[willus772]

hey guys were moving to fl. in sept. and we have been looking in the orlando area for a couple of months now. We chose orlando because its the only area we both really know. My gilfiend lived in delray beach and loved it but it is outside of our price range. Im not opposed at all to going somewhere other than orlando but wouldnt know where to start. We are lookning for cheap living, We currently live in State College Pa (Penn State) so we are used to smaller towns, wouldnt mind finding one down there, we just have no Idea where to start. We are just looking to rent for the first year and we may not even stay in the are we move to, we just want to get to Fl. for now and figure out the rest once were there.

So I Guess Im asking what areas can we look at that are nice, inexpencive, maybe small (doesnt have to be), and would give us a good idea of what florida living is all about.

Oh we have a three year old little girl, so that is a big factor. We want to go somewhere that there are things for her to do (hence the orlando idea)

thanks guys

[Obrero]

My advice would be to get a job first and move close to it. Seems like you are open to any area and decent paying jobs are oodles harder to find than cheap apartments.

As I remember, State College is great. Going to be hard to replicate that downtown area.

[willus772]

yeah state college is wonderful minus the students, well no it sucks minus the students. state college is hard to describe, its a beatiful town, family oriented but the students screw everything up, when they are here there are parties everywhere, and there isnt much to do but go to bars and such. Its beautiful when they are not here but then thee is no money in the town to go around so without a salary job, nobody can make any money to do anything fun. I am a local born and raised and Im just tired of it. It was great in high school and for a while afterwards. But now I have a family, and its not for me. sure the schools are great and its a nice safe area, its fine for children and teenagers and college kids, but not for adults in my opinion. all the good jobs are taken by recent college graduates, and the ones that arn't pay awful because there are so many students willing to take them for next to nothing. bottom line is its time to go, I dont want to move somewhere like this area, something new and different would be nice.

As for moving close to where Ill be working that wont be a problem, As of now Im in the resturaunt business and a job shouldnt be hard to find. Ill look for management positions once Im down there but I can just wait tables for a while, theres always enough money to get by on in that.

But yes your right I am very open on location, mostly because a job shouldnt be hard for me to find, and wherever we move will only be temporary untill we scout out some areas and decide for ourselves where we want to live. so right now Im just looking at the cheapest places I can find and need to know where NOT to look. or where to stay away from. I dont care where I live for now just dont want to end up in any inner-city ghettos. But I do suppose somewhere with a decent amount of resturants would be helpful, but that shouldnt be hard to find.

thanks again, I hope that explains the situation a little better.

[Floridabound09]

Don't let anyone discourage you from moving. THe most important thing is doing the research, compile the info into a folder so you will have easy access. If you see something you like or dislike print it.
You will see both positive and negative posted so you will have to sort it out. Since you have a 3 year old of course the schools will be important. Check out greatschools.com for that info.

There is a place for you in Florida, you just have to do allot of looking and info searching. We have traveled Florida for 20+ years and know the areas well, but it is not the same when you spend time in the area you choose before you rent or buy.

We recently spent 2 weeks in Florida looking over the areas we researched for the last 6 months, we had maps, printouts, etc and of course the laptop helped us allot.

We were able to weed out 3 locations on our list just from spending time in the area, locals are a wealth of info, we asked tons of questions at stores, gas stations, restaurants etc.

Take you time and take some notes.

Dont forget Orlando is not the only place that has allot to do, in Florida your within a short drive from more things to do then the entire state of Pa and all its neighbors combined.

Good Luck !

[RedWingsFan]

Orlando has a very high crime rate. It was one of the places that we considered before moving to Florida. I'm really glad we didn't go there. We chose first to go to the Tampa area. We didn't care for it. Every city has a ghetto area, but Tampa's is very big. I didn't think it was nice there.

We drove around and checked places like Orlando and the Jacksonville area out. We went to quite a few different places and ultimately decided upon the Daytona Beach area. Ormond Beach, just north of Daytona and Port Orange, just south of Daytona are both really nice. We live first in an apartment in Ormond Beach and then bought a house in Port Orange. It's nice, within minutes from great beaches, very low crime, excellent schools... close driving to go to Orlando if we want to.

Check out Port Orange or Ormond Beach.