[Norrisrose2]

My wife and I plan to relocate to Florida sometime in 2008. We have beening reading the forums on this site and are even more confused than when we started planning our relocation. We have 2 children 18 & 13 years old and we are in our late 30's. We are looking for a nice small community to move to. My wife started researching the Fort Meyers area. From what we read it seems the best town mentioned is Port Charlotte. We are from northern Jersey and we are not afraid of the natural disaster threat. Every year we deal with time stopping blizzards, winter thaw flooding and HHH August weather that I'm sure is just as bad as your summer months. I have read complaints about homeowners, hurricane and wind insurance from everyone on this site which pales in comparsion to Jersey's auto insurance, property tax
(we pay $7300 a year for a 75x150 lot with a 1200 sq/ft ranch on it), winter heating bills (which we pay in unison with a ever increasing electric bill). We hope that with the profits we make on the sale of our home, we can afford to by a home and start a small business. We are both in the medical field (not doctors) and have that to fall back on. Will someone please help us decide on a town in the Fort Meyers area with plenty of gulf access.

[jcao111]

Go! Don't pay attention to all these threads. We're looing to move also, hopefully in January. My 2nd interview is in January with a company in Boca. I'm looking at the Boca Raton area. Check out Deerfield and Delray. Those are also my options. Good luck. Go to google map and type in the town. It will show you all the sourround areas. We're looking some very nice homes, ~350K, ~2000sqft, not on the coast but close enough. I can't wait to see sunshine, tropical breeze, and the gulf stream is just a few miles offshore.

[Need_affordable_home]

If your gonna make the move, I suggest you rent for a year. Youll be supprised how hot Florida is comming from a cooler climate! Ive lived in Florida all my life and im still hot and its winter! Instead of heat occasionally in NJ, youll need a/c pratically 24/7 except on rare occasions where a cold front comes. Youll have hurricanes to deal with, ive been in a few. Property taxes and insurance is just as bad. We have floods too! Houses are not cheap in FL either! Youll be trading one problem for another. If you read every thread about FL, youll understand why so many are moving out!

Is there any other state youll consider like Texas or Georgia?

[macguy]

Originally Posted by Need_affordable_home

If your gonna make the move, I suggest you rent for a year. Youll be supprised how hot Florida is comming from a cooler climate! Ive lived in Florida all my life and im still hot and its winter! Instead of heat occasionally in NJ, youll need a/c pratically 24/7 except on rare occasions where a cold front comes. Youll have hurricanes to deal with, ive been in a few. Property taxes and insurance is just as bad. We have floods too! Houses are not cheap in FL either! Youll be trading one problem for another. If you read every thread about FL, youll understand why so many are moving out!

Is there any other state youll consider like Texas or Georgia?

Just out of curiosity, when was the last Flood? Aside from low lying areas where that should have been filled before building in the first place or not have built there at all, I don't remember any floods. Even when those areas get flooded it's gone in a few hours.

[firemed]

Originally Posted by macguy

Just out of curiosity, when was the last Flood? Aside from low lying areas where that should have been filled before building in the first place or not have built there at all, I don't remember any floods. Even when those areas get flooded it's gone in a few hours.

Sheet flow floods alot of areas. South of Tampa is swamp and the ground is muck. Its just filled and built on. Sheet flow has changed in the last 20 years and flood areas that did not flood before.

[Karla with a K]

curt
this is one of the reasons I posted this on the general us forums

http://www.city-data.com/forum/gener...nderstand.html

I lived in NJ for almost 10 years, I would of loved it if we had only occasional heat in the summer. We would have the a/c full blast along with fans

karla

[CURT]

Originally Posted by myfask

curt
this is one of the reasons I posted this on the general us forums

http://www.city-data.com/forum/gener...nderstand.html

I lived in NJ for almost 10 years, I would of loved it if we had only occasional heat in the summer. We would have the a/c full blast along with fans

karla

he may be talking about having to use heat occassionally...either way,,,,he is misinformed.

[Karla with a K]

heck I remember winters in central NJ where it was so cold sitting in my car with a blanket waiting for it to warm up the amb temp on the car gauge was 7 degrees

[bchgrl]

Originally Posted by Norrisrose2

My wife and I plan to relocate to Florida sometime in 2008. We have beening reading the forums on this site and are even more confused than when we started planning our relocation. We have 2 children 18 & 13 years old and we are in our late 30's. We are looking for a nice small community to move to. My wife started researching the Fort Meyers area. From what we read it seems the best town mentioned is Port Charlotte. We are from northern Jersey and we are not afraid of the natural disaster threat. Every year we deal with time stopping blizzards, winter thaw flooding and HHH August weather that I'm sure is just as bad as your summer months. I have read complaints about homeowners, hurricane and wind insurance from everyone on this site which pales in comparsion to Jersey's auto insurance, property tax
(we pay $7300 a year for a 75x150 lot with a 1200 sq/ft ranch on it), winter heating bills (which we pay in unison with a ever increasing electric bill). We hope that with the profits we make on the sale of our home, we can afford to by a home and start a small business. We are both in the medical field (not doctors) and have that to fall back on. Will someone please help us decide on a town in the Fort Meyers area with plenty of gulf access.

If you want small town atmosphere, good schools and nice neighborhoods, check out North Port, we are just north of Port Charlotte and south of Sarasota. We like it, lots for kids to do with a skatepark and soon to be bmx park. Soccer, baseball, softball and football. New schools and room to roam. We also have the Estates area which are 3-5 acre lots. Very easy access to 75..

[Need_affordable_home]

I guess ive been misunderstood. I guess heat is a pun. The summers are warm but nothing like Florida. I have been to NJ before(summer camp) and there was no a/c and I would only sweat when doing sports and other activities. It got really cool at night and I was cold even with blanket. I remember the actual temperature being anywhere from 70 to 85 as a high and 50 to 60 as a low. If I moved to NJ today I could go without a/c as the heat is tolerable most of the time.

You might need heat in the winter for those days where a cold front brings temps below freezing. Right now temps are above freezing. I need a/c year round in south Florida, you need heating only during the winter and only when it drops below freezing.

Another point I want to make is Florida isnt a much better alternative to NJ. Yes it can flood and ive seen it with my own eyes. Ive also been thru hurricanes, trust me you dont want them! You might not be happy with Florida shortly after moving there. Look at all the people leaving!