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Note; Today it was 79 here in Florida and a bit overcast. Back up "old home" it was 20 and a Nor Easter (read wind blown snow and sleet) was due soon.
I'm sorry....I'm spoiled, and LOVE this place!
I hear 'ya, bro. We got back to Florida on Friday from a 10-day round trip to Minnesota for a family funeral. No heavy snow or ice or blizzards but when I stepped out of the car in my Florida shorts and T-shirt to gas up in Iowa, all the horror of life in the north came rushing back like a bad nightmare.
Everyone up there was rejoicing with the mild weather they've been having but it's all a matter of perspective. From my perspective, the worst March day in Florida beats the best March day in Minnesota by an astronomically high number.
Made the move from MA to Northeast FL going on 13 years now. Since I've spent the past 13 years traveling extensively around FL for work, pretty much all areas except Pensacola.
My advice: rent a condo or AirBnB for at least two weeks or more if possible before moving. Honestly it takes at least 6 moth a for the culture shock to wear off and the full impact on daily life to become apparent.
But there are so many cool and unique things about FL and each area even only a few hours drive apart is different in atmosphere, culture, traffic, climate, etc.
You have to ask yourself what do you want? Clear water and white sand beaches with acces to city? Clearwater, Sarasota, Tampa, etc
Hustle and bustle of city, beaches and hot all year? Then Miami Dade, Broward.
Very wealthy, and want to fit right in? Naples, Palm Beach.
Quiet country life, "old Florida" acreage and privacy? Anywhere in the heart of the state from Ocala to Gainesville to Alachua.
Prefer no lawn maintenance fancy cookie cutter houses on a golf course in a gated community? In that case, put finger on any random spot on a map, go there, throw a stone, and go buy the house it landed on.
Realistically, write up a list of what's most important to you and the general cost of living you want, and post up here and we can help narrow it down.
FWIW, in our opinion if you have seasonal allergies, NE Florida is the worst possible place to move to inFL (ask us how we know).
Last edited by TruIdentity; Mar 13, 2017 at 09:54 PM.
We're a year away from retiring and have been to Florida many times looking for a retirement home. The Sarasota/Bradenton area is very nice and we looked around there a number of times. My daughter and granddaughter moved to Charleston, SC so we decided to check out Northern Fl. St Johns County just had too many people and too much traffic for us. Not much different from Northern VA. We ended up building a home in Amelia Island north of Jacksonville. Far less people and congestion and a nice beach town that's not going to see a bunch of drunk frat boys every summer weekend. House done this June and we'll move in a year.
Hey you are going to be not too far from us in Mandarin area. Welcome to FL!
I live in Coconut Grove / Miami. I love it, but it's not for everyone as it's expensive and very Latin. Good schools here are private and run 25-30k. We have friends that live just north of West Palm Beach. Property is about 25% of the prices where I live, they have good schools and good neighbors. If I didn't need to go to an office for work, I would sell my place and get a house on the water there or go south to the Key Largo area.
Addressing OP'sschool inquiry (in part): Florida's H.S. graduation rate for 2015/16 was 80.7% compared to 59.2% for 03/04. Google:"Florida's Graduation Rate" to access each county. Also www.fldoe.org
Further update: Do a search at USAToday Money on "Schools" Feb 2018 article which ranks FL #29 (States with the Best and Worst Schools).
Last edited by cor28vettes; Mar 2, 2018 at 11:04 PM.
Reason: further school update
Mmmm panhandle life... Glad I live in the northern portion to escape the spring breakers/traffic
Hey, you gotta get off the Eglin reservation sooner or later.
But yeah, it gets busy around here. Like today. The word got out like the Tourist Development Council wanted. Got what they paid for. Now they got direct flight to/from Las Vegas, NYC, Wash, D.C. via AllegiantAir. I deal with traffic by avoiding the late morning and evening traffic as much as possible for anything west of Sandestin. It's all those traffic lights (outlet stores etc) that slow things to a crawl. During the summer it gets horrendous as you well know. But that's just for 2 months with school starting early. All those visitors support all the good stuff around here. We got many active duty military around us that commute, by choice.
Last edited by cor28vettes; Jun 24, 2018 at 02:42 AM.
