Buying :
If you are buying a property with a mortgage, then you will pay to the State of Florida Documentary Stamps on the amount of the mortgage at the rate of 35 cents for each $ 100 of mortgage. You will also pay an Intangible Tax at the rate of 2 mills (.002) on the mortgage amount.

So, for example, if you have a $ 100,000 mortgage, you would pay $ 350 Documentary Stamps and $ 200 Intangible Tax. If you are paying cash for the property, then you have none of these taxes.

Selling :
You will pay to the State of Florida Documentary Stamps on the Deed, which is the full amount of the selling price, at the rate of 70 cents per $ 100. For example, on a $ 150,000 house, you would pay $ 1,050.

3) You will pay Property Taxes to the county in which your property is located. In the Orlando area, it would either be Orange, Osceola, Lake or Polk County. This property tax is paid annually on the assessed value of your property (which is usually around 75% of the actual market value of the property).

The amount of taxes varies with each neighborhood and depends on the facilities and schools in that neighborhood, but an average amount for property taxes on a $ 250,000 house would be in the region of $4,000.

4) The only other taxes you would pay would be taxes on any profits when you sell your property, but your Accountant would be able to help you with that. A non-resident is usually subject to withholding tax in the USA, which you then would most likely be able to claim back as a Foreign Tax Credit on your Irish/UK tax return.

Legal Costs
1) In the State of Florida, lawyers are generally not used for Real Estate transactions. If you have anything you want to check out or oversee you can easily hire one. All the legalities are taken care of by Title Companies. They charge a set fee for a standard purchase of between $150 and $300, depending on what has to be done.

The most expensive part of this whole process is the issuing of Title Insurance, which basically protects the property owner (and the lender, if there is a mortgage ) from any defects on the title. Most people will be unfamiliar with the concept of Title Insurance, but it is a system that has been in use in the States for years, more recently it has been introduced in Ireland and is used here by many banks for re-mortgages.

There are two basic forms of Title insurance - an Owner's Policy and the Lender's Policy. As the names indicate, the Owner's Policy covers the land owner and the Lender's Policy covers the Lender on a particular parcel of real estate. If a Lender's Policy is issued, why do I need an Owner's Policy? A Lender's Policy offers no protection to the land owner. A claim may arise that does not jeopardize the lender's interest, but may, in fact, cause a great loss to the owner.

Probably one of the most comforting features of title insurance is the obligation of the insurer to defend you against claims of others. A neighbor may claim rights to a portion of your land. Without Title Insurance, you would have to bear the cost of settling this dispute through the courts, regardless of the validity of the claim.

Title insurance can be as much as 1% of the property value. A Buyer can usually be well assured that there will be no surprises in the future, since Florida laws are very strict on such things as the recording of liens.

Closing Costs
1) In addition to the above-mentioned Doc Stamps, Legal Costs and Title Insurance, there will be small recording fees to record the mortgage and the deed. If you are getting a mortgage in the U.S buyers will need a valuation to be carried out on the property to verify that the value of the property is at least as much as you are paying. Allow around $ 300.

You can usually estimate about 2% for closing costs as a Seller ( in addition to Real Estate Broker commissions of around 3% ) and 3.5% - 4% if you are a Buyer with a mortgage.

Visas
1) No visas are needed for Irish or UK citizens to enter the USA as tourists and the length of stay allowed is three months. You can apply for an extension for up to six months.

2) Going to live in the USA is another matter and can get quite complicated. You would need to talk to the US Embassy to check on the various ways of gaining permanent residence in the U.S.

All information above is intended only as a guide, professional independent advice should be sought before purchasing any property.