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Easy, though I'll still own two properties in Wellington and may be buying a condo in Palm Beach, the decision was made after visiting Sonoma County on trips to SF, I fell in love with the weather, scenery and lifestyle, Sonoma County is less crowded at less than 1/2 the population of Palm Beach County, reminds me of Tuscany a lot and overall is where I like to live in semi-retirement. I'm only 45, but I'm still going to be working but not as much and by my terms.
South Florida is getting overpopulated and while I'm from the Northeast originally, I'm growing tired of the Northeast attitudes here and some of the people. I prefer the people, vibe and culture of the SF Bay Area than here as well.
I rent out one of my homes, my personal home will be rented by a Polo player from Argentina, people are going to rent it for a year and only live in a few months during Polo season, suppose to them $3500/month is nothing...while I still like South Florida and will have business connections and requirements here, I'll need to be here once a month at least, so I'll probably buy a Condo on Palm Beach to live in, so not really leaving for good but having the best of both worlds.
Thanks for sharing. That's a sweet deal to be able to spend time on both coasts! Can't argue about the weather and vibe of Sonoma County, it's very appealing. One of my concerns with Florida is the Northeast attitude (Born and raised in Massachusetts! ) friends tell me is more prominent nowadays. Florida still has lots of appeal, though.
Life in Florida is very different from life in California.
The major cities in California are much older and more established than those in Florida, so they tend to be more urban, walkable, densely-populated, and cosmopolitan by comparison. Public transportation utilization rates are higher in California, and some cities such as San Francisco have, far and away, better and more comprehensive public transportation infrastructure than any city in Florida or the entire South, for that matter. California cities also have far more pre-WWII architecture compared to Florida, the latter of which wasn't really developed until the advent of air conditioning in the mid-to-late 20th century.
The milder weather and more varied terrain of California encourage outdoor activity and recreation, helping California attain its status as one of the healthiest states in the country. Although better than most Southern states in health metrics, Florida has higher incidences of smoking, obesity, and chronic illness such as diabetes and hypertension than California, partly due to more lower-income individuals and families and less emphasis on active, healthy lifestyles overall.
California has a stronger, more diversified economy than Florida. There's more well-paying industry in California such as tech, biotech, pharma, and investment banking to name a few, so your average Californian tends to be higher earning and more gainfully employed than your average Floridian. Even low-wage, low-skill workers in the manufacturing, trade, and healthcare sectors in particular enjoy higher comparative wages, more comprehensive non-wage benefits, and better state-level protections than their counterparts in Florida, which is a RTW state with very limited union participation rates. Compared to California, Florida has a service-oriented economy with a strong hospitality and tourism orientation, a sector that is notorious for low wages, limited non-wage benefits, and non-existent upward economic mobility. Consistent with Arizona, the service-oriented economy of Florida doesn't tend to attract highly ambitious youth, so a lot of younger people in Florida tend to be apathetic and unmotivated.
California is home to a much better educated, more talented workforce--and general populace, for that matter--than Florida, which is one of the reasons why so much modern innovation comes from California. In addition to a strong history of innovation, California has a more competitive ethos, entrepreneurial spirit, and intellectual vibe than Florida. This, of course, is due to a multitude of factors, but primarily the greater abundance of well-paying industry and prestigious institutions of higher learning in California.
Because Florida is less educated and cosmopolitan than California, you'll encounter much more intolerance and small-mindedness in Florida than in California, not to mention much less support for progressive ideals and movements such as hybrid and electric cars, the "green" movement (i.e., recycling, curbing emissions, etc.), same-sex marriage, organic eating and living, smoking bans, caps on land development, and so forth. Overall, people are lot more open, tolerant, and accepting in California--no cares what religion you are, where you're from, or who you sleep with.
In reality, living in Florida is like living in the South, but without the politeness, friendliness, and hospitality. The general lack of civility and common courtesy in the major cities is frightening and is due in large part to "six degrees of separation." People are friendlier and more pleasant in California than in Florida, hands down, which is a far less transient, anonymous society. Unlike California, Florida is loaded with miserable transplants from the Northeast, although mostly New York and New Jersey, who have that lousy "tough-guy" attitude that remains in place even after 20 years in Florida--constantly striving to be rude, ghetto, shrewd, or some other variant of "tough" while trying to deceive or "put on over" you in any way possible. Then, you have to contend with the shady transient element--everyone in Florida has a story, and most of the time, it's not pretty. Lots of people in Florida are running from something in their past--a violent ex, a criminal record, an abusive childhood, a history of drug abuse, etc. People have a lot of "baggage" down there, for sure, which is why there's much more crime and many more drug and social issues in Florida than in California.
In Florida, you'll notice a lot of people moving down from the Tri-State area and into shiny new tract homes in a gated communities, thinking they have "arrived" like the second coming of baby Jesus. Before long, these people think they're rich and, in their minds, "rich" people are rude, even though most people with family and long-term wealth are quite down-to-earth, so now they begin looking down their noses at people in service industry jobs. While living in Florida, I witnessed absolute horrid behavior among transplants, especially older ones, when talking to store clerks or restaurant servers--never witnessed anything even remotely comparable in California.
