[flburgos]

Originally Posted by 121804

This time of year in states that receive snow is difficult; I always find Feb/March to be the worst. It gets dark in NEOH around 6:30pm right now. It's livable.

We go to story hour at the library (free), tumbling class at rec center ($50 for 12 lessons), and swimming classes right now ($60 for 12 lessons). Unless it is below 20, we don't go outside, otherwise, I bundle up my 2yr old & take him outside to run & burn off energy. We went sled riding at our park last weekend & that was completely free. It was packed with kids of all ages. Skiing is a passion of mine but I am not in a financial or parent position to do that this winter.

Personally, I found it very hard to do this in SWFL throughout the past summer. The heat index day after day from June-Oct was ridiculous. I felt cooped up & bored out of my mind. We also lived in an area that was retiree heaven, so finding things to do for young children was close to impossible. We had little choice due to job circumstances but it was a difficult time.

But I have two very little ones. I am sure those who have kids who are older find things to conquer the heat. One needs to refinance their home to afford Disney ):

Hey, if your family is going to be happier in warmer temps & you have the income to support the move & live somewhere were the sun is out a lot more, go for it.

Either way, best of luck.

you're right when there's little ones involved one must find a way to an active childhood for our kids and sitting in front of a computer or a game system is definetely not healthy for a kids brain.my son loves baseball and he's good at it but we have to find training centers and burn 2 holes in my pockets.but i found a solution for that in my basement i setup a net which he can hit and play catch in the winter.those indoor places are horrible the guys that work there are all suppose to be ex players or some hot shots and most of them haven't even taken a swing at a ball it's a big gaff and a money pit.i just do it myself i use to play baseball and it saves me a ton.

[Tarastomsgirl]

Originally Posted by luvthatmouse

Tarastomsgirl it looks like you rented in FL but owned in NH? That is a big difference right there. Are you buying in FL or renting when you come back? The taxes and insurance here would shock you if you did buy a home. Esp. on the coast. Our rent in MA was $790/month when we left. Our place was right on the train line into Boston. When we moved to Florida we rented at first-it was $950 a month. Now we own. Our electric is always over $100 a month for an 800 sf place. Some people in Celebration have electric bills of $700+ a month. Bet they are annoyed they bought those big homes now Groceries are about $60-75 a week. In MA we paid about $150 a month. Things have gone way up all over but we do live in a tourist area so pay a lot for groceries. The produce and meat are awful here too. They must ship it all to other areas!

Actually this is comparing both my rentals.. We plan on buying in a year when we move to Fla and that will be our first house. I'm more aware of prices and taxes in Fla as opposed to the NE and I'm simply going off the the reasearch and experiences I've had in the NE since I've lived here. I don't plan on buying a big home we're actually looking at condos, yeah I know condo fees etc.. I think becasue I've lived my whole life in Fla for me its eh.. normal expenses, I lived in Naples which I understand is one of the most expensive places in Fla to live, so when I moved to the NE and it was this expensive I was very surprised! I didn't think many other places could be worse than Naples.. However prices are coming down in Fla. more than here to say the least so for me it'll be an easy transition back to Fla lifestyle.

[Tarastomsgirl]

Originally Posted by luvthatmouse

Wait-I just saw you mentioned rent in NH too. I am confused. Are the tax figures other people you know there? Our friend has a 3/3 $450,000 multi story home in Kingston, NH. He has several acres and pays about $5,000/year in property taxes. My parents pay $7,000 a year here with a zero lot line and a 2/2 bungalow. That is not even mentioning insurance. So many people are getting dropped here. Even in Central Florida. It is a whole different ball game when you own

We live in a "city" in NH if you can consider 20,000 people when the college kids are in town a "city", and taxes are higher in the cities compared to the towns.. Unless you live in Concord, Manchester, Keene Nashua or Portsmouth your taxes are going to be less.. however then you face, no cable, or internet, no good schools, stores are 20 minutes away.. For me that all equals BORING. If I go one town out of where I am there's no highspeed and I can only get satilite cable and bad plowing lol.. I'm just more a social person and I prefer to live where I can go shopping and eating and not drive 20 min to see the next person around Also we can't live more than 20 minutes from where my husband works because its a rule or whatever at the PD so we are limited about where we can actually be

[Andzia74]

we moved from NYC 6 years ago, and now in 8 weeks we are moving back to NYC again. I just cannot adjust to florida's lifestyle. I miss almost everything.

