[tjchristian]

Our family is trying to decide whether or not to move to florida. We visited and fell in love with the place. I know, i know, it was a vaca, but we are not happy with the current place we are living and would love to be closer to the beach. My wife and i are rn's and would love a change in climates. We have looked at the destin, pensacola, gulf breeze, and santa rosa beach areas. Any suggestions? Please let this dream come true.

[beachmouse]

I'm not sure how hiring is right now, but in theory you should have some job opportunities. You're probably going to get less house at a given price point than you would in Texas in the areas close to the coast where you would want to live. (Eglin AFB and other government land holdings mean there's a shortage of land for new housing development in some near coastal areas.) Public schools are average to pretty good if that's an issue for you.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by beachmouse

Public schools are average to pretty good if that's an issue for you.

I would at least use the term "very good", as Santa Rosa County public schools rank #2 in the state and Okaloosa County's rank #6 (out of 67 counties)..

https://app2.fldoe.org/Ranking/Districts/

[jambo101]

I guess if you are going to uproot family and say goodbye to friends and current employment to move to a beach then Destin to Panama City area definitely has beaches, just be aware that many people get bored with beaches when they happen to be close by.

Plenty of sites like this one to give an idea of house prices
Destin Real Estate & Destin Homes For Sale — Trulia.com

And another to give an idea of job potential
Emerald Coast Marketplace - Jobs

[ChrisA70]

Change in climates??? Go from hot to hot with double the humidity? I told myself I could not wait to come back and go to the beach, I came back in February, have not been to the beach since I got here. The novely wears off. I came back because my former boss promised us we would get our jobs back we left. What happened? NOTHING. If I had known that I would not be sitting here right now.

You HAVE to get a job before coming to FL. You will be leaving a state with a low unemployment rate doing very well, to a state that is in horrible shape employment wise. DO A LOT OF RESEARCH. Vacationing here is fine, but living here is wayyyyyy different.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by tjchristian

Our family is trying to decide whether or not to move to florida. We visited and fell in love with the place. I know, i know, it was a vaca, but we are not happy with the current place we are living and would love to be closer to the beach. My wife and i are rn's and would love a change in climates. We have looked at the destin, pensacola, gulf breeze, and santa rosa beach areas. Any suggestions? Please let this dream come true.

Since you are both RNs, employment will probably not be an issue. Still, you should research and have jobs in hand before you come here. I am a Florida native and NEVER get tired of the coastal beauty. I don't spend days on the beach, but LOVE to drive along it, eat at a waterfront restaurant, walk it, etc. There is nothing like the powdery white sand and smell of salty air. Breezes make it more comfortable when it's hot, too.

Still, I would definitely spend some more time here before uprooting - lots of times one can go on a vacation somewhere different and fall in love with a place - but many times the idea of moving is better than the reality. You want to be sure you have really good reasons for moving to or from a place.

Good luck to you!

[AustinTraveler]

Originally Posted by tjchristian

Our family is trying to decide whether or not to move to florida. We visited and fell in love with the place. I know, i know, it was a vaca, but we are not happy with the current place we are living and would love to be closer to the beach. My wife and i are rn's and would love a change in climates. We have looked at the destin, pensacola, gulf breeze, and santa rosa beach areas. Any suggestions? Please let this dream come true.

What is it that you don't like about where you live now?

If you decide to make the move, definitely rent before buying. Living in Florida is NOTHING like being on vacation.

[seain dublin]

Originally Posted by AustinTraveler

What is it that you don't like about where you live now?

If you decide to make the move, definitely rent before buying. Living in Florida is NOTHING like being on vacation.

This is very true. The OP also better research salaries. FL nurses are among the lowest paid in the nation, FL also allows for a higher nurse/patient ratio in hosptials/nursing homes.

They don't want to find out they're making less money AND are working harder and more stressed due to their patient load almost doubled from what they're used to.

[tjchristian]

Thank you for the replies. My wife and I would like to give the Florida lifestyle a try. We are outdoorsy people, we love to go out in our boat and play in water. Only here the closest water is 1hr away and if we lived on the coast we could launch the boat within 5-10 min. Our Son is 3 and we figure growing up near a beach would be the best thing in the world for him. Running and playing in the sand and water. We would definitely have find jobs prior to the move and rent before buying. I have spent many hours on this fourm and so far have liked what I have found. Believe me when I say, I dont think it going to be some fantasy everyday living in Floirda, but I would much rather have a bad day in some place beautiful than a bad day in a place i dont like so well.

[ChrisA70]

Originally Posted by gypsychic

Since you are both RNs, employment will probably not be an issue. Still, you should research and have jobs in hand before you come here. I am a Florida native and NEVER get tired of the coastal beauty. I don't spend days on the beach, but LOVE to drive along it, eat at a waterfront restaurant, walk it, etc. There is nothing like the powdery white sand and smell of salty air. Breezes make it more comfortable when it's hot, too.

Still, I would definitely spend some more time here before uprooting - lots of times one can go on a vacation somewhere different and fall in love with a place - but many times the idea of moving is better than the reality. You want to be sure you have really good reasons for moving to or from a place.

Good luck to you!

Very true. I love vacationing in Maine, absoluely beautiful place in the summer. But I KNOW I would never want to live there. It's a lot different when vacationing there.