Reason: west not east plus new widening construction 2018
Hey, you gotta get off the Eglin reservation sooner or later.
But yeah, it gets busy around here. Like today. The word got out like the Tourist Development Council wanted. Got what they paid for. Now they got direct flight to/from Las Vegas, NYC, Wash DC AND EVEN Bowling Green via AllegiantAir. I deal with traffic by avoiding the late morning and evening traffic as much as possible for anything east of Sandestin. It's all those traffic lights (outlet stores etc) that slow things to a crawl. During the summer it gets horrendous as you well know. But that's just for 2 months with school starting early. All those visitors support all the good stuff around here. We got many active duty military around us that commute, by choice.
Yeah... that's why i'm shooting over to gulf shores next week.
My daily commute gets to put up with the Crestview bottle-neck. I'm gonna have to try and adjust my hours to avoid most of that mess. The airport expansions are sure gonna be nice with more direct flights. Help drop those costs down a little more trying to get anywhere. I thought about doing that commute from Destin/San Destin, but for what I get in BAH, I couldn't justify the housing costs AND the bridge cost. Maybe after a few years, but then I'm off to the next adventure.
I checked out a place over there by Hurlburt, and fortunately got to drive the real rush hour traffic on the way there. By the time I got to the property, my decision was already made. Lol
Hey, those cheap tickets should work well for museum pickup! shoot, at that price you cold buy 5!
Anyone happen to know a good paint shop in the NW FL region? The front bumper got dickered up, so it needs redone now.
That's why I'll maintain my suburban country livin'! (well.... about as much as you can call it country living ) Fortunately, I can hop on I-10 if I gotta head to Pensacola since it speeds things up just a touch. I remember when my fiancé lived on Okaloosa island... man, what a bear to get anywhere it felt like, well, except for the beach. lol
That sounds a hell of a deal to go that far over to Biloxi for the day/weekend.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention hurricanes in paradise. Yes, we did not have a single hurricane make landfall in Florida for a decade after 2005, the year when Katrina crossed over Florida en-route to LA & MS. Who would have placed such bet ten yrs out after 2005?
So I took a refreshers course on topic and found this to be fact for that nasty a$$ 2005 Atlantic hurricane season:
* 28 storms in the Atlantic.
* Previous record was 21 in 1933.
* 2005 had a record 15 hurricanes
* Seven were cat 3 or higher
* Six struck the U.S.
It all depends what you like. I've been all over the state of Florida and found out long ago that Lee & Collier Counties are the best places to live in . The crappy weather normally stalls just south of I 4. The east coast is a mini-New York urban sprawl. If you like cities, go there. If you are upper middle class, you'll love Naples, Estero, Bonita and South Fort Myers. And if you love Corvettes, they're like popcorn down here. Just saying.
More and more people are discovering this and moving to SW Florida. This area is growing like crazy. Who doesn't want to live in paradise.
Just my 2 cents and some change. I moved to Orlando from the NYC metro area/NJ about 3 years ago. It is not Disney people! That's usually the first thing people think and what most of my old friend D's from up North say. I'm 1 hour from the east coast and 2.5 from the gulf. Hurricanes aren't as much a worry here in central FL (from what my neighbor here say), which is fine by me. I live about 10 minutes from downtown Orlando in a really great, non gated neighborhood. People here have a great sense of community. I thought Orlamdo would be the death of this self proclaimed foodie but I'm happy to say I'm very wrong. These a great craft brew science and the food is pretty good as well. There's a ton to do as well for adults and kids as far as activities. There are the obvious theme parks less than a half hour away but there's also some other fun things too. Contrary to what some people my say, there are some good public schools here if you have kids. Some parts of orange and Seminole county have then. If you wanted to stick to Orange then I'd suggest sticking to northern Orlando City limits or Winter Park. Anyone from Tampa to Daytona Beach will tell you that I4 sucks. You have been warned!
In all, I love it here. My quality of life is way better. My commutes have gone from an average of 1.5 to 3 hours one way to 25/30 mins. Money goes further here than NY/NJ. My stress levels have gone down to nothing. I don't miss the snow. I've been way more active all year around. I see my kids more, and I can now drive my Vette year round.
Just saying. 
