[PDV]

Hello all,
My wife and I are are considering a relocation to Florida. We have two young boys, 3 and 6. We currently live in Baltimore County, Maryland and are hoping to find some assistnace in pickng a location. I'd be interested in speaking with people who have lived in both places so we can relate to familiar places here to down there. I've read numerous posts, and ALL the information seems GREAT! My wife is a paralegal with a specialty in elder law, and I work for Comcast (sorry). Things we're looking to get away from:

-Crime
-Crime (it's absolutely terrible!)
-Weather (my kids love to be outside)
-Getto attitude (I see behond the skin, it's the attitude that I can no longer stand)

We both work fulltime, my younget is in daycare, and my oldest is enrolled in a Catholic school (which I woul like to continue if affordable).

Anyway, any help would be appreciated. We are currently considering Jacksonville (went there to visit once, gorgeous), and Sarasotta. Thanks again!

[SoFLGal]

My vote is for Sarasota. The school system is excellent and the crime rate is low. I live in Sarasota County and my kids go to Pine View School for the Gifted, we love it! There is no other school like it in the state of Florida.

If you are looking for a Catholic School in Sarasota there is Cardinal Mooney for high school, Sarasota Christian School -K-12, Incarnation Catholic School-K-8, St. Martha's Catholic School-PK-8, and Epiphany Cathedral School-PK-8.

That should be most of them-hope this helps!

[spainbrit]

Don't shy away from the Greater Tampa Bay area, we have everything within driving distance and it's much larger population gives greater work opportunities that some other centers, though Jax is very large too. We have the advantage of kinder winters, but the disadvantage of less noticeable seasons. Crime is here and there, but I have never found living where I am that I am affected by that, and I don't live in a million dollar enclave either, just a regular older neighbourhood subdivision.

Lots of great Catholic Schools, many friends who can testify to that, though we use the public schools and have been very happy with them, we came from Europe and that was a concern to us.

We have settled here nicely and love our home and friends we have made and the area in general.

You really need to take some sensible time and drive these places, by yourselves, or with people who know the areas (and I'm not really recommending a realtor) you need someone who is not trying to sell you the place for a reason.

[seeriously]

Think about Vero Beach, the soon-to-be-new-home of the Orioles. There will be plenty of Marylanders here soon!!!! Beautiful weather, safe, good schools.

[Jareb]

Second the vote for Vero Beach-beautiful friendly upscale town with good schools and beaches.

[wbowley]

I would research schools first before deciding on an area. I used to live in Winter Springs, Fl (Home (http://www.winterspringsfl.org/EN/home.htm - broken link)) and the schools were top notch, crime was low, and the city had a lot to offer it's residents. Winter Springs was rated #31 on the top 100 cities in the U.S to live (Best Places to Live: Top 100 - Winter Springs, Fla. (31) - Money Magazine)
One of the places you might consider in your relocation search.

[PDV]

Thank for all the great info!

[Soccer4me]

I can give you advice on the East Coast as I lived there. At first Florida seems like an escape but you soon will learn how expensive it is to live and how low your wages will be. If your children enjoy playing outside, you may want to live elsewhere as with the tropical climate brings bugs, snakes and aligators. Where we lived, the children did not play outside unless a parent was also out with them and carried a large stick. Many nasty snakes! We had a home built in a new community and snakes were in garages, in our driveway at night (we could not let the dog out )snakes in the garden and in our screen in pool lanai area. We had to take up all of our patio planters as we had a juvenile cotton mouth under it. I would never live there again as I too wanted to enjoy the outside...but you can't. You need to watch every step you make. As for the schools, most of the kids went to private or home schooled. There are a lot of homeless folks in Fl (they too want to escape the cold) and the majority of our community did not speak English. Most of the homes in the communities are owned by investors so you have a lot of vacant or rentals. The few months of less severe winters are not worth any of the aggravation. I look at winters with a whole new respect. The cold weather kills all the bugs and their eggs!

[riveree]

I moved to FL from up North (NYC) and I'm happy with the move.

I've never lived in Sarasota, only visited, but it seems very nice and worth exploring as an option for you.

I've lived in both St. Augustine and now Jacksonville and I'm very happy in Jacksonville.

You concerns/questions:

Crime: Certainly we have it - we're a city of roughly one million, so we're going to have some crime. The important thing to know about Jacksonville's crime though is that it is mostly localized. Meaning, don't live in certain parts of the city and you greatly reduce your crime exposure. I've been here for roughly a decade and *knock on wood*, no crime issues to speak of...I choose my neighborhoods wisely.

Weather: Awesome! The closer you live to the beach or the river, the better your breezes too.

Ghetto Attitude: Nah, a non-issue here - it's not like cities up North.

Catholic Schools: We have some excellent choices in parochial schools here and many schools to choose from. They tend to be clustered along the river and out by the beach in the more established areas. We also have a public Magnet program:

Duval County Public Schools Magnet Programs

Feel free to post some Q's on the Jacksonville subforum, we have a lot of regulars who would be sure to help you out.