Areas to suggest for IT persons? (Jacksonville, Miami: relocate, property taxes, travel)

[priceline]

I am thinking to relocate to somewhat hot places. I thought about CA, but it is expensive and have state tax.

I am seriously thinking about Orlando, Tampa or Jacksonville. Please help me understand the situation in these areas? Or if you know any better place, suggest that also.

1) Prefer to have less commute [able to buy a house (300-500k), and less than 10 miles commute]
2) Need to stay close to best hospitals (up to 30 miles distance)
3) If needed, able to find another job within the same area (without selling and buying a new house all the times). Though I do not change jobs often.
4) Prefer to work for reasonably large companies.

[compelled to reply]

Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale (including Boca Raton) are the only FL cities with any serious IT presence. Orlando has some call center type stuff and Ft. Lauderdale has a lot of smaller companies and the Citrix System headquarters, which has had some issues finding employees.

In Orlando, you can get a place in the Dr. Phillips area for 300-500k easily, and that's a pretty central location, and an upscale type area. There are also some corps out in Lake Mary and that's a decent area that would be in your price range. The problem with Orlando is that it's sprawling and the traffic is horrendous at a DC/Atlanta level, so nowhere is truly central. I don't know much about JAX (maybe someone can chime in) but from what I understand Tampa is a IT deadzone. As far as the hospitals, Orlando regional is decent sized. Tampa doesn't even have a major hospital, which is kind of scary. JAX has Mayo Clinic. If you were to consider further south, there are tons of major, well regarded hospitals, particularly if you need open heart surgery. If you were to consider it Plantation is an attractive area that puts you dead center to most corps location wise and 350k will get you a nice house, and the traffic isn't as bad as Orlando. Boca Raton also has some companies and you will have no difficulty finding something nice in your price range.

wild style works in IT here, he can probably tell you about the wages, which from what I understand are about 20-30 thousand lower than they should be, like a lot of other fields in Florida.

But I really wouldn't buy a house anywhere in Florida. I would rent and wait a couple years. What are some other characteristics you seek in a location? Your price range will cover almost anywhere in Florida. Weigh everything out, try and get a job rounded up BEFORE you come, and research into some other warm places that might have more abundant jobs yet a lower cost of living, like Houston or Raleigh. 300k will get you a mansion in Houston (no income tax either, but property taxes are high like FL) and a pretty large house in Raleigh (income tax here, property tax there, sales tax everywhere!).

[Wild Style]

Its pretty much how compelled laid it out. Also what sector in the I.T. field are you apart of? You can make a DECENT living depending on what you do in the I.T. field. Look at city/state jobs. I saw a I.T. job with the city of Miami not to long ago and it was something like 90,000. But those are far and few.

I was also told about some of the cruise lines hiring and paying well. Only concern with that is, as the economy gets worse and more people stop traveling these companies may start to lay off.

Best of luck