Posted on 05/10/2007 6:40:31 PM PDT by CertainInalienableRights
Teacher friends tell me the schools are terrible.
I appreciate everyone’s advice. I have an early morning tomorrow, so I’m hitting the hay, but I’ll be back to check on the thread first thing in the morning.
As always, FReepers are the best source of truth on any subject.
Ft Lauderdale? Oh, brother, the price of real estate is un-fricking-believeable. You will have to rent, and the rents are not cheap either. So. Florida is a waste of time and money. Stay north of, oh, say Orlando. The Panhandle is pretty conservative and the price of real estate is “somewhat” more reasonable.
Do you speak spanish?
Believe me, I know!
Broward County? There are just as many speakers of Haitian Creole, Portuguese, and NewYorkese as Spanish down there. ;-)
Thanks for sharing.
I used to live in Cleveland too, now I live in Florida. Most houses in Cuyahoga county won’t sell for much more than 150k, at least not in the neighborhood I lived in.
I wouldn’t bat an eyelid before moving out of the Midwest. The Midwest is just depressing.. long dark never ending winters.
Kissimmee and the eastern half of Orlando should be filled in and turned into a lake.
Just don’t go too far east of Orlando, or you’ll swamp us.
Tomorrow is Open Line Friday. Call Rush and ask him about Florida. 1 800 282 2882 :>
Besides, there is no where better on the planet for a single male. 2nd street on a Saturday night here is truly an amazing thing.
I lived near Ft Lauderdale for about 6 months before moving up here near Orlando. The lasting impression I got of Ft Lauderdale was that it’s all about $$. The beaches have some very nice scenery thanks to Dow Corning. It was culture shock for me as I lived in western Pennsylvania before I moved down here. The pay here does suck as it is primarily a service based economy. The public indoctrination centers blow and they are overcrowded. Ummm, let’s see....real estate is out of site let alone purchasing any land. Hope this helps. Oh, plus there are TONS of Steeler fans down here too : >)
Lot of Browns fans too. :P
Disclaimer:
I left Florida last February after 40 years. I will never go back. It was a beautiful state even up to the mid 70s. But those days are gone forever.
1-Traffic is nightmarish. An “hour” out is not very far in miles for most cities
2-No state income tax. Property taxes and homeowner’s insurance are quite high. My homeowner’s insurance averaged 15-20% per year increases for the last 10 years. Most of Florida has the highest electric rates outside of CA. I am pay 50% less per KWH here in KY compared to Lakeland last year.
3-Due to the shape of the state, travel route options are fairly limited. Thus Tampa to Jacksonville is beyond crappy.
4-Winters are wonderful. But you really get about 2-3 months of really pleasant weather in a year. The summers are long and brutal. When you are sitting in stopped interstate traffic at 3:30 in the afternoon and it is 98 out, you kind of forget how nice it is in November. Summers just seem to get longer the longer you live there. It’s so damn hot in the summer, it’s difficult to enjoy being outdoors.
5-Property costs are outrageous. It is very easy to be paying $500 a month in escrow for taxes and ins. unless you live in a shack.
6-The influx of illegals is not exaggerated. 13 years ago I would take kids to Medard Park in Hillsborough County (Tampa Bay area) for camping and playing. Very pretty, nice lake. Now, on a weekend, I wouldn’t feel safe there. It’s about 90% mexicans, plenty of which I suspect are illegals. A LOT of belligerent looking teens and young adults.
Now, all that said, we left behind friends that thought we were insane to leave. Yes, we did like taking a 3 day weekend at St. Pete Beach now and then. But IMO that was not near enough to balance out the rest of the time.
I don’t honestly know if schools are any better anywhere else, but they are, in general, pretty crappy. There are some very good “Christian” schools. I have non protestant friends that sent their kids to local Christian schools for that reason.
I watched Florida change for the worse over the last 20 years, and to me the trend has and will continue in that direction. I believe in 10-20 years you won’t see an appreciable difference between FL and Southern CA as regards quality of life. If the Republicans take the state in the 08 Presidential elections, it will be the last time they do.
Born and raised in Miami.
Moved to Raleigh in ‘84. My BP dropped 10 points just from getting out of the drug and thug capital.
Had occasion to visit Ft. Lauderdale, Delray area 2 yrs. ago.
Couldn’t believe how much it has grown.
Built up right out to the Everglades, US 441. That hwy used to be in the boonies. I don’t know where you could find any land that didn’t have water standing on it 6 mos. out of the year.
You couldn’t pay me enough to move back.
Do miss the water, Keys, sailing, stone crabs, snook though.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.