Posted on 05/10/2007 6:40:31 PM PDT by CertainInalienableRights
Does that help?
When I was traveling and selling in the early 80s I stopped going into Dade and Broward when I noticed how many other salesmen carried guns in their cars. I don’t need to sell anything badly enough to risk my life for it.
When I was traveling and selling in the early 80s I stopped going into Dade and Broward when I noticed how many other salesmen carried guns in their cars. I don’t need to sell anything badly enough to risk my life for it.
I live 3 counties north of Fort Lauderdale. Housing is cheaper up this way and with the softening of the market sellers are lowering their prices. But the drive via the Florida Turnpike or 95 would be a big pain during rush hours. I can’t really tell you how long of a drive it would be since between here and there are a lot of those highway boondoggles called “ under construction” Went to Miami today and it was about a 2 hour drive.
You could look for housing in Martin County. Houses are more expensive but the schools are a lot better. I forget, do you have children in school? There are several private schools and two Catholic schools in the area.
Rural areas are becoming scarce. In Palm Beach County you are most likely going to find it out by Wellington, a very posh Equis- oh heck horsey area or out in the Acreage.
Jupiter which is in North Palm Beach has a lot of rural area but development is encroaching there too. Rural area is usually west of 1-95. St. Lucie still has quite a bit of rural agricultural land but as I said the commute might be a problem.
Fair warning homeowner’s insurance rates are a problem. Many companies are not writing new policies and the ones that are seem to view consumers as the goose that lays the golden egg.
Whatever you do. If you decide to build a home please check out the Florida lein laws. We have some real gotcha ones which can leave the homeowner holding the bag is a contractor does not pay his subs.
A good website with information about State agencies, the Florida Statutes, etc is www.myflorida.com
PS. Most Floridians think the turn signal is an exotic tracking device put there by a nefarious fearless leader.
PS.
The Palm Beach Diocese has a wonderful Bishop. I don’t know much about the Miami Diocese. I think St. Martin de Porres in Jensen Beach has a Latin mass on Sunday evenings.
They is rite the skools is turrible.
Hey I live in PSL also. Nice to meet a neighbor. Which parish do you attend? We usually go to either St. Mark’s in Fort Pierce or Holy Family.
LOL. You have to see my post#45.
Amen, Brother!
I’ll never forget my first visit to Florida, New Port Richey, to be precise. I flew into, I believe, Ft. Lauderdale. I’d heard so much about Florida, it was apparently so nice that people went there for their vacations. I thought it must be paradise.
Was I in for a shock. I thought I’d died and gone to hell. It was so hot and humid, even in the middle of the night, that my hair was sweating. It took me three days to cool off once I got home (California).
Without getting into further details, such as slowpoke traffic, hideous scenery, and some serious white trash people (not all, but quite a lot), I hated it there.
I don’t know what it’s like in Ohio, I know you have snow there and there’s DEFINITELY no snow in Florida, but I’d take a trip down there and check it out for yourself before making any commitments.
Crime way down since concealed gun law was passed here. Drugs are only a problem if you are into that. I don't even notice a drug problem since I'm not into that scene.
Are reasonable parcels of land available an hour outside an area like Fort Lauderdale (away from the coast) - I'd like something around 5 acres.
An hour away from the coast you are in the middle of Alligator Alley where there is nothing. South Florida population pretty well within about 15 miles of each coast with nothing much in between.
I'm currently single, in my late 30s, but I still have hopes of having a family.
Learn Spanish and meet lots of hot Latina chicks.
Lastly, what does a conservative Christian (Catholic) Ohio boy need to know about life in Florida?
Based on the parenthesis, you should have no hangups with drinking good rum. I recommend Flor de Cana. Aged rum. Drink hearty and enjoy the hot Latina chicks. BTW, I used to live in the Cleveland area (Euclid Park).
BTW: Have you made it to Pellegrino's in Deerfield yet? Celebrated my birthday there last month.
OK, BTDT, So here’s the scoop from my experience.
I grew up rural also, on Long Island (way,way out on LI, AKA “The Boonies”), then lived in rural NJ for years, before deciding, when my daughter was a toddler, that I hated the cold and hated being surrounded by liberal idiots, and we needed to move south. Our choices were Atlanta or Ft. Lauderdale (we had family in each place, and we didn’t want to go where we didn’t know anyone). Against my hubby’s better judgement, and without having seen ATL, I pushed and begged for Ft. Lauderdale (near my relatives), and so we went. The two years we spent there were the longest, most awful of my entire life!!!!!!
Here is what you can expect from a move to SoFla:
The Pros:
-As mentioned before, awesome Cuban food. Also, great seafood.
-Mild “winters”, in which “freezing” means you ought to wear a sweater or at least some long sleeves.
-Some pretty beaches, ***if*** you know where to go, and if you know where the metered parking lots are, as most of the “good” beaches cost 10 dollars or more to park at.
-Some pleasant places on the Intracoastal Waterway where you can spend some very pleasant hours looking at some beautiful views and boats.
And now The Cons:
-Expect to be treated as though you are untrustworthy and a petty thief wherever you go. Every cashier will scrutinize your signature when you use a credit card. Many will ask for a second form of ID. You will be required to pay huge deposits for initial startup of your utilities (it will be refunded after you prove yourself by actually paying your bill for a year.) This is SOP down there, as it is a very transient area.
-The cost of home owner’s insurance is outrageous since the last round of hurricanes. My aunt lives in a small 3BR villa (attached, one story home), and her insurance is running her 4K a year, because the house wasn’t built in the last few years with the newest building codes. Many insurance companies are just pulling out of the state altogether.
