[LauraC]

Originally Posted by pixiewytch

This thread has been amusing to say the least. I can be a bit of a cynic myself so I enjoy reading the cynicism. It's funny because my family (who are all native Floridians) has also been puzzled over why people are moving here in droves when we are trying to get out. I can't imagine why anyone would want to move here if they pay attention to the news (and the forums here), know how much the cost of housing is, homeowner's insurance, taxes, threat of hurricanes and their strain on the pocketbook and so forth...unless, none of those things are of relevance or inconvenience to these people. This simply leads me to believe that the people moving here are living different lifestyles than those of us getting out and have more money. I agree that Fl is turning into some sort of high class condo/luxury gated community mess and those of us who don't like this are getting out while those who are looking for that sort of thing are coming here.

This is even more evident to me when I see idyllic Fl postcard descriptions of people sipping cocktails by a pool, enjoying watersports, and flocking to enjoy the beaches. This sounds to me like the sort of thing people who don't work and have ample disposable income come here to do. Heck, I don't own a pool to sip cocktails next to, the beach is too far for me to drive to and once I get there too expensive to dine, stay at a resort, and so forth...and as for watersports, I don't have the money or leisure time to do those either. Now I'm not trying to insult people who are coming to Fl to enjoy those luxuries because that is their perogative but I guess I just don't believe that hard working families in a middle class income bracket are buying into all of this. If they are they may be sorely disappointed...

You said this better than me. Thank you.

[quinnclan]

One good thing would be if you just move from here.
That would be good for Florida.

[SunKrist]

Florida was great 25 years ago, when my mom originally moved here. I was born 8 years after that, and honestly I am getting tired of the heat and humidity. I want seasons! I want to sit in front of a fireplace and be cozy, not sweaty. And beyond that, the house my mom bought for about $30,000 is now worth well over $200,000, but we live in a flood zone.

We really can't afford to move anywhere near where we are right now. Even if we got $250,000 for our house, we would be lucky to find a place as good and in a good neighborhood (and out of the flood zone), for less than that.

Currently we are seriously looking into East Tennessee. The climate is actually more pleasant (it doesn't get anywhere near as hot, and the winters are mild), the cost of housing is about 1/3, and the cost of living in general is less. And all the trees, which actually turn colors in the fall! Don't get me wrong, FL is beautiful in the winter... but that's about it. And don't let anyone tell you it's not humid - 70% + is the norm most of the year.

To me, Florida is a vacation spot, and not a whole lot more. I don't see myself raising a family of my own here, even if we don't move in the next couple of years.

Also, I think there may be a big difference between the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. I don't know much about the Atlantic coast, but when I saw it, it seemed to be a lot nicer than the Gulf.

Sorry about all the negativity.

~Sunshine Baby (Est. in FL 1988)

PS There's something else I forgot to mention: 2-3 inch long, fat cockroaches.... that fly. Hundreds of them.

[CabinFever]

Originally Posted by SunshineBaby

Florida was great 25 years ago, when my mom originally moved here. I was born 8 years after that, and honestly I am getting tired of the heat and humidity. I want seasons! I want to sit in front of a fireplace and be cozy, not sweaty. And beyond that, the house my mom bought for about $30,000 is now worth well over $200,000, but we live in a flood zone.

We really can't afford to move anywhere near where we are right now. Even if we got $250,000 for our house, we would be lucky to find a place as good and in a good neighborhood (and out of the flood zone), for less than that.

Currently we are seriously looking into East Tennessee. The climate is actually more pleasant (it doesn't get anywhere near as hot, and the winters are mild), the cost of housing is about 1/3, and the cost of living in general is less. And all the trees, which actually turn colors in the fall!

To me, Florida is a vacation spot, and not a whole lot more. I don't see myself raising a family of my own here, even if we don't move in the next couple of years.

Sorry about all the negativity.

~Sunshine Baby (Est. in FL 1988)

PS There's something else I forgot to mention: 2-3 inch long, fat cockroaches.... that fly. Hundreds of them.

People think I'm nuts because I go to the mountains all the time for my vacations.I was tired of going to Florida and sweating my brains out for 7 days on the beach.I get so much more enjoyment spending a week in the mountains in a cabin with a fireplace and a hot-tub on the deck.

[Need_affordable_home]

To sum it up, choosing where to live is a personal decision. Florida works for some, but not for many others. I see more people leave Florida than enter. Even those that enter Florida end up renting or buying a mobile home cause the houses + insurance isnt affordable.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by Need_affordable_home

To sum it up, choosing where to live is a personal decision. Florida works for some, but not for many others. I see more people leave Florida than enter. Even those that enter Florida end up renting or buying a mobile home cause the houses + insurance isnt affordable.

Good summary.

I have recently moved to Florida for a series of personal reasons but decided to rent because financially the choice between renting and buying under current conditions is by far in favor of renting.

At the same time, long-term, there is greater satisfaction psychologically in owning than renting.

Therefore, the long-term decision whether to stay depends on whether financial conditions in the state realign themselves to the economic fundamentals to the point where the financial decision between renting and buying is neutral or slightly in favor of buying.

Unfortunately for many long-time homeowners in the state, financial conditions in the last few years have virtually forced them to leave.

We'll see in the next few years with whose economic fundamentals the state's financial conditions realign themselves.

[dennis s]

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.

I

I've lived in Florida for twenty years. I came down to fish and swim, play tennis and work at my own pace. I did a good job at all of this. I couldn't find much in this post to disagree with except that the young people moving here from Ohio and Michigan, P.A., Georgia, Alabama, Tennesee, Arkansas,Etc, are even more rude and meaner than the "old" folks forementioned. These young, bitter folks come down her to live bringing with them no money, no job skills an attitude of "the world owes me" and lot's of kids with the same mentallity. In my opinion that is what is ruining Florida. Well that and the lawyer over poppulation. (another time for that rant)

[dennis s]

Originally Posted by verobeach

Moderator cut: persoanl attack
What cockroaches? We get sprayed a couple of times a year and we haven't seen even an ant inside our home. And the last cockroach I saw climbed up on the wall in a Massachusetts restaurant while I was dining.

I'd much rather SEE a roach than breath in the pesticides that are marinating inside your body at this moment. Hence another reason to stay away from Florida. I've done a lot of research on the pesticides used on lawns and gardens in "the sunshine state". One of the reasons people are so grouchy in Florida is that they feel like ......... from all of the stuff that they breath in all day long at their beautifully landscaped gated community.There is no cold weather down here to kill of the bugs every year so pesticides are believed to be the alternative. The outdoor pesticides are 100 times more dangerous than the indoor chemicals used in the north for those pesky little germain roaches.

[dennis s]

Originally Posted by ambyr

LauraC...if you live in NY and have no plans to move to Florida, then why are you in a Florida forum? How can you speak ill of a place in which you have never lived? As another poster had said, Florida is not for everyone, but neither in NY, NC, TN...etc...There are drugs everywhere, preditors everywhere, crime everywhere. If there is a magical place out there that exists without such problems...please, enlighten me.

Switzerland , that's the place!

[dennis s]

[quote=verobeach;143499]

Originally Posted by LauraC

I've seen them outside in Florida (the other post was about someone's garden not their house). QUOTE]

You should pick the people in Florida who you visit more carefully. If they spray quarterly, put down weed and pest preventives, and keep their lawn short, then there's nothing to see with the exception of those little lizards that eat bugs anyway.

And no I didn't see any gators in MA but they're not anywhere that I go down here either. And I never heard the term potato bug.

Quarterly?............Relax with that stuff. You'll be a little happier