Florida True Monthly Cost Worksheet

Reviewed November 11, 2026. General information only — not legal, tax, insurance, or financial advice, and not a commitment to lend.

The payment in a listing or an online calculator is almost never the number that decides whether a Florida house or condo is affordable. The number that matters is the true monthly cost: principal and interest, plus property taxes, plus homeowners insurance, plus flood coverage when it applies, plus HOA or condo fees, plus any reserve increase or special assessment you can already see coming.

This explainer shows you how to fill in each line with official or property-specific sources. It does not invent average premiums, millage totals, or utility bills. Download the companion printable checklist (PDF) and fill it with your quotes. Reviewed November 11, 2026; homestead section updated the same day for Amendment 3.

The worksheet

Copy these lines into a notes app or print the PDF. Use monthly amounts. If you only have an annual figure, divide by 12.

1. First-mortgage principal and interest
2. Other mortgage or lien payments (including any amortizing second; skip a 0% deferred second while it remains deferred)
3. Property taxes
4. Homeowners insurance (HO-3 for a house, HO-6 for a condo), including any separate windstorm policy
5. Flood insurance (NFIP or private), if required or if you choose to carry it
6. Regular HOA or condominium assessment
7. Documented reserve increases or special assessments, converted to a monthly amount for the period they are due
8. Mortgage insurance or funding-fee-related monthly cost, if the first mortgage has it
9. Utilities you will pay (electric, water, sewer, trash, internet)
10. A maintenance reserve you actually intend to fund

True monthly cost = the sum of the lines that apply. Compare that total to your budget, not to the listing payment alone.

Line by line

1–2. The loan payment, and only the loan payment

Principal and interest come from a Loan Estimate or a written quote on a specific loan program, term, and interest rate. A listing “estimated payment” may omit insurance, flood, or association fees, or it may use assumptions that are not your loan.

If you use a public assistance program, read the note. Hometown Heroes assistance is a 0%, non-amortizing, 30-year deferred second mortgage, so it does not add a monthly principal-and-interest payment on that second while you occupy the home and keep the first mortgage in place. It is not forgivable and becomes due in full on sale, refinance, transfer, or if you move out. Lakeland Home Purchase Assistance is also typically deferred, with occupancy and forgiveness rules that you must confirm with the City. Neither program erases taxes, insurance, or association fees.

3. Property taxes, homestead, and Save Our Homes

Property tax is millage multiplied by taxable value, then divided into monthly escrow or a quarterly/annual bill if you will not escrow. Millage is set by the county, school board, city, and other districts, and it varies by tax area. Look up the parcel on the Polk County Property Appraiser site and confirm current rates with the Polk County Tax Collector. Do not copy a neighbor’s bill without checking exemptions and tax area.

If you will occupy the home as your permanent residence, Florida homestead can change the tax line after you file. For 2026 bills, section 196.031, Florida Statutes, still provides an exemption of up to $25,000 of assessed value from all ad valorem taxes, including school taxes, and an additional exemption of up to $25,000—adjusted annually for inflation—on assessed value greater than $50,000, for levies other than school district levies. The Florida Department of Revenue’s additional homestead exemption adjustment chart, revised January 2026, lists the 2026 additional exemption at $26,411. You generally must own and occupy the property on January 1 and file with the county property appraiser; ask the Polk County Property Appraiser exemptions desk for the current filing window. The usual statutory deadline is March 1.

Amendment 3, approved November 3, 2026, changes that starting with the 2027 tax roll. The Department of Revenue’s Property Tax Oversight bulletin PTO 26-21, dated November 5, 2026, says the amendment takes effect January 1, 2027, and does not change 2026 tax bills. It:

• Raises the homestead exemption for non-school taxes to up to $150,000 in 2027 and up to $250,000 in 2028, then adjusts for inflation. School district levies still get only the $25,000 exemption, so that part of the bill does not get the larger cut.
• Gives people who are not Florida residents as of December 31, 2026 a $25,000 school-tax exemption and up to $50,000 for non-school taxes once they qualify. They become eligible for the larger exemption beginning with the fifth year of exemption, to the extent permitted by the U.S. Constitution.
• Lowers the annual assessment-increase cap on non-homestead property (rentals, second homes, and commercial property) from 10% to 5% beginning January 1, 2027. That cap limits growth in assessed value, not the millage rate, and it does not cover school taxes. A sale still resets assessed value to just (market) value on the next January 1. Rentals do not get the larger homestead exemption. See the Florida rental true monthly cost guide for how this affects investors, and the moving-to-Polk checklist if you are establishing Florida residency.

The Department says it will issue more guidance on rulemaking and forms. Whether and when you became a Florida resident is a legal and factual question. Ask the Property Appraiser before you plan a purchase or a move date around December 31, 2026, and use the exemption amounts that actually apply to you when you estimate the tax line.

Homestead also brings Save Our Homes protection, which limits annual increases in assessed value on the homestead. The Florida Department of Revenue explains the cap and portability in its Save Our Homes and portability publication. Amendment 3 does not replace Save Our Homes or portability. A first-year tax bill on a newly purchased home is often higher than the tax a long-time homesteaded owner was paying on the same street. Budget the buyer’s taxable value, not the seller’s old bill.