-Fort Lauderdale beach is overrun with teens, homeless, indigents, tourists, etc.. It sounds and smells like loud music and cars. If that’s your scene, you’ll be thrilled, I hated it.
-Everything is FLAT, and its all the same color. The soil is sandy, the buildings are flat and beige (mostly. There are some which are the hacienda style with peaked roofs and terracotta barrel tiles, and some that are painted pastel colors. You get really tired of houses that are aqua, pink, and mint) with flat roofs, and most houses have swimming pools with screenrooms built over them. The only break from the beige is the green palm trees, and tons of other green foliage, and the bright pink bougainvilleas when they are blooming.
-The weather is pleasant in “winter”, the rest of the year is so brutal, that I actually used to pray to God to make it rain and be cloudy. However, when it rains in summer, the heat gets worse, and the air fills with mist.
-You will see more butt cheeks, armpit hair, bare feet, etc. than you ever thought was possible, and that will be in supermarkets, shopping areas, doctor’s offices, restaurants, you name it. Additionally, expect to see men in no shirts in the cars stopped beside you in traffic, it seems to be a cultural thing.
-There are the biggest, strangest bugs I have ever seen down there, lizards get into your house constantly, and I have seen 6-7 foot snakes just slithering along in broad daylight.
-People drive and behave aggressively towards pedestrians. When you park your car and begin to cross a parking lot, you’d best step lively, because it almost seems as though the drivers are trying to run you down. If you and another person are heading for the door of an establishment, even if you are pushing a baby carriage or carrying a small child, most times the other person will hustle to get through the door before you (and let it slam in your face).
-They also drive aggressively on the road. It is almost a shock to see someone actually use their turn signals, and its common for people to race each other in between the other cars. My aunt (after 30 years down there) says that the reason she doesn’t use them is because when she does, the other people are clued in to what she is planning to do, and they deliberately try to get in her way. Keep in mind though, that a large percentage of these people are liberal transplants from the northeast who are letting their real selves hang out, and this all will not surprise you.
-There are a lot of people, in the winter, from Canada. The French ones are very rude to everyone, its a running joke down there among the natives. There are also lots and lots and lots of old people.
-The housing prices are INSANE! For example,My cousin lives in a very modest ranch (3Bedrooms, 2Baths) with maybe a third of an acre, and a pool, in a town called Sunrise. The other houses on her street (she is nowhere near any water, besides a canal at the end of the street) are currently selling for over 300k., and they are about 20 years old, IIRC. The canals, which are legion there, are basically trenches that run alongside many roads, which usually have a few feet of water in them (and alligators), and are considered desirable to live on. Many people fish in them and row/canoe/kayak, and many small animals get eaten.
-And the clincher for us, was when we drove past a middle school in Plantation (just west of Ft.L.) as the kids were getting out of school. The girls had shorts and belly shirts on that left very little to the imagination, the boys were dressed like street thugs, and they were (mis)behaving like college kids already. Some boys had their hands on the girls’ behinds as they were walking along, a couple were smoking, some were kissing, etc., and these kids were 11-14 years old. I was 3 months pregnant with my second child at the time, and we decided on the spot that we were going to move again, because we realized that otherwise, this is what our children would be dealing with someday.
We went to ATL to visit for a weekend, and experienced culture shock. There were scripture verses and inspirational quotes outside not only churches, but also car dealerships and other businesses. People ran to open the doors ***for*** us. Everyone was fully, and tastefully, clothed, and the children all looked like their parents. They were well groomed, nicely dressed, and perfectly behaved, even the teenagers. The housing prices were awesome too, so we went home and started planning our move! We moved to Atlanta and have never looked back. I still have nightmares that someone will force me to go live there again. I can’t even bring myself to go visit for fun, I only go as far south as Orlando.
If you are at a stage in your life that you might want to have the “experience” of living in that kind of anything goes kind of place for a while, then go for it and get it out of your system! However, if you are already past all of that and are looking to establish your foundation somewhere, it is probably not the place for you. Sorry this is so long, but I would hate to see a fellow Freeper make the same mistake I did! Hope it helps!
That's outdated info. Not so many folks from NY anymore down here. "Westonzuela" is BOOOORING. Nice homes but way outside of any fun action. Best places are near the beach. Learn Spanish and become a "Gringo Mascota" like me. I go to parties and all the chicks want to dance with me. Oh, and drinking lots of rum helps. It also helps one forget how really lousy Venezuelan/Colombian music is. But, hey, with all the hot chicks, who cares?
Here in the Acreage, zip code 33411, Royal Palm Beach area, the vacant lots are 1.25 acres and run from $150-200k. For another $200k you can have a 3/2/2 house built on it. Not a big house, about 2000sf under air. There are 2/2 condos for about $200k. It’s about an hour drive on the Turnpike to Ft. Lauderdale. Taxes on the home would be around $6000, and insurance around the same. You better rent a duplex or a small apt. if you are solo. Get yourself acquainted with the area, the lifestyles etc. before committing to a purchase. I,m here 38 years and still love it, but it,s getting so damned expensive to stay here much longer.
Plenty of ex-New Yorkers (not all of them Jewish, contrary to the stereotype) in Liquordale, Coral Springs, and Parkland, but those areas are extensions of PBC anyway. You are correct, however, in that the Carib tribe has replaced the Twelve Tribes in the inland condo communities of Lauderhill, North Lauderdale, Tamarac, etc. The Latinos tend to prefer Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Westonzuela, and (increasingly) Davie and Cooper City.
I go so St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton. Where is PSL do you live?
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