After nearly four decades working in New York City, Scott Scovel was ready for something new. In 2019, he sold his Manhattan condo for $1.65 million, and in 2021, he took a job in Miami.. He was hoping to benefit from Florida’s lack of income tax and relatively lower cost of living.
The tax savings, it turned out, didn’t impact him as much as he’d expected. While working, he says he saved around $40,000 a year. But the real advantage was how much further his housing budget stretched.
He spent $727,500 on a two-bedroom condo in Miami, which left him with just under a million from the sale of his NYC residence — and that cushion allowed him to retire much earlier…