Most of the people who live in California were born in California, so there's a much stronger, more well-defined state culture, and civic engagement levels tend to be higher. There's less in the way of voter apathy in California, and all of the professional sports teams have larger, more dedicated fan-bases than any team I can think of in Florida, where most sporting events draw larger away-team crowds than home-team crowds. California is a lot less transient, too. In addition to many more natives--and very proud, dyed-in-the-wool natives, I might add--California is the type of place where people move to, assimilate to the local culture, and stay whereas Florida is more of a place where people come, complain, and go. People in California pledge their allegiance to California, even if they're from elsewhere, whereas people in Florida are more likely to pledge their allegiance to New York, Massachusetts, or Illinois. That alone should speak volumes to anyone deciding between the two states.
I've lived in both, and without a doubt, the lifestyle of California is vastly superior to that of Florida. It's not even much of a contest, really.
Life in Florida is very different from life in California.
The major cities in California are much older and more established than those in Florida, so they tend to be more urban, walkable, densely-populated, and cosmopolitan by comparison. Public transportation utilization rates are higher in California, and some cities such as San Francisco have, far and away, better and more comprehensive public transportation infrastructure than any city in Florida or the entire South, for that matter. California cities also have far more pre-WWII architecture compared to Florida, the latter of which wasn't really developed until the advent of air conditioning in the mid-to-late 20th century.
The milder weather and more varied terrain of California encourage outdoor activity and recreation, helping California attain its status as one of the healthiest states in the country. Although better than most Southern states in health metrics, Florida has higher incidences of smoking, obesity, and chronic illness such as diabetes and hypertension than California, partly due to more lower-income individuals and families and less emphasis on active, healthy lifestyles overall.
California has a stronger, more diversified economy than Florida. There's more well-paying industry in California such as tech, biotech, pharma, and investment banking to name a few, so your average Californian tends to be higher earning and more gainfully employed than your average Floridian. Even low-wage, low-skill workers in the manufacturing, trade, and healthcare sectors in particular enjoy higher comparative wages, more comprehensive non-wage benefits, and better state-level protections than their counterparts in Florida, which is a RTW state with very limited union participation rates. Compared to California, Florida has a service-oriented economy with a strong hospitality and tourism orientation, a sector that is notorious for low wages, limited non-wage benefits, and non-existent upward economic mobility. Consistent with Arizona, the service-oriented economy of Florida doesn't tend to attract highly ambitious youth, so a lot of younger people in Florida tend to be apathetic and unmotivated.
California is home to a much better educated, more talented workforce--and general populace, for that matter--than Florida, which is one of the reasons why so much modern innovation comes from California. In addition to a strong history of innovation, California has a more competitive ethos, entrepreneurial spirit, and intellectual vibe than Florida. This, of course, is due to a multitude of factors, but primarily the greater abundance of well-paying industry and prestigious institutions of higher learning in California.
Because Florida is less educated and cosmopolitan than California, you'll encounter much more intolerance and small-mindedness in Florida than in California, not to mention much less support for progressive ideals and movements such as hybrid and electric cars, the "green" movement (i.e., recycling, curbing emissions, etc.), same-sex marriage, organic eating and living, smoking bans, caps on land development, and so forth. Overall, people are lot more open, tolerant, and accepting in California--no cares what religion you are, where you're from, or who you sleep with.
In reality, living in Florida is like living in the South, but without the politeness, friendliness, and hospitality. The general lack of civility and common courtesy in the major cities is frightening and is due in large part to "six degrees of separation." People are friendlier and more pleasant in California than in Florida, hands down, which is a far less transient, anonymous society. Unlike California, Florida is loaded with miserable transplants from the Northeast, although mostly New York and New Jersey, who have that lousy "tough-guy" attitude that remains in place even after 20 years in Florida--constantly striving to be rude, ghetto, shrewd, or some other variant of "tough" while trying to deceive or "put on over" you in any way possible. Then, you have to contend with the shady transient element--everyone in Florida has a story, and most of the time, it's not pretty. Lots of people in Florida are running from something in their past--a violent ex, a criminal record, an abusive childhood, a history of drug abuse, etc. People have a lot of "baggage" down there, for sure, which is why there's much more crime and many more drug and social issues in Florida than in California.
In Florida, you'll notice a lot of people moving down from the Tri-State area and into shiny new tract homes in a gated communities, thinking they have "arrived" like the second coming of baby Jesus. Before long, these people think they're rich and, in their minds, "rich" people are rude, even though most people with family and long-term wealth are quite down-to-earth, so now they begin looking down their noses at people in service industry jobs. While living in Florida, I witnessed absolute horrid behavior among transplants, especially older ones, when talking to store clerks or restaurant servers--never witnessed anything even remotely comparable in California.
