[FL_TN_Nana]

Originally Posted by tallrick

This is another bad thing about Florida I forgot about, the roads are filled with fossils waiting to take someone down with them. I already lost a friend who was wating to cross the street and some old goat died right in his cadillac and ran him into the traffic light pole. A neighbor near a friend was also killed when someone had a heart attack in the car and ran down his motorcycle. This is why I don't walk but always drive instead.

First, I am sorry about the loss of your friend. But to believe that the majority of crashes in Florida are caused by "fossils" is just incorrect. The latest stats I've found (2004) show most crashes and most crashes with fatalities are caused by ages 15-24. So please don't think it's just the old folks killing people on the roads. Yes, there comes a time when the elderly should give up driving, but perhaps the younger drivers should take more driving lessons as well as have more respect for other drivers. (And maybe get off the phone while they're at it!)

[Jammie]

Fl_Tn, VERY good post. I was thinking the same thing.

[MrMeisterMan]

what' so good about Florida ??

Hmmmmm....let me think...

well one thing is good it that the n'er do wells and imposters are selling their houses, taking the gains and moving their country butts to places like east TN.....a very lovely place for them.

That's a postive for the State of Florida...reverse migration is sometimes a good thing !!

ON THE BEACH
LongBoat Key

[Jacz]

On October 28th we were wearing t-sgirts as well. We're in the UK.
We are from Andover Hampshire in England. check us out.
www.andover.towncentral.co.uk
The weather this though is -2 at night.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by HolidayFL

No snow to shovel, no leaves to rake, no bone chilling cold, more affordable homes, my job is 10 minutes from home, nice neighbors, many from up north where I am from, and a great family neighborhood. Anyone up in the northeast looking at our taxes and homeowner's rates and comparing theirs to ours has to be saying, wow, it's cheap in FL, what are they complaining about? When I left NJ my taxes were over $10,000 a year, and my homeowner's was $450 a year. That was 7 years ago. In FL, my taxes are $537 a year and my homeowner's is $1822 a year. So I am saving $8,091 a year by living in FL. I can't complain about that! I have family still in NJ and they tell me that jobs are scarce there now. There is no shortage of jobs near me in FL. They can't seem to get enough employees around here. I work in the medical field and my first year on the job I got 4 weeks vacation, and I'm a lower level employee. When I was in NJ it took me 8 years to get that much vacation time. Not to mention that while my family in NJ is hunkered down in their homes with the heat on inside and the gray dreary skies outside, I'm sitting with my windows open enjoying the beautiful weather where the skies are blue almost every day. As for TN and other states people are talking about maybe moving to, be sure to do your research. Those areas get snow and get cold and you don't have the many months of nice weather FL has. Many of those areas have no jobs. Many of those areas that appear so great may not be. There is a reason that some of those towns are only 45% owner occupied (i.e. Cookeville) and 11% vacant (i.e. Crossville) properties and 21% of the population is living below the povery level (i.e. Crossville). In Holiday. FL, where I live, the homes are 82 % owner occupied. The vacant homes here are only vacant because a lot of people come to FL only part of the year and return north for the summer months. My neighbor does that because they are retired and can afford that luxury of the best of both worlds as far as weather goes. Since I have to work I chose FL as this feels like paradise to me compared to the northeast. Just my opinion and preference here.

Some people like a little snow and please don't hold up the snow birds as any kind of example of a resident. The fact that they live in two different places says something is wrong with both places or they would choose one of them and stay put.

[MotleyCrew]

We came very close to moving to Punta Gorda just before the big one hit and I lost touch with my agent. We moved to AZ instead. Heat is heat no matter which you call home. We still love Florida and will continue to seek a small building lot there someday. We do love the ocean air and the humidity is just part of the package. The only drawback to Florida over AZ is the property taxes, other than that we may be there sooner than later.

[dreamofmonterey]

Originally Posted by LauraC

This question isn't for people who have lived there all of their lives and suffered the invasion over the last 30 years. This question is for people who chosing to move there now from someplace else.

What's so great about Florida, anyway?

I can't think of any reason to want to live there. You got your beaches but so do a lot of other places.

The way I see it, you got horrible heat so that you don't go outside of your homes at certain times of the day on certain days of the year and some of you won't even live there all year long, your schools stink for a variety of reasons but voting down the school budget doesn't help, the place is overcrowded, overdeveloped and a lot of parts are innundated with rude overbearing tourists many of which are so enamored with the place when they are on vacation that they eventually move there stinking up the place even more with their rude overbearing attitudes, no one ever mentions "Florida" when they talk about innovative places to live and work, every time you turn on the news another Florida creep has committed a crime, you have hurricanes galore that you expect smarter other people who live away from hurricane alley to foot the bill for with high premiums and tax dollars (state, local, federal) so you can rebuild near the beach, you don't have 4 seasons, your electric and insurance bills rival some people's mortgages, you've got bugs you could put a saddle on, the geezers (and I'm in that age group) vote in blocks to turn down just about everything except new master planned communities (more traffic) and old people benefits when they aren't mowing down people in the streets, you plow down all of the trees when you get there so you can live in little master planned cities...you all moved down there from your big northern locations and turned the place into the same *rappy crime-infested congested liberal place you left, etc. Am I missing anything?

Unless you are from Florida originally, have family there or have to move there for a job or to export drugs to the rest of the country, or think the economy in Florida still beats Mexico, who the heck is moving there now and why?

And why are the rest of you so bent on ruining the next great place (South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, West Virginia) to live when you flee? I know, you don't think you are, but you are. Thirty years from now, those places will be just like Florida is today.

Uh- being bent on ruining the next place? That doesnt apply to ALL people. To answer why people moved there (then moved out) many floated in on a bubble. In the 80's Florida was beautiful I can remember vacationing in Coconut Grove (they had no Planet Hollywood there then) . Many areas have changed, it is a disappointment.

I am interested why you think "these people" are moving to ruin the next place. That seems a trifle judgmental.

[Happy in Spring Hill]

I live in Spring Hill and love it.. Tampa is 30 min / Orlando is 1hr/ The weather is great If it is really hot we head out on the boat.. jon boat (nothing big and $$).. we always see porpoise or Manatee. Not much of a beach in our area but we have a gem here with the Weeki Wachee River. We also love to vacation in Disney.. Not real expensive since we stay at Fort Wilderness Campground in our Pop Up.. sometimes we dont even go to the park the campground has enough to do..I have children they go to a private school.. but my neighbors are pleased with the public school the kids attend. Just a personal choice for us and it is affordable in comparrison to other private schools. Homes are still affordable. You just have to find the right area for your family. We have lived in Orlando, Merritt Island, Sarasota, Bradenton, Spring Hill.. we have now found Spring Hill is the area for us..

[comfortzone]

On the way to Orlandor from Spring Hill , are there a lot of hills? It looks like it from the map. How about orange groves?

[FLORIDA TO NIOTA 2010]

Originally Posted by LauraC

This question isn't for people who have lived there all of their lives and suffered the invasion over the last 30 years. This question is for people who chosing to move there now from someplace else.

What's so great about Florida, anyway?

I can't think of any reason to want to live there. You got your beaches but so do a lot of other places.

Thank you, that's why I want to get the H_ _ _ out of here. And I have lived here all my life. Standards of life around here are getting lower and lower but the costs are getting higher and higher.