The $250,000 Reason to Make Your Florida Move in 2026

The Amendment 3 Update, In Plain English

Amendment 3 goes to Florida voters on November 3, 2026, and needs 60% approval to pass. If it passes, here's the schedule: the non-school homestead exemption rises from $50,000 today to $150,000 in 2027, then $250,000 in 2028, with inflation adjustments starting in 2029. The school-tax exemption stays put at $25,000 — that part was never on the table.

Two provisions joined the amendment that weren't in our original breakdown: the annual assessment-increase cap on non-homestead property drops from 10% to 5%, and local governments face new restrictions on what property tax revenue can actually be spent on (public safety, infrastructure, debt service, and a handful of other specified categories).

One honest note: the judge who ordered that rewrite kept authority over the final language, so a further tweak isn't impossible. In practice, county election supervisors began assembling November ballots right after the August 18th primary, so anything left to change at this point is likely minor — but we'll say so here if it happens. Worth bookmarking this page either way.

Three Kinds of Reader — Which One Are You?

This amendment affects almost everyone in The Villages, but not equally. Find yourself below:

Why "When You Buy" Matters as Much as "What You Buy"

Here's the part that gets lost in the legal language, and it's the part that actually changes a real decision: establish Florida residency by December 31, 2026, and you're treated exactly like a lifelong resident — same schedule, same savings, starting immediately.

Wait until January 1, 2027 or later, and the on-ramp is longer. You start on today's $50,000 exemption and stay there through four full years of Florida residency — the upgrade to the full expanded exemption begins at the start of your fifth year. (You'll see this described both ways in the coverage — "four-year wait" and "five-year residency requirement" — they're the same rule, just counted from opposite ends.)

1. ✓
   Now

   Amendment 3 Heads to Voters

   Final ballot language set Aug 14, 2026. Vote is Nov 3, 2026. Needs 60% to pass.
2. ⏳
   Dec 31, 2026

   Residency Cutoff KEY DATE

   Establish Florida homestead residency by this date to skip the wait period entirely.
3. $
   Jan 1, 2027

   Exemption Jumps to $150,000

   Immediate savings for anyone who made the Dec 31 cutoff — or any existing resident.
4. $$
   Jan 1, 2028

   Full $250,000 Exemption

   The complete exemption kicks in. For many Villages homes: at or near zero non-school property tax.
5. ⏳
   Arrive 2027+

   Five-Year On-Ramp SLOWER PATH

   Missed the Dec 31 cutoff? You're on the $50,000 exemption for four years, stepping up to the full amount at the start of year five.

What Does "Full-Time Florida Resident" Actually Mean?

If you've researched this at all, you've probably heard "six months and a day" thrown around as the rule for becoming a Florida resident. Here's the honest answer: that's not actually the legal test for the homestead exemption.

Practically speaking: if you're moving to The Villages full-time, close on your home, make it your actual residence, and follow through on the usual paperwork (driver's license, voter registration, filing the exemption itself), you're covering the bases that matter. If your situation involves splitting time between states, a tax professional can walk through exactly what tips the scale in your specific case.

What This Actually Looks Like, By Home Price

Here's a detail most coverage skips: the exemption is a flat dollar amount, not a percentage. That plays out differently depending on where a home falls in price. Once the exemption is fully phased in for 2028:

Illustrative only — actual dollar savings depend on your specific county and millage rate.

Homes at or near $250,000 could see close to their entire non-school tax bill wiped out — a real possibility for a meaningful share of Villages homes. Above that price point, the dollar savings stay the same flat amount no matter how expensive the home is; it's just a smaller slice of a bigger bill.

Because The Villages spans three counties with three different tax rates, the actual dollar savings vary depending on which side of the county line a home sits on. Here's the estimate for a $400,000 home, once the exemption is fully phased in:

Estimates based on each county's approximate current non-school millage rate — not pulled from an official TRIM notice, so treat these as directionally accurate rather than exact. Your actual savings depend on your specific home's assessed value, county, and CDD district.

This Isn't a Reason to Rush the Wrong Home

Finding the right home in The Villages still matters more than any tax deadline — I'd never push someone into a house that isn't right just to beat a date on a calendar.

But if you're already leaning this direction — if you've visited, you love it, and you're really just deciding when — this is a concrete, real financial reason to lean toward this year instead of next. The amendment still has to clear the vote on November 3rd. But with the legislature already on board and the ballot language now finalized, it's one of the more likely measures to pass.

We'll be watching the results together, and I'll update this page again if anything changes before then. If you want to put yourself in the best position regardless of the outcome, let's start the conversation now — signing a buyer broker agreement costs you nothing today, but it buys you speed later, and speed is exactly what matters if the right home shows up in November or December.