[daniellefort]

[quote=Tarastomsgirl;3026498]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Living in NE

a/c (electric) - $150 a month 1 bedroom studio apartment

In my 18 years of living in NH, i've never needed AC. Sure it gets a bit warm but it's not like FL where the humidity kills you

Heat- $300 a month never had one less than $250 so far

Well as you said before, you also have no insulation on your roof or in your walls.

Car registration- $75 for city $55 for state
Well not so bad.

Car inspection-$40
Well yes it's required but some vehicles i see on the roads in FL are a hazzard to other drivers. They should not be allowed to be driven

Income- just peaked at $30,000 this year, for a "higher paying job" as a police officer where as my husband almost made $100,000 as a 911 dispatcher in Fla.. make sense? I think not! however we were told it was "cheaper" to live up north and therefore took a paycut... I say $30,000 is a "higher paying job" becasue thats the higher end of the spectrum for officer pay here as he ad experience in the LEO field..

Wow. a 70,000 pay cut!!! I can't imagine you thought it was THAT MUCH CHEAPER to live in NH.

Rent- $835 was the cheapest we could find for a 1 bedroom studio that would allow animals.. There are a severe lack of apt. complexs here and had to go with a private landlord..
Well it's not easy finding a rent that allows animals so yeah, your going to pay more for the clean up after you leave. Not everyone wants to move into a place that smells like animals. Don't get me wrong, i have 3 dogs myself and love all animals but even though we may not notice a dog smell, other people do.

Clothing
Shirts- had to but all new long sleeve shirts and long underwear so I'll guess at about $150
Pants-$75 perhaps
Coats-$60 each so roughly $120
Boots/shoes- $120 for both
gloves-$10 although we both have more than one pair
hats-$20 both

Well that's just something you knew you would need. Like me, i just wait until the end of this winter season and bought up the winter clothes down here on clearence sales.

Car- second pair of tires $350
Don't always need a second pair of tires. They do have all seasons.

scrapers- $20
Obvious cost.

snow shovel-$30
Obvious cost.

Laundry- as most houses are too old to have washer dryer hookups- $20 a week..
Hmm. haven't heard of a home being too old for washer/dryter hookup. Seems more like a landlord preference not to have it.

Food- $200 every two weeks roughly (good thing for that no "sales
tax" huh.. cause they sure don't add it into the price or anything)

Food and beverage tax- 8%
I spend $120 a week in FL for 3 and we don't buy top of the line stuff.

Garbage pick up-$50 a month roughly OR $2.00 a bag cause if I dont pay to pick it up i have to PAY to bring it to the dump myself
That is a little high for monthly services.

Recycling pick up- I've heard its about $35 a month but I can't say for sure I dont' have it..

Taxes on a $150,000 house- $4,000-6,000 loL!
That's true but it also depends on your location. My sister lives within a few miles of a school and pays $4000 while if you live on the other side of town it's only $1500 or so.

Taxes if I want to send my child to a school out of district say two blocks over from where they're going
$10,000 per child per year.
Don't know much about that.
QUOTE]

Well i know your miserable up there and i'm not being nit picky with you. I guess if someone moves to NH and has no idea what kind of weather to expect that it's no suprise so many people dislike it. I grew up in NH so am well aware of what i'm going back to just like your aware of what your coming back to down here in FL. At least you got to experience the move but just because it didn't work out for you doesn't mean it won't work out for others. Again, sometimes it's all about location. You might have enjoyed maybe a smaller town that wwas more community friendly and welcoming and maybe a better rental where the landlord didn't scam you into such a ventilated home. I know your counting down the days to FL so i hope you can get back on track down here.

