[Springtime129]

Ok. I moved from CT to FL this past July. I liked it for the first couple months, but I slowly started to loathe the state for anything more than a vacation.

I understand why retirees like it here, and I understand why young people who have no children like it here.

If you are a working adult with a family, this is not the place to be. I tried it out, and now I know. Never again.

CT has a better quality of life in so many ways. It is more family oriented, which is great for my children, schools are better, healthcare in my experience 10,000 times better.

The land is flat and boring, all the buildings look the same, the traffic is horrendous, and I am so tired of every street being a damn turnpike. Lol

I want pizza, a real pizza.

Lastly, I call BS on the COL. Yes, taxes in CT are high, but you will trade that for higher homeowners insurance and car insurance. At least I could write my taxes off when I file.

Gas is cheaper, but groceries are more expensive so I'm not seeing the savings people speak of.

I am coming back next month and couldn't be happier!

[AnonChick]

I only need one reason to prefer Connecticut over Florida: I hate Florida.

[nep321]

Originally Posted by Springtime129

Ok. I moved from CT to FL this past July. I liked it for the first couple months, but I slowly started to loathe the state for anything more than a vacation.

I understand why retirees like it here, and I understand why young people who have no children like it here.

If you are a working adult with a family, this is not the place to be. I tried it out, and now I know. Never again.

CT has a better quality of life in so many ways. It is more family oriented, which is great for my children, schools are better, healthcare in my experience 10,000 times better.

The land is flat and boring, all the buildings look the same, the traffic is horrendous, and I am so tired of every street being a damn turnpike. Lol

I want pizza, a real pizza.

Lastly, I call BS on the COL. Yes, taxes in CT are high, but you will trade that for higher homeowners insurance and car insurance. At least I could write my taxes off when I file.

Gas is cheaper, but groceries are more expensive so I'm not seeing the savings people speak of.

I am coming back next month and couldn't be happier!

I think what you said about families vs. nonfamilies is important. Since I'm young and single, I would probably have a better experience living in FL than a family would. If I were to have a family, I would NOT want to raise my kids in FL. However, that's not the case...I'm single, 29 and gay at that, so FL could be a reasonable alternative for someone like me. I know many gays who moved from CT to FL and absolutely love it. On the other hand, I know many gays who did the same thing and ended up hating it and coming back up here. So who knows.

You're probably right about healthcare being better in CT. Can't complain about that here.

I also agree that the land is flat and boring. However, it's nice to see for change, if visiting from CT. But yeah, after a few weeks it looks featureless. Also, the flora and fauna is debatably worse than that of CT. Too much shrubs, brush and weed-like plants and trees. And all too often, the ground has a sandy surface, which looks dirty IMO. But many parts of northern FL look nice, with the pine trees and mild hills. Many manmade neighborhoods look downright gorgeous too, but......they're manmade. Also, there are many areas in FL that don't look generic and loaded with strip malls and boulevards, such as the central east coast and the huge area just north of Clearwater. The panhandle isn't like that at all either.

I've created a thread a few months ago highlighting the reasons why FL is NOT a better place to live in regards to overall cost of living. Wages are MUCH lower, and homeowners insurance is much higher, and many FL highways charge tolls. The sales tax in FL is also higher, and there are county level governments that can layer on even more sales tax. Also, people are obsessed with the fact that taxes are lower in FL, but they fail to account for the major fallacy in this argument: Lower state taxes means LOWER itemized deductions on your federal return, which means a much smaller tax refund. So the appeal of paying lower taxes is somewhat diminished for this reason. Now, of course, you'll probably be paying less federal tax anyway, because you would likely be making less income. But still...people aren't smart enough to think things through all the way.

I have to say however, the quality of the roads in FL is the BEST! They're not weathered, cracked or full of potholes.

[Mr_250]

Originally Posted by nep321

I have to say however, the quality of the roads in FL is the BEST! They're not weathered, cracked or full of potholes.

This is because the road base is composed of limestone which when compacted with a little bit of water it turns very hard. There is only like 3in of asphalt.

Plus they do not encounter freeze thaw cycles. If CT had Floridas' roads it might be paradise.

[nep321]

Originally Posted by Mr_250

This is because the road base is composed of limestone which when compacted with a little bit of water it turns very hard. There is only like 3in of asphalt.

Plus they do not encounter freeze thaw cycles. If CT had Floridas' roads it might be paradise.

Yeah I know.

I don't think it's debatable that the road quality and infrastructure of FL is far superior to that of CT. Also, the ability to more easily afford new construction in FL is a strong point, too. Personally, I prefer new construction. I'm the type of person who never buys used items and has OCD and wants everything to be new and clean and modern.

