[backtofla]

i love it!!! "too cold in ocala in the winter" ha, ha!!! i love it ... nothing wrong with a little seasonal change... it does get cold there... try jax bch in the winter when it's 29 degrees, the breeze from the ocean actually warms you up a bit!!!

colder in the winter - if you live in central fla/northern fla it does get a little cold there... it's like a trade-off from the summers.

[lulu]

I know even when I say it, it even sounds funny/hilarious to me compared to other places. I welcome anything below 90F. Winter to me is like in the 60's & the rare times it goes down to the 50's I get ecstatic & go, "lower, lower please!" - it's like a novelty. I read once how just over 100 yrs. ago lands were practically given away to lure people to build homes/live here. Hardly anybody out there wanted to live here year round in this heat, humidity. The article said that after the invention of the A/C everything started to change. Whew...can you imagine living without a/c in swampland w/windows open, mosquitos, roaches, heat indexes of like 100 at times, ultra high humidity levels, the hurricanes, etc. ? My hat's off to those brave men & women that founded this place and of course the Native Micosukkee's, Tequestas, etc.that were here for eons - truly a hardy, brave bunch.

[lulu]

Last night, I mentioned Clermont to my husband. His response was, " oh yeah...'so & so' from work goes up there cause his cousin bought there years ago.." Apparently, he bought a home on a small hill w/acreage around it. Though, he says it's boomed quite a bit & of course gone up in price. People from Orlando are creeping in cause they get more bang for the buck. That guys cousin even commutes to Orlando to go back & forth to work. That's the problem with these ruralish places...the job issue. Unless, one retires and doesn't have to worry about that. Or...sacrifice like he does & then eventually it'll pay off, when he retires.
I'm going to check it out next time...I'll just exit off before & check it out before I head into the Ocala area again.

[Miamifam]

I'm sorry to tell you but don't move to Florida, try Georgia. I live in Miami, I have family in Tampa, Kississimi, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale....I have been pretty much everwhere....Tampa, Jacksonville and Ocala are the least populated cities that have a city to find good work. Everywhere in Florida the insurance is sky high, home prices are going up and up everywhere because I am planning on leaving Miami and I tried to stay in Florida but I can't afford it even in selling my home. The traffic is bad and the hurricanes are even worse....Its a nice place to visit as a tourist but not to live....its horrible as beautiful as it is....

We are leaving to the Carolinas in the next year....don't worry I'm from New Jersey/New York borderline.....so I know what it's all about.

[Jewels36]

We are relocating to Florida because of my husband's job. After reading through this thread, I am really scared.

I was born and raised partly in Miami, then a very small town in Western North Carolina. I have lived in Orlando. I have also lived in the suburbs of Dallas and Houston, Texas. And for the past 8 or so years in a small town in Kentucky.

I am definitely a small town person. I love rural, small town America. I like knowing everyone, feeling safe to shop at night, and having very low crime rate - especially low violent crime rate. My husband has also grown to love small towns. It took this upcoming move to make him realize it though.

My husbands office is in the Trinity area, which I believe is a little North of Tampa. I am trying to find the best place to live that allows us to have the same safe, secure comfort level that we currently have in KY. My husband is willing to commute 35-50 miles if necessary.

One problem we are having is figuring out how to compare neighborhoods, etc. through the internet. I don't really see community websites as the most objective sources of information.

Houses are a lot more money in Florida than they are in KY. In KY, we bought our home new 2 years ago. It is on an acre lot with 2160 sf and it sells between $170-189K. All the lots in our rural neighborhood are between 1-5 acres which gives the entire neighborhood a very spacious and private feel.

From what I can tell, there is nothing in the Tampa area that compares and if there is it comes at a steep cost. We do not want to pay that much. We want to stay below $325K. My husband says ideally, he'd like to stay somewhere around $215-250K.

Any suggestions from someone that knows the Tampa area?

Some areas we have looked at online are Brooksville, Weekie Wachee, Spring Hill, Land O' Lakes, Homosassa, NPR, Zephyrhills, Tarpon Springs, etc.

Some subdivisions I have seen are Spring Hill, Suncoast Lakes, Royal Highlands, Sugarmill Woods, Sterling Hill, Asbel Creek, Pine Ridge, etc.

We want a safe neighborhood, with large lots, that fits our budget. We live deed restricted neighborhoods.

Any ideas?

[Stargazing Lisa]

Originally Posted by backtofla

there are many there --- as does any state with 17-18 million ppl, but here's an interesting fact..... go to "familywatchdog.com" and type in your zip code/ potential zip code and it will tell you how many are in your area. here's an interesting note: i did a comaprison of where i live now (28806 zip code) vs my new zip code in oviedo (32765 zip code) and the asheville area had many, many more registered sex offenders. now when you comare the amount of ppl that live in the 32765 zip code (many ppl) vs the 28806 zip code of west asheville (less ppl i would think) and it's pretty alarming. i then compared the w asheville zip to my old zip code in west palm bch, and yet again, more sex offenders in west asheville. yikes.

Actually what "Back To Florida" is true, and the info given to check out online is very very good.

I dont have children but a young acquantance of mine has 5 ranging in age from 2 to 16 and was having some weird problems in her neighborhood with some guy leering at her daughters.

She doesn't live in the best of neighborhoods, Kirk Road,Greenacres area, Palm Beach County- so I decided to check out the zip code. I was shocked at how many predators are listed in the area - mostly foreigners too! Florida seems to be a dumping ground for these perverts.

[Stargazing Lisa]

Originally Posted by paradisemary

We have a house both (near Tampa, West Coast) and Wellington, FL. These are both great areas for families but it depends on what you are looking for. Wellington is in Western Palm Beach county, very low crime rate, no murders or rapes or any other crazy crimes you hear about happening down here. All the schools in Wellington are "A" schools which is hard to find. Great parks, community center, small town feel. The Tampa area is beautiful too but I think it has more hustle and bustle than Wellington and it's closer to the water so it depends on what you look. The Tampa area is definitely a preference for people who like to fish! As far as hurricanes, although they are scary at the time as long as you take it seriously and prepare in advance it's no worse than a major snowstorm!

Hi, I really have to disagree with that opinion. Being a transplanted northerner...and not wanting to see snow again, I do have to say, in a snowstorm in the North, if you stay in your house you wont get into any accidents...you dont lose shingles or roofs, or windows, you dont have to barricade youself and your windows and doors, and rarely does the electricity go off for more than a few hours...if a day, it's unusual.

I've been through 3 hurricanes here , the last one being Wilma and the worst...we were without electricity for THREE WEEKS - I need a new roof and the roofer still hasn't shown up - the **** thing tried to take my entire roof off and not just the shingles, and thankfully I have minimal water damage in the ceilings, although the wind got up under the roof and you can see ridges where the sheetrock separated from each other. Not to speak of every leaf and twig being stripped off my formerly beautifu
hibiscus hedge. the wind hit 138 mph and the slab the house is built on was actually shaking. And I'm five miles from the beach

No one will ever experience anything like that in the north.

One of the many reasons I'm looking to move to North Central Florida, preferably below Ocala. It's 70 miles to the gulf and 70 miles to the Atlantic. Hurray.

[backtofla]

did you have a question for me???

what area code is greenacres? i am from wpb so i am somewhat familiar with that area. you can do a search on familywatchdog.com and it will give you the number of sex offenders in your area. hope this helps.

[backtofla]

is greenacres zipcode 33415? i think it is but i'll look it up and see the number of offenders there

[backtofla]

50 ; according to family watch dog dot com