This is a really cool tool put out by the Governor's office that lets you compare average home owners insurance rates in a county from one company to another. You can even compare average property insurance rates of a given company in one county to those in another county. So in effect you can compare this one aspect of the cost of living in one area to that of another area. I plan to use it as a tool to convince people to move toOcala.

  I am glad to report that Ocala does very well when compared to most parts of Florida. I used State Farm as a test case, partly because that's the insurance company I have and partly because it's the largest home owners insurance company in Florida.

  Here are some comparisons of the average insurance rates by county offered by State Farm. I chose the counties to compare in a blatant effort to to show that Marion county and Ocala Real Estate are some of the best buys in the state of Florida

• Marion ..............$1,182
• Miami Dade.........$7,600
• Sarasota.............$3,873
• Brevard...............$3,755
• Collier ................$6,279
• Palm Beach..........$8,391
• Monrow ..............$13,973
• Saint Lucie ..........$5,728

   These numbers are based on a 5-year old, Florida concrete block home, with a current replacement value of $150,000, a $500 non-hurricane deductible, a 2% hurricane deductible, no claims, and no wind mitigation discounts. Don't ask me where they found a $150K house in some of these soouth Florida counties.

  Here is a link to the site so you can go play with it yourself. Compare Home Owners Insurance Rates. You can also compare average rates from one company to another. It seems my company, State Farm, isn't the cheapest option.

   Just another reason Ocala is the most affordable city in the state of Florida.