4. Homeowners and wind insurance

A Florida homeowners policy is a package, but it is not “everything.” The Department of Financial Services Homeowners’ Insurance Toolkit explains that:

• Most policies exclude flood
• Windstorm, hurricane, and hail coverage is generally included unless you sign a specific written rejection
• In some wind-pool areas, wind may be written as a separate policy
• Hurricane deductibles are often a percentage of the dwelling limit, not a small flat dollar amount

The Department’s hurricane deductible page and section 627.701, Florida Statutes, are the official places to read the deductible rules. Citizens Property Insurance, Florida’s residual market, describes hurricane deductibles of 2%, 5%, or 10% of Coverage A on its consumer pages; private carriers set their own options. A 2% deductible on a $350,000 Coverage A limit is $7,000 out of pocket for a covered hurricane, which is not a monthly line but is a cash-reserve fact.

For a condo, split the stack: the association master policy, the unit HO-6, and any loss-assessment coverage, as outlined in the condo due-diligence checklist. Use written quotes on the actual address. This site will not invent a “typical Lakeland premium.”

Mortgage lending and insurance are separate services. To compare home, wind, auto, or renters insurance, use the The Zebra placeholder (partner link not live yet). For a Florida flood quote, get a flood quote from Dion through Links Insurance Co. You are not required to use either insurance path to obtain a loan, or to obtain a loan to request a quote.

5. Flood insurance

Treat flood as its own line. See the Polk County flood zone and elevation certificate guide for how to look up a zone, how Polk County’s CRS Class 6 rating can affect an NFIP premium, and how to request an elevation certificate. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation states that flood coverage is usually purchased separately, and that federally related mortgages on buildings in high-risk flood areas generally require it.

6–7. HOA fees, reserves, and special assessments

A regular assessment is only the starting point. Florida’s condominium and homeowners-association statutes require disclosure that assessments can change and that special assessments may be levied; unpaid assessments can become a lien. For a condo, get the budget, the structural integrity reserve study, and an estoppel certificate so you are not guessing. If a special assessment is already scheduled, convert the unit’s share to a monthly amount for the months it will be collected, and decide whether you can pay it from cash instead.

8–10. Mortgage insurance, utilities, and maintenance

If the first mortgage includes monthly mortgage insurance, put the figure from the Loan Estimate on the worksheet. Utilities and maintenance are not official published “Florida averages,” and this guide will not fabricate them. Use recent bills on the property if the seller will share them, or a conservative allowance you are actually willing to fund after a home inspection.

A worked layout, with blanks on purpose

Suppose you are comparing a Lakeland house at a stated price. Your worksheet should look like this, with your numbers, not ours:

• Principal and interest: from a written Loan Estimate
• Property tax escrow: from the property appraiser’s taxable value and current millage, adjusted if you expect to file homestead, and — starting with the 2027 roll — using the Amendment 3 exemption amounts that apply to you
• Homeowners insurance: from a quote, including the hurricane deductible in a footnote
• Flood: from an NFIP or private quote after you look up the zone
• HOA: from the estoppel or resale certificate, plus any special assessment already approved
• Remaining lines: from the Loan Estimate and your own utility/maintenance plan

If two properties have similar principal-and-interest payments and very different insurance or association lines, the true monthly cost will pick the winner. That is the entire point of the worksheet.

After you have a total

• Compare the total to your income and to any program ratio caps (for example, the City of Lakeland’s published 33% / 45% guidelines).
• If you may qualify for Hometown Heroes or Lakeland assistance, recalculate cash to close and confirm whether the monthly stack actually changes.
• If the property is an investment, the monthly stack is also the starting point for a DSCR (debt-service-coverage) review. See the DSCR investor page.

To start a mortgage application with Dion Link, NMLS 898761, Link Lending NMLS 2723931, use applywithdion.my1003app.com/register. Florida residential products are Florida only; DSCR investor loans may be available in almost every state. That application is not a commitment to lend. If you only want a shorter question answered first, use the optional pre-qualification form. For Florida flood coverage, use the separate flood quote request. For home, wind, auto, or renters, use the The Zebra placeholder. You may use one of these paths, any combination, or none of them.

Sources (reviewed November 11, 2026)

• Florida Statutes § 196.031 (2026) — homestead exemption (2026 amounts)
• Florida Department of Revenue — additional homestead exemption adjustment (revised January 2026; 2026 additional exemption $26,411)
• Florida Department of Revenue — PTO Bulletin 26-21, Constitutional Amendment 3 (November 5, 2026)
• Florida Department of Revenue — Save Our Homes and portability (PT-112)
• Polk County Property Appraiser and exemptions
• Polk County Tax Collector — millage rates and fees
• Florida DFS Homeowners’ Insurance Toolkit
• Florida DFS — Florida’s hurricane deductible
• Florida Statutes § 627.701 (2026)
• Florida Office of Insurance Regulation — Flood Insurance
• Florida Housing — Hometown Heroes