[Alphaman]

South Beach

[Big House]

Florida has a wide variety of things to enjoy. You guys ought to travel around a little and scout things out before you pick a place.

Originally Posted by kattanphi

Hey,
My boyfriend and I live in Nassau County, Long Island, NY, but we are extremely fed up with everything about Long Island and New York. Everything here is so expensive, my boyfriend commutes everyday to the city, and feels like that's all he spends his weekdays doing. We want to move down to Florida, but we don't even know where to start looking. We would ideally like to live somewhere near the coast, where there is a large number of young adults near our age (we're both 23), somewhere where there is a lot going on with people our age. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[riveree]

I agree with Big House. Florida is a very large state and each city is unique from the others.

I live in Jacksonville and moved from NYC (Manhattan). I really like it here, but I knew NorthEast FLorida very well before moving here, so I knew what I was getting into .

Unless you move to Miami, expect a major lifestyle change. You won't have the stores, restaurants and entertainment/events/nightlife you're used to. Whether you choose Jax, Orlando, Tampa - it doesn't matter - none of the cities in Florida, with the possible exception of Miami, are going to be like where you live now.

What will seem familiar are the suburbs, the highways, the malls, and so on. Salaries are a lot lower here - a lot lower. Summers are as hot and muggy as Long Island's, only the summer lasts longer here.

The upside is that Florida is beautiful, access to the ocean is easy, people are generally nice and friendly (at least here in Jax they are), and the lifestyle is more laid back.

I'd recommend getting to know Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa and Orlando. Check out some of the stats here:

http://www.city-data.com/city/Florida.html

Maybe take a vacation to the cities that interest you.

Take a look at Jax. We're one of the youngest, if not the youngest Florida cities - lots of 20-somethings here .

[riveree]

I just noticed there were 2 identical threads going...they are now merged. Sorry for any confusion this may cause. -mod

[Tungsten_Udder]

Originally Posted by Strel

Where things are also expensive, and where public transportation practically does not exist.

Have you looked at real estate lately? You can get steals--especially relative to what prices were like a couple years ago--in Florida, whereas New York City's real estate market hasn't been impacted in the slightest. My wife and I can't even really afford a broom closet in Manhattan, not to mention that we'd have to pay maintenance, too (usually just the maintenance is more than we're currently paying for rent), we'd have to pay about $400 per month to park our car, you've got not only state income tax but city income tax, etc.

In Florida, we're looking at houses that have at least 3 bedrooms, at least 2 bathrooms, at least 2500 square feet, and (in the area we're looking) over an acre of land.

Florida may be expensive compared to Arkansas or something, but it sure isn't expensive to live in compared to New York City.

[Tungsten_Udder]

Originally Posted by compelled to reply

The cost of living, on average, would be somewhere around the same as LI and maybe 10% less than NYC in any part of Florida that you would want to be in, while salaries (on average) would probably be closer to 20% off. I wouldn't do it.

Even outside of Manhattan, it's difficult to find even a small two bedroom condo or house in the metro New York City area--and that's not in the middle of a ghetto and/or a complete wreck, for under, say 300k. We know because before we decided to move to Florida, we were looking to buy here off and on for at least four years. The smallest places we could find suitable for us (I'm a musician and a visual artist among other things, plus we need a guest area for relatives from other countries) were over 300k, and it would have been a struggle just to make the mortgage payment. Although prices in outlying areas have been affected slightly (as opposed to right in the city which hasn't been affected at ALL), it's more along the lines of places that were going for 350k now going for 325. (In Jersey City, by the way, most new condos (including conversions) are going for 600k on the LOW end--between 700 and 900k is much more common, and Jersey City is a place that the majority of folks on the New Jersey forum are afraid to visit--they warn people to stay away because of their perception of crime problems here (which I disagree with, but that's another issue).)

Also, if you find something more affordable close to the city, you're more than likely going to have to pay for maintenance and parking on top of your mortgage. Maintenance usually runs at least $400 per month. The cheapest parking we've been able to find near where we rent is just under $200 per month--and we have to take the subway (New Jersey's PATH trains) to get there.

If you move further out and work in the city--which is pretty much necessary if you want a "standalone" home and thus avoid maintenance, you have to pay to take either New Jersey Transit, Long Island Railroad or Metro North to the city, which can be up to almost $400 per month, plus once you get to the city, you probably still need to have a monthly subway pass. If you have to take NJ Transit to Hoboken, you have to pay for the PATH monthly on top of all of that. You wouldn't drive into the city if you have a car because then you have to pay another $400 or so to park near where you work, plus $6 to $9 per day for bridge or tunnel tolls. So that's way more expensive and much more of a hassle.

Also, the property taxes we've been looking at in Florida seem like bargains to us. We never ran into a property with taxes at 3k or below here. 10k and over wasn't uncommon. It's not that we do not like the NYC area--we love it and would love in the future to be able to have at least a second home here. It's just that we can't afford buying a house here at present. We would hardly be able to afford renting here even if we hadn't moved into our apartment over ten years ago (and there weren't rent control laws here). The average rental rate on newly available units is above our budget.

So saying that Florida is similarly expensive to live in is just ridiculous--at least at present. You can live in Miami much cheaper than you can live here. Heck, we've even looked at condos right in the middle of downtown Miami that were far below 200k, with maintenance fees around $200. But you can get much cheaper real estate in other parts of the state.

I agree, however, that one should work out their employment situation first. If they can't get something long-distance, which isn't easy, they should head towards one of the bigger cities and try just renting something cheap first.