Most of the people who live in California were born in California, so there's a much stronger, more well-defined state culture, and civic engagement levels tend to be higher. There's less in the way of voter apathy in California, and all of the professional sports teams have larger, more dedicated fan-bases than any team I can think of in Florida, where most sporting events draw larger away-team crowds than home-team crowds. California is a lot less transient, too. In addition to many more natives--and very proud, dyed-in-the-wool natives, I might add--California is the type of place where people move to, assimilate to the local culture, and stay whereas Florida is more of a place where people come, complain, and go. People in California pledge their allegiance to California, even if they're from elsewhere, whereas people in Florida are more likely to pledge their allegiance to New York, Massachusetts, or Illinois. That alone should speak volumes to anyone deciding between the two states.
I've lived in both, and without a doubt, the lifestyle of California is vastly superior to that of Florida. It's not even much of a contest, really.
Overall, people are lot more open, tolerant, and accepting in California-
You don't even see the irony? I tried highlighting the contradictions in your post but the entire thing would have ended up bolded.
Despite net losses of millions of residents to other states, California continues to grow through immigration. Latinos now equal the number of non-Hispanic whites in California. With projections that show California’s population reaching 45 to 50 million within 20 years, you would think job creation would be job one for Jerry Brown.
Sadly, that is not the case today. Despite a much-heralded recovery in the media and by Governor Jerry Brown, California still has one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates. Also, more than 30% of the nation’s welfare recipients are Californians – even though California has just 12% of the nation’s population. It is not surprising, therefore, that California is ranked number one in poverty.
The cause for those bad statistics is bad government policy. California is the most regulated, highest-taxed, most in-debt state in America. According to government data, from the municipal to the state level, California governments have more than $1.1 trillion in debt – much of that tied to pensions.
Beyond debt, Governor Brown recently signed a huge tax increase featuring a top rate of 13.3%. Overall, California taxes are 42% higher than Texas. California also has the most extreme/job-threatening global warming law in the world, which includes a 15-cent gas tax increase slated to take effect in 2015 – on top of the already record gas prices.
snip
Perhaps worst among them is Brown’s decision to make high-speed rail a higher priority than water.
To combat the lack of water brought on by drought and environmental policies that favor fish over people, California farmers are behind a drilling boom – for groundwater. The problem is that, at current rates of consumption, some believe California could run nearly dry of groundwater within two decades.
But we should move there, because mountains and weather and stuff!!!!!11 Or so we can get a better paying job in housing markets that are EXPONENTIALLY MORE EXPENSIVE and completely out of reach unless you want to live in a shoebox, or with 5 roommates.
It's funny that 8-32 digs on Florida for being unfriendly. Everyone I know in Oregon and Arizona bemoans the massive influx of "rude, generally horrible" (direct quote) Californians.
Your quoting a quote of mine that someone added their thoughts to...not what I stated 100%.
I take it you never been to Arizona then? It's the Florida of the west...
Yes I've been to Arizona in fact I opened up a work center there for my Fortune 10 company in Mesa.
But it seems you have opinions about California despite never having been there for about 30 years?
Quote:
Though California beats everybody with a stick in terms of geographic diversity, economic depth, and, on certain views, cultural sophistication (but I can easily live without it).
I haven't been to California since the early 1980s,
CA had its peak and was a good state to live in the 80's (it was the golden era for this state). Nowadays in terms of state finances, it's a bankrupted or a nearly bankrupted state that frees prisoners ahead of time due to overcrowding and no state money. CA's credit rating is a lot lower than FL's. FL is a more fiscally responsible state. In a way CA reminds me of the basket cases in Europe; the mentality is, provide more to the people but at the expense of higher property and income taxes. 3-4 major cities in CA have declared municipal bankruptcy recently (Stockton comes in mind). FL is more down to earth. Besides certain parts in Miami, there's very little look at me attitude in FL. It seems a lot of people in CA are fixated with materialism and what is portrayed in Hollywood movies.
FL cities as a whole are cleaner INMO and more suited to middle class families. Seawater is warm enough to be active with water-sports year round or almost year round in West/East Central FL. FL has by far better and cleaner beaches, has a longer coastline, better marine biodiversity and is the only State with a subtropical/tropical climate(besides HI). A flat landscape means less wear and tear on cars (also FL as a whole has less traffic). As for transients, 1/3 of Americans moved during the recent recession. FL has its share of transients but so is CA(no state is immune). Some use this as a supportive argument to put down FL and is completely ludicrous.
Due to a larger population, CA has more companies and jobs pay more. However, it's being taxed to death and the COL is prohibitive for many who wish to move there. As a result, many live in poverty (CA has the highest poverty in the nation).
Easily a better alternative, which many Californians follow, is WA state (Seattle is full of them).
INMO, which state is better and offers more is totally subjective. Personally, I prefer FL.
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