[Petertherock]

I have found you need AC in Maine summers just as much as you need it in Florida. 90 degrees with dewpoints in the 70s is just as bad in Maine as it is in Florida. It's just there isn't as many days/months with heat like that. $250-$300 is an average oil/gas bill a month during the winter in Florida and it's going up. Plus, with the toll the winter takes on your call with salt and potholes blowing your tires out and making you need front end alignments it costs roughly $300+ in maintenance for your call each winter. Not to mention cars don't last as long up here because of the toll the winters take on your car.

[flburgos]

Originally Posted by Petertherock

I have found you need AC in Maine summers just as much as you need it in Florida. 90 degrees with dewpoints in the 70s is just as bad in Maine as it is in Florida. It's just there isn't as many days/months with heat like that. $250-$300 is an average oil/gas bill a month during the winter in Florida and it's going up. Plus, with the toll the winter takes on your call with salt and potholes blowing your tires out and making you need front end alignments it costs roughly $300+ in maintenance for your call each winter. Not to mention cars don't last as long up here because of the toll the winters take on your car.

pete i think no matter where you go there is always going to be something.iive lived in puerto rico and the weather is similar to florida so the adjustment to hot weather will not be that difficult.unless anyone can actually tell me that florida is hotter than puerto rico then that would be something that might hold me up.but if it the same then that is not a problem.i've been to florida but it is hard for me to compare weather because i went to florida in dec and that is much different than jul or aug.can anyone compare p.r to florida weather wise?

[121804]

Originally Posted by flburgos

i'm in the car business so i'm trying to compare florida to the northeast.i'll be in punta gorda in 2 weeks and you bet i am gonna go to some dealers to compare.like i said i am a risktaker but i'm not moving my family to florida to have to come back in 6 mths.

We lived in PG. Don't suggest it if you have kids under 21. Just put in the zip code 33950 on city-data & see the median age....there is NOTHING there for young children (minus a park). You will have to travel to Fort Myers or Sarasota to find things. It's a ghost town in the summer due to the snow birds not being there & it being too hot to go outside. Everyone has screened in pools so not much neighborly interaction. You don't want your children attending Sallie Jones. Deep Creek Elementary is better.

When we were thinking of building, we were considering Port Charlotte & the builder we used raised their kids in PC & all played baseball. Their son plays for the A's now There was a really nice baseball field in PC off of Peachtree. Sorry, forgot the name. I heard PC had several teams but I can't verify that for you.

You will find that area will be way cheaper b/c its been hit disastoursly hard by the real estate plague. Lots of deals in renting & buying. You won't be getting a basement, attic or real grass, though. My husband is from western MA & we were way priced out of that area on a $70k salary. We could afford to buy a nice home in PC & PG on that salary.

If you are moving for the right reasons & the kids are on board for the move, who knows how it will work out for you all.

We didn't want our children NOT growing up by their grandparents & relatives, so we moved when the opportunity was available. If all our family was in FL, we'd probably stay there. Money & weather was not a factor; that plays a role in Any City, USA.

If you get a job in PG, you may want to look about living further north. My husband worked in Ft Myers & the commute to PG was about 45 mins.

The Palm dealership runs PG. We used them for my husband's oil changes, etc & they were very customer friendly.

[121804]

Originally Posted by Petertherock

I have found you need AC in Maine summers just as much as you need it in Florida. 90 degrees with dewpoints in the 70s is just as bad in Maine as it is in Florida. It's just there isn't as many days/months with heat like that. $250-$300 is an average oil/gas bill a month during the winter in Florida and it's going up. Plus, with the toll the winter takes on your call with salt and potholes blowing your tires out and making you need front end alignments it costs roughly $300+ in maintenance for your call each winter. Not to mention cars don't last as long up here because of the toll the winters take on your car.

You run your ac every day in ME from May-Nov? I thought is starting snowing in Nov in ME this past year...

Feel sorry for you all in ME this year. My college roommate lives in Falmouth & says it been one of the worst

It's been decent in NEOH. No worse or better than any other year when I lived here. I'll take it over what "summer" is like in SWFL. That's just me

[Ladywithafan]

I wish everyone who relocates back to their home states much success; it will certainly give us more room on the highways to drive and more space at the beach for our blankets.