Lastly, what does a conservative Christian (Catholic) Ohio boy need to know about life in Florida?
Don’t move south of Orlando. Florida is actually two states: South Florida and North Florida.
PJ, any advice for this guy?
But I'd never give up the midwest. Just my opinion.
5 acres of swamp an hour west of Lauderdale will run you probably $2 mil, if you can find a bargain. =8-0
Ohio boy need to know about life in Florida? ..............There are 2 seasons, one has tourists the other does not. The ‘Not” season has light traffic, the other has slow traffic. In some cases you will look at the car infront of you on the HWY and question whether there is a driver in it or not. If you are heading down to Florida and the RVs are facing you, you picked the right time to come down. The West side of Florida is still affordable in land. The closer to the water you are the higher the prices will be. The cheaper the area the less chance of better schools.
We live on the West Coast of Florida. Unfortunately, 200K will not buy much of a house, much less any acreage. Prices in the Ft Lauderdale area would even be higher, I imagine.
Plan and make decisions for who you are now, and let the future develop. Don’t second-guess in advance for decisions about people and things that are not in your life yet. Should they come along in the future, make decisions about those things then.
My .02
In July 1998, I threw everything I owned into the backseat (and trunk) of a ‘98 Toyota Camry and moved to Houston, TX. Just do it and never, ever look back. However, after my 20 month consulting assignment was up, I did move back to the state where I was born (Ohio). It’s good to take risks, even insane one’s (but only if you’re single). :O)
It’s expensive to live here ... anywhere in this state.
The pay blows ..... employers know they have a captive workforce who will stay here no matter what a job pays.
If you work in medical billing come on down.
Or if you own your own company and can work from home. Most locals are lilly white working three jobs and never see the sun.
What you need to know is that all the long time South Forida people who consider themselves fairly conservative and polite have either left or are planning to leave. I've had friends who left the state when the wanted to start a family. I also have friends with children who stayed and did really well, but they were very involved with their children's schools. Broward county schools were bad thirty years ago and still are, but like I said it's possible to make it work.
The traffic is terrible. There is no longer any land to add or expand roads, yet there will be old neighborhoods torn down to put in high density housing. All the politicians are Democrats. Real estate, taxes, and insurance are high. Unless you absolutely love the ocean, humidity, rude people, diversity, several different languages, and make lots of money I'd say stay away.
If you decide to move here anyway try to live as close to your job as possible. That will make it somewhat bearable.
Been there, done that. Real Estate agents will tell you, the average turn over is two years. Oh, and the kids hated it.
Teacher friends tell me the schools are terrible.
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?
Tomorrow is Open Line Friday. Call Rush and ask him about Florida. 1 800 282 2882 :>
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.
Does that help?