes whose association rules allow your plans, checked against the documents rather than the listing remarks. For each finalist you receive a carrying cost review with real insurance quotes and the tax estimated as a new owner would pay it, plus introductions to home watch and storm preparation services that already work in the building or the neighborhood. Tours happen live on video first, and one visit is scheduled to cover the finalists. The closing can usually be signed from where you live, with the title company arranging a remote or online notary where the lender allows.

Places Seasonal Owners Often Compare

  • Hollywood: Beachfront condo towers along the Broadwalk and older single family streets inland, between two airports; the oceanfront buildings carry the highest insurance and reserve questions.
  • Pompano Beach: Oceanfront and Intracoastal condos beside a rebuilt pier and a fishing harbor, with golf course neighborhoods west of the highway at lower prices than the beach.
  • Deerfield Beach: Low rise condo communities and a walkable beach town at the Broward and Palm Beach line; many of the buildings date from the 1970s and 1980s, so inspections and reserves matter.
  • Boynton Beach: Large villa and condo communities west of the interstate, many with 55+ age rules, plus marina and Intracoastal condos near the inlet; the drive to the beach is short.
  • Hutchinson Island: A barrier island of mid rise oceanfront condos and river side houses on the Treasure Coast, quieter and farther from the large airports than the Broward and Palm Beach coast.
  • Stuart: A river town with a historic downtown, waterfront condos on the St. Lucie and golf communities inland, at a slower pace and an hour or more from the big airports.

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.

Estimate My Monthly Cost

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

We only come down for three months.
Then the building matters more than the view. Some associations limit how often a unit may be leased or how long guests may stay, and a few restrict owners who are rarely there. The plan checks the documents of every finalist before you tour, so the rules fit the way you will use the home.
Can we rent it out while we are up north?
Often, within limits the association sets: a minimum lease length, a number of leases a year, an approval process and sometimes a waiting period after purchase. We read those rules with you and tell you plainly which homes on the list allow it and which do not. What the rent would be is a separate question we answer from closed leases nearby.
Who looks after it when we are gone?
A home watch service visits on a schedule, checks for leaks and power loss and prepares the home for a storm. We introduce providers who work in the building or the neighborhood, and we tell you what your insurer expects of an owner who is away for months.
We are from Canada.
Many seasonal owners are. The purchase itself works the same way; the differences are in financing, which a lender who handles foreign nationals can explain, in the tax when you sell, and in how many days you may spend in the United States each year. We work alongside your cross border tax adviser from the start.
Should we rent a season first?
If you have not spent a winter here, yes, and the plan can start with a seasonal rental in the area you are considering. A season tells you about the building, the beach and the drive to the airport in ways a tour cannot, and it costs far less than buying in the wrong place.

Create My Florida Winter Home Plan

Tell us where you live now, how long you would spend here each year and whether the home will be rented while you are away. A local BreakThru agent replies within one business day to schedule your consultation, then prepares the areas to compare, the homes whose rules fit and what each would cost to carry all year.

Call or email the brokerage directly: (786) 914-1017 · sales@breakthrurealty.com

Questions People Ask Before Moving

Can a snowbird get the Florida homestead exemption on a winter home?
Not on a second home. The exemption and the Save Our Homes cap apply only to a home that is your permanent residence on January 1, with an application filed by March 1. A seasonal owner who keeps a permanent residence in another state or country pays tax on the full assessed value. Some snowbirds change their domicile to Florida instead; a CPA or tax adviser can tell you what that would mean for you.
Can I rent out my Florida condo while I am away?
Often, within the association's rules. Most declarations set a minimum lease length, limit how many times a unit may be leased in a year and require approval of each tenant, and some bar leasing in the first year or two of ownership. Short leases also carry local rules and transient rental taxes. Your agent reads the documents of every home on your shortlist before you tour, so you know which ones allow it.
How many days can a Canadian snowbird spend in Florida?
The answer has two parts, and both come from the governments rather than from us. The United States counts days under the substantial presence test, and a Canadian who exceeds it may file a closer connection statement to remain a nonresident for tax purposes. Canadian provinces set their own limits on time abroad before provincial health coverage is affected. A cross border tax adviser confirms the figures for your situation each year.
Do I need a home watch service?
For a house, almost always; for a condo, it depends on the building and your insurer. A home watch service visits on a schedule, checks for leaks, power loss and pests, and prepares the home when a storm is named. Many insurance policies also set conditions for a home left unoccupied for months, such as turning off the water. We introduce services that already work in the building or the neighborhood you choose.
Is a condo or a house easier to leave for half the year?
A condominium, in most cases. The association insures and maintains the building, the grounds are looked after and neighbors notice problems. The trade is that you live under its rules on leasing, guests and pets. A house gives you freedom and a yard, and asks you to arrange the lawn, the pool, the roof and the shutters yourself. A villa or townhome in a managed community sits between the two.
Should I rent for a season before buying a winter home?
If you have not spent a winter in South Florida, yes. A furnished seasonal rental in the area you are considering tells you about the beach, the building, the airport run and the pace of the place in ways a tour cannot, and it costs far less than buying in the wrong spot. The plan can begin with the rental, and the season you spend here becomes the brief for your shortlist.

Buying a Florida Home From Another State

Moving to Florida

Moving From Another State

Moving From Your City

Relocation By Situation

Corporate Relocation & Partners

Related on BreakThru Realty