There are many, many neighborhoods and homes in FL that are very aesthetically appealing, despite being new. Too many haters on this forum who only visited touristy areas or extremely densely populated areas and think that the entire state is like that. My parents just purchased a vacation home in Ormond Beach. I'm looking forward to visiting it someday.

I go to Florida on average, about once or twice a year and know the state very well. Better than anyone in this CT forum. I've been to most counties in FL. Many of them probably visited southeast FL, which is fast paced rat race area with no natural open space and probably think all of FL is that way.

I have family in Pinellas County as well, who have lived there for the past 30 years or so. They ain't moving up to CT. It doesn't appeal them, because it's too cold up here for a native Floridian, period. Their roots are solidly in FL.

The nicest areas of FL, from my experience, are:

Some very nice suburbs of Orlando (Windermere, Doctor Philips, Apopka, Maitland, etc.)
Naples-Marco Island metro area
New Port Richey, Dunedin, Tarpon Springs area (north of Clearwater)
Brevard County
Most of Palm Beach County, esp. Wellington, Boca Raton
Some areas of Broward County: Weston, Coconut Creek, Plantation
Fort Lauderdale is quite nice

[AnonChick]

The roads in Florida are great, until you hit one of the infamous sink holes. Not pot-holes. Sink holes. As in, several square yards of road sunken into the sand.

[nep321]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

The roads in Florida are great, until you hit one of the infamous sink holes. Not pot-holes. Sink holes. As in, several square yards of road sunken into the sand.

That's far less common than the prevalence of potholes in CT though. In CT, everyone is pretty much guaranteed to drive over at least a few potholes each winter.

[Lalalally]

Originally Posted by nep321

That's far less common than the prevalence of potholes in CT though. In CT, everyone is pretty much guaranteed to drive over at least a few potholes each winter.

A few potholes every day

[8to32characters]

Originally Posted by Springtime129

Ok. I moved from CT to FL this past July. I liked it for the first couple months, but I slowly started to loathe the state for anything more than a vacation.

I understand why retirees like it here, and I understand why young people who have no children like it here.

If you are a working adult with a family, this is not the place to be. I tried it out, and now I know. Never again.

CT has a better quality of life in so many ways. It is more family oriented, which is great for my children, schools are better, healthcare in my experience 10,000 times better.

The land is flat and boring, all the buildings look the same, the traffic is horrendous, and I am so tired of every street being a damn turnpike. Lol

I want pizza, a real pizza.

Lastly, I call BS on the COL. Yes, taxes in CT are high, but you will trade that for higher homeowners insurance and car insurance. At least I could write my taxes off when I file.

Gas is cheaper, but groceries are more expensive so I'm not seeing the savings people speak of.

I am coming back next month and couldn't be happier!

You've only lived in Florida for nine months, so I'm not really able to understand how you've already drawn the conclusion that schools and healthcare are much worse in Florida compared to Connecticut. How many times have you been to the emergency room and/or doctor's office in the past nine months to even make an assumption like that?

It seems to me that you simple miss home and probably should have never moved to Florida in the first place, or else one of your primary motivations for moving back to Connecticut wouldn't be because you want a "real pizza"--whatever that means.

[McaVacationDivas]

Back in 2003 I packed up my 7 1/2 year old daughter and my 1994 Ford Explorer Limited and headed to S. Florida. Didn't know but 1 person there and stayed with them for 3 weeks until I found an apartment in Oakland Park. Life was great...until my baby started having worse and worse abdominal issues. I got referred from her Pediatrician to a Urologist to another specialist at the Miami Children's Hospital. No one could diagnose what was ailing my baby. I kept having to take her out of school because the pain was so bad. All the Dr's thought she was either *faking* it, insinuated sexual abuse or made the circle around their ear that she was crazy! No one thought it was real. Well, fast forward to having gone through Hurricane Katrina and soon after, Wilma. I had had enough and packed up in Dec 2005, to head north, back to CT. When her Dr got back from vacation in Jan, I took her to see her in West Hartford and explained all we'd been through, she asked my daughter, now, 10, to describe it in her own words, she did. Within 10 minutes she had diagnosed her with a Hernia and immediately referred us to a specialist at Hartford Hospital's Children Medical Center! The diagnoses came back the exact same! There was never any question what it was! The operation was scheduled, performed and my child never felt better! She is now going on 19 and never had a problem since! Can you imagine how I felt as a mother, the 1 person who your child looks up to to make the hurt and pain go away and you're looking to the Dr.'s to know what to do, but haven't a clue?!? It was one of thee most devastatingly embarrassing times of my parenting life! A simple diagnosis and not 1 darn Dr down there knew what to do! Yes, I love S. Florida...and want to return but that one scary episode worries the heck out of me